The Daily Audio Bible

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The power of the Lord came on me. His Spirit brought me away from my home. He put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them. I saw a huge number of bones in the valley. The bones were very dry. ³ The Lord asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Lord and King, you are the only one who knows.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Tell them, ‘Dry bones, listen to the Lord’s message. ⁵ The Lord and King speaks to you. He says, “I will put breath in you. Then you will come to life again. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh on you. I will cover you with skin. So I will put breath in you. And you will come to life again. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

⁷ So I prophesied just as the Lord commanded me to. As I was prophesying, I heard a noise. It was a rattling sound. The bones came together. One bone connected itself to another. ⁸ I saw tendons and flesh appear on them. Skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell it, ‘The Lord and King says, “Breath, come from all four directions. Go into these people who have been killed. Then they can live.” ’ ” ¹⁰ So I prophesied just as he commanded me to. And breath entered them. Then they came to life again. They stood up on their feet. They were like a huge army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, these bones stand for all the people of Israel. The people say, ‘Our bones are dried up. We’ve lost all hope. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So prophesy. Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “My people, I am going to open up your graves. I am going to bring you out of them. I will take you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ So I will open up your graves and bring you out of them. Then you will know that I am the Lord. You are my people. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you. And you will live again. I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I have spoken. I have done it,” announces the Lord.’ ”

Israel Will Be One Nation Under One King

¹⁵ A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, ¹⁶ “Son of man, get a stick of wood. Write on it, ‘Belonging to the tribe of Judah and the Israelites who are connected with it.’ Then get another stick. Write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick. Belonging to the tribes of Joseph and all the Israelites connected with them.’ ¹⁷ Join them together into one stick in your hand.

¹⁸ “Your people will ask you, ‘What do you mean by this?’ ¹⁹ Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “I am going to get the stick of Joseph and the Israelites connected with it. That stick is in Ephraim’s hand. I am going to join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them a single stick of wood in my hand.” ’ ²⁰ Show them the sticks you wrote on. ²¹ Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them together from all around. I will bring them back to their own land. ²² There I will make them one nation. They will live on the mountains of Israel. All of them will have one king. They will never be two nations again. They will never again be separated into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer make themselves ‘unclean’ by worshiping any of their evil gods. They will not do wrong things anymore. They always turn away from me. But I will save them from that sin. I will make them pure and ‘clean.’ They will be my people. And I will be their God.

²⁴ “ ‘ “A man who belongs to the family line of my servant David will be their king. All of them will have one shepherd. They will obey my laws. And they will be careful to keep my rules. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob. That is where your people of long ago lived. They, their children, their children’s children, and their children after them will live there forever. And my servant from David’s family line will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant with them. It promises to give them peace. The covenant will last forever. I will make them my people. And I will cause there to be many of them. I will put my temple among them forever. ²⁷ I will live with them. I will be their God. And they will be my people. ²⁸ My temple will be among them forever. Then the nations will know that I make Israel holy. I am the Lord.” ’ ”

The Lord Will Have Great Victory Over the Nations

38 A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, ² “Son of man, turn your attention to Gog. He is from the land of Magog. He is the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. Prophesy against him. ³ Tell him, ‘The Lord and King says, “Gog, I am against you. You are the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. ⁴ But I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws. I will bring you out of your land along with your whole army. Your horses will come with you. Your horsemen will be completely armed. Your huge army will carry large and small shields. All of them will be ready to use their swords. ⁵ The men of Persia, Cush and Put will march out with them. All of them will have shields and helmets. ⁶ Gomer and all its troops will be there too. Beth Togarmah from the far north will also come with all its troops. Many nations will help you.

⁷ “ ‘ “Get ready. Be prepared. Take command of the huge armies gathered around you. ⁸ After many years you will be called together to fight. Later, you will march into a land that has not had war for a while. Its people were gathered together from many nations. They came to the mountains of Israel. No one had lived in those mountains for a long time. So the people had been brought back from other nations. Now all the people live in safety. ⁹ You, all your troops and the many nations with you will march up to attack them. All of you will advance like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering their land.”

