The Daily Audio Bible

The Vision of Dry Bones

37 I felt the power of the Lord was on me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord. And he put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² The Lord led me around among the bones. There were many bones on the bottom of the valley. I saw the bones were very dry. ³ Then he asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?”

I answered, “Lord God, only you know.”

⁴ The Lord said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you. Then you will live. ⁶ I will put muscles on you. I will put flesh on you. I will cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked and saw muscles come on the bones. Flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.^[a] Prophesy, human being, and say to the wind: ‘This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds. Breathe on these people who were killed so they can live again.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life. They stood on their feet. They were a very large army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me: “Human being, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So, prophesy, and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves. And I will cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ This is how you, my people, will know that I am the Lord. I will open your graves and cause you to come up from them. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit inside you. You will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.’”

Judah and Israel Back Together

¹⁵ The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ¹⁶ “Human being, take a stick of wood. Write on it, ‘For Judah and all the Israelites with him.’ Then take another stick of wood. Write on it, ‘The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph and all the Israelites with him.’ ¹⁷ Then join them together into one stick. Then they will be one in your hand.

¹⁸ “Your people will say to you, ‘Explain to us what you mean by this.’ ¹⁹ Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take the stick which is for Joseph and the tribes of Israel with him. This stick is in the hand of Ephraim. Then I will put it with the stick of Judah. And I will make them into one stick. And they will be one in my hand.’ ²⁰ Hold the sticks of wood on which you wrote these names. Hold them in your hands so the people can see them. ²¹ Say to the people: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around. I will bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule all of them. They will never again be two nations. They will not be divided into two kingdoms anymore. ²³ They will not continue to make themselves unclean by their idols, their statues of gods which I hate or their sins. But I will save them from all the ways they sin and turn against me. And I will make them clean. Then they will be my people. And I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘And my servant David will be their king. They will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws. ²⁵ They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob. It is the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever. ²⁶ And I will make an agreement of peace with them. It will be an agreement that continues forever. I will put them in their land. I will make them grow in number. Then I will put my Temple among them forever. ²⁷ The place where I live will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ When my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.’”

Prophecy Against Gog

38 The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: ² “Human being, turn toward Gog of the land of Magog. He is the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him. ³ Say, ‘The Lord God says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws. And I will bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen. All of them will be finely dressed. They will be a large army with large and small shields. All of them will have swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush and Put will be with them. All of them will have shields and helmets. ⁶ There will also be Gomer with all its troops. And there will be the nation of Togarmah from the far north. It will have all its troops. There will be many other nations with you.

⁷ “‘Be prepared. Be prepared, you and all the armies that have come together to make you their commander. ⁸ After many days you will be called for service. After many years you will come into a land that has been rebuilt from war. The people in the land will be gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel. Those mountains were empty for a long time. These people were brought out from the nations. They will all be living in safety. ⁹ And you will go up like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land. It will be you, all your troops and many nations with you.

¹⁰ “‘This is what the Lord God says: At that time ideas will come into your mind. You will think up an evil plan. ¹¹ You will say, “I will march against a land of towns without walls. I will attack those who are at rest and live in safety. All of them live without city walls. They have no gate bars or gates. ¹² I will capture valuable things and take good things. I will turn my power against the rebuilt ruins that now have people living in them. I will go against these people who have been gathered from the nations. They have become rich with farm animals and property. They live at the center of the world.” ¹³ Sheba, Dedan and the traders of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say this to you: “Did you come to capture valuable things? Did you bring your troops together to take things? Did you bring them to carry away silver and gold? Did you bring them to take away farm animals and property?”’

¹⁴ “So prophesy, human being, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Lord God says: Now that my people Israel are living in safety, you will know about it. ¹⁵ You will come from your place in the far north. And many people will be with you. All of them will ride on horses. You will be a large group with a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will come against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. This will happen in the days to come. I will bring you against my land. Gog, then the nations will know me. They will see me show my greatness by what I do through you.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Lord God says: You are the one about whom I spoke in past days. I spoke through my servants the prophets of Israel. These prophets of Israel prophesied for many years. They said that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ This is what will happen: On the day Gog comes against the land of Israel, my anger will become very great, says the Lord God. ¹⁹ With jealousy and great anger I tell you this. At that time there will surely be a great earthquake in Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea and the birds of the sky will shake with fear before me. The wild animals and everything that crawls on the ground will shake with fear. And all the people on the earth will shake with fear before me. Also the mountains will be thrown down. And the cliffs will fall. Every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ And I will call for a war against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² I will punish Gog with disease and death. I will send a heavy rain, with hailstones and burning sulfur on Gog. I will send it on his army and on the many nations with him. ²³ Then I will show how great I am. I will show my holiness. And I will make myself known to the many nations that watch. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Listening and Obeying

¹⁹ My dear brothers, always be willing to listen and slow to speak. Do not become angry easily. ²⁰ Anger will not help you live a good life as God wants. ²¹ So put out of your life every evil thing and every kind of wrong you do. Don’t be proud but accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save your souls.

²² Do what God’s teaching says; do not just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. ²³ A person who hears God’s teaching and does nothing is like a man looking in a mirror. ²⁴ He sees his face, then goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like. ²⁵ But the truly happy person is the one who carefully studies God’s perfect law that makes people free. He continues to study it. He listens to God’s teaching and does not forget what he heard. Then he obeys what God’s teaching says. When he does this, it makes him happy.

The True Way to Worship God

²⁶ A person might think he is religious. But if he says things he should not say, then he is just fooling himself. His “religion” is worth nothing. ²⁷ Religion that God the Father accepts is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help; and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of religion that God accepts as pure and good.

Love All People

2 My dear brothers, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So never think that some people are more important than others. ² Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing very nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor man comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. ³ You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes. You say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet!” ⁴ What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others. With evil thoughts you are deciding which person is better.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised to people who love him. ⁶ But you show no respect to the poor man. And you know that it is the rich who are always trying to control your lives. And they are the ones who take you to court. ⁷ They are the ones who say bad things against Jesus, who owns you.

⁸ One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”^[a] If you obey this law, then you are doing right. ⁹ But if you are treating one person as if he were more important than another, then you are sinning. That royal law proves that you are guilty of breaking God’s law. ¹⁰ A person might follow all of God’s law. But if he fails to obey even one command, he is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. ¹¹ God said, “You must not be guilty of adultery.”^[b] The same God also said, “You must not murder anyone.”^[c] So if you do not take part in adultery, but you murder someone, then you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law. ¹² You will be judged by the law that makes people free. You should remember this in everything you say and do. ¹³ Yes, you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear when he is judged.

Faith and Good Works

¹⁴ My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? ¹⁵ A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food. ¹⁶ And you say to him, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say this, but you do not give that person the things he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing. ¹⁷ It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead, because it is alone.

A Hymn of Praise