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A Valley of Dried Bones; A Renewed Nation of Israel
37 The hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he brought me by the Spirit of Yahweh, and he let me rest[a] in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2 And he led me all around[b] over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man,[c] can these bones live?” And I said, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” 4 And he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, to the dry bones, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh! 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: “Look! I am bringing into you breath, and you will live! 6 And I will lay on you sinews, and I will let flesh come upon you, and I will cover you over with skin, and I will put breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”
7 And I prophesied just as[d] I had been commanded, and there was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together—the bones! Bone to its bone! 8 And I looked, and indeed, sinews were on them, and flesh went up,[e] and skin covered over[f] them upward,[g] but breath was not in them. 9 And he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man,[h] and you must say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh from the four winds,[i] “Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!”’” 10 And I prophesied as[j] he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group.
11 And he said to me, “Son of man,[k] these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; we are cut off as far as we are concerned.’[l] 12 Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel! 13 And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people! 14 And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!”’ declares[m] Yahweh.”
15 And the word of Yahweh came[n] to me, saying,[o] 16 “And you, son of man,[p] take for yourself a piece of wood,[q] and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites[r] his associates,’ and take another piece of wood, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the piece of wood of[s] Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.’ 17 And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. 18 When[t] your people[u] say to you, saying,[v] ‘Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?’ 19 Then speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.’” 20 And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the Israelites[w] from among the nations to which they went,[x] and I will gather them from everywhere,[y] and I will bring them to their own soil. 22 And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and they will all have one king as their king,[z] and they[aa] will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again. 23 And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy by which they sinned,[ab] and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.
24 “‘“And my servant David will be king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them. 25 And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, in which your ancestors dwelled,[ac] and they will dwell on it, they and their children and the children of their children forever,[ad] and my servant David will be a leader for them forever.[ae] 26 And I will make with them a covenant of peace; an everlasting covenant[af] it will be with them. And I will establish them, and I will cause them to increase, and I will put my sanctuary in the midst of them forever.[ag] 27 And my tabernacle will be with them, and I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation. 28 And the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am consecrating Israel when my sanctuary is in the midst of them forever.”’”[ah]
God’s Message to Gog
38 And the word of Yahweh came[ai] to me, saying,[aj] 2 “Son of man,[ak] set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the head[al] leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. 3 And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Gog, the head[am] leader of Meshach and Tubal, 4 and I will turn you around, and I will place[an] hooks in your cheeks, and I will bring you out and all of your horses and horsemen fully armed,[ao] all of them, a great crowd, holding a shield,[ap] and small shield, and holding[aq] swords, all of them. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them, with a small shield and helmet. 6 Gomer and all of its troops, Beth Togarmah, the remote areas of the north, and with all of its troops and many peoples with them. 7 Be ready, and prepare yourselves,[ar] you and all of your assembly,[as] the assembling[at] around you, and you must be[au] for them as a guard. 8 After many days you will be mustered; in the last years[av] you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruins[aw] but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety,[ax] all of them. 9 And you will advance like a storm; you will come, and you will be like a cloud covering[ay] the land, and all of your troops and many nations along with you.”
10 “‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And then[az] on that day, things[ba] will come up on[bb] your mind, and you will devise evil plans. 11 And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come[bc] to the people being at rest in safety,[bd] all of them dwelling without a wall[be] and crossbars[bf] and without doors,[bg] 12 to[bh] loot loot,[bi] and to plunder[bj] plunder, to assail[bk] inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world. 13 Sheba and Dedan and traders of Tarshish and all its strong lions,[bl] they will ask you, ‘To[bm] loot loot[bn] are you coming? To plunder[bo] plunder have you summoned your assembly, to take away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, to loot great amounts[bp] of loot?”’
14 “Therefore prophesy, son of man,[bq] and you must say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will you not realize[br] on that day when my people Israel are dwelling in safety,[bs] 15 and so you will come from your place, from the remote areas of the north, you and many people with you, horsemen[bt] all of them, a great crowd and a vast army, 16 and you will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering[bu] the land; it will be[bv] in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations know me, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog!”’
17 “Thus says the Lord Yahweh, ‘Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel who were prophesying in those days for years that I would bring you against them? 18 And so then in that day, on the day of the coming of God against the land of Israel,’ declares[bw] the Lord Yahweh, ‘my rage will come up in my anger. 19 And in my passion, in the fire of my wrath, I spoke[bx] that certainly[by] on that day a great earthquake will be on the land of Israel. 20 And the fish of the sea and the birds[bz] of the heaven[ca] and the animals[cb] of the field and all of the creeping things that creep on the earth and all of the humans[cc] who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence;[cd] and the mountains will be demolished, and the steep mountain sides will fall, and every wall on[ce] the earth will fall. 21 And I will call against him[cf] in all of my mountains a sword,’ declares[cg] the Lord Yahweh, ‘And the sword of each person will be against his brother. 22 And I will execute justice with[ch] him with a plague and with blood and torrents of rain,[ci] and hailstones; fire and sulfur I will cause to fall on him and on his troops and on many peoples who are with him. 23 And so I will exalt myself, and I will show myself holy, and I will make myself known before the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
Doers of the Message, Not Just Hearers
19 Understand this, my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human[a] anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all moral uncleanness and wicked excess, welcome[b] with humility the implanted message which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the message and not hearers only,[c] deceiving yourselves, 23 because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone[d] staring at his own face[e] in a mirror, 24 for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed in what he does[f].
26 If anyone thinks he is religious, although he[g] does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our[h] God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Partiality Forbidden
2 My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. 2 For if someone[i] enters into your assembly[j] in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, 3 and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there[k] by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? 7 Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name of the one to whom you belong[l]?
8 However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[m] you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus[n] are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it. 11 For the one who said “Do not commit adultery”[o] also said “Do not murder.”[p] Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?[q] 15 If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, 16 and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well[r],” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? 17 Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
Let All Peoples Praise Yahweh
117 Praise Yahweh, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For his loyal love is mighty on our behalf,
and the faithfulness of Yahweh is forever.
Praise Yah![a]
28 The wicked flee, but no one pursues,
but the righteous is bold like a lion.
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