¹⁰ “ ‘The Lord and King says, “At that time some ideas will come to you. You will make evil plans. ¹¹ You will say, ‘I will march out against a land whose villages don’t have walls around them. I’ll attack those peaceful people. I’ll do this when they aren’t expecting it. None of their villages has walls or gates with metal bars on them. ¹² I will rob those people. I’ll steal everything they have. Then I’ll turn my attention to the destroyed houses where people are living again. They have returned there from other nations. Now they are rich. They have plenty of livestock and all kinds of goods. They are living in Israel. It is the center of the earth.’ ¹³ The people of Sheba and Dedan will speak to you. So will the traders of Tarshish and all its villages. They will say, ‘Have you come to rob us? Have you gathered your huge army together to steal our silver and gold? Are you going to take away from us our livestock and goods? Do you plan to carry off everything we have?’ ” ’

¹⁴ “Son of man, prophesy. Tell Gog, ‘The Lord and King says, “A time is coming when my people Israel will be living in safety. You will see that it is a good time to attack them. ¹⁵ So you will come from your place in the far north. Many nations will join you. All their men will be riding on horses. You will have a huge and mighty army. ¹⁶ They will advance against my people Israel. They will be like a cloud covering their land. Gog, in days to come I will bring you against my land. Then the nations will know me. I will use you to prove to them how holy I am.”

¹⁷ “ ‘Here is what the Lord and King says to Gog. “In the past I spoke about you through my servants, the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ Here is what will happen in days to come. You will attack the land of Israel. That will stir up my burning anger,” announces the Lord and King. ¹⁹ “At that time my burning anger will blaze out at you. There will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and the wild animals will tremble with fear. They will tremble with fear because of what I will do. So will every creature that moves along the ground. And so will all the people on earth. The mountains will come crashing down. The cliffs will break into pieces. Every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will punish you on all my mountains,” announces the Lord and King. “Your men will use their swords against one another. ²² I will judge you. I will send a plague against you. A lot of blood will be spilled. I will send heavy rain, hailstones and burning sulfur down to the earth. They will fall on you and your troops. They will also come down on the many nations that are helping you. ²³ That will show how great and holy I am. I will make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’

Listen to the Word and Do What It Says

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, pay attention to what I say. Everyone should be quick to listen. But they should be slow to speak. They should be slow to get angry. ²⁰ Human anger doesn’t produce the holy life God wants. ²¹ So get rid of everything that is sinful. Get rid of the evil that is all around us. Don’t be too proud to accept the word that is planted in you. It can save you.

²² Don’t just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says. ²³ Suppose someone listens to the word but doesn’t do what it says. Then they are like a person who looks at their face in a mirror. ²⁴ After looking at themselves, they leave. And right away they forget what they look like. ²⁵ But suppose someone takes a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom. And they keep looking at it. Suppose they don’t forget what they’ve heard, but they do what the law says. Then this person will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶ Suppose people think their beliefs and how they live are both right. But they don’t control what they say. Then they are fooling themselves. Their beliefs and way of life are not worth anything at all. ²⁷ Here are the beliefs and way of life that God our Father accepts as pure and without fault. When widows are in trouble, take care of them. Do the same for children who have no parents. And don’t let the world make you impure.

Treat Everyone the Same

2 My brothers and sisters, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So treat everyone the same. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes. And suppose a poor man in dirty old clothes also comes in. ³ Would you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes? Would you say, “Here’s a good seat for you”? Would you say to the poor man, “You stand there”? Or “Sit on the floor by my feet”? ⁴ If you would, aren’t you treating some people better than others? Aren’t you like judges who have evil thoughts?

⁵ My dear brothers and sisters, listen to me. Hasn’t God chosen those who are poor in the world’s eyes to be rich in faith? Hasn’t he chosen them to receive the kingdom? Hasn’t he promised it to those who love him? ⁶ But you have disrespected poor people. Aren’t rich people taking advantage of you? Aren’t they dragging you into court? ⁷ Aren’t they speaking evil things against the worthy name of Jesus? Remember, you belong to him.

⁸ The royal law is found in Scripture. It says, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) If you really keep this law, you are doing what is right. ⁹ But you sin if you don’t treat everyone the same. The law judges you because you have broken it. ¹⁰ Suppose you keep the whole law but trip over just one part of it. Then you are guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ God said, “Do not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18) He also said, “Do not commit murder.” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) Suppose you don’t commit adultery but do commit murder. Then you have broken the law.

¹² Speak and act like people who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. ¹³ Those who have not shown mercy will not receive mercy when they are judged. To show mercy is better than to judge.

Show Your Faith by What You Do

¹⁴ Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister has no clothes or food. ¹⁶ Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And suppose you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done? ¹⁷ It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead.