Old/New Testament

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.’

The Death of Gog and His Army

39 “Human being, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ² I will turn you around and lead you. I will bring you from the far north. I will send you to attack the mountains of Israel. ³ I will knock your bow out of your left hand. I will throw down your arrows from your right hand. ⁴ You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel. You, all your troops and the nations with you will fall dead. I will let you be food for every bird that eats meat and every wild animal. ⁵ You will die in the country. I have spoken, says the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and those who live in safety on the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “‘And I will make myself known among my people Israel. I will not let myself be dishonored anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord. They will know I am the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ It is coming! It will happen, says the Lord God. The day I talked about is coming.

⁹ “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out. They will make fires with the enemy’s weapons and burn them. They will burn both large and small shields. They will burn bows and arrows, war clubs and spears. They will use the weapons to burn in their fires for seven years. ¹⁰ They won’t need to take wood from the field or chop firewood from the forests. This is because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the valuable things of those who took their valuable things. They will grab the things of those who grabbed their things, says the Lord God.

¹¹ “‘On that day I will give Gog a place to be buried in Israel. It will be the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers. This is because Gog and all his army will be buried there. People will call it The Valley of Gog’s Army.

¹² “‘The people of Israel will be burying them for seven months to make the land clean again. ¹³ All the people of the land will bury them. The people of Israel will be honored on the day of my victory, says the Lord God.

¹⁴ “‘They will choose men to work through the land to make it clean. With others they will bury Gog’s soldiers still lying dead on the ground. After the seven months are finished, they will still search. ¹⁵ They will go through the land. If one person sees a human bone, he will put a marker by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers come. They will bury the bone in The Valley of Gog’s Army. ¹⁶ A city will be there named Hamonah. So they will make the land clean again.’

¹⁷ “Human being, this is what the Lord God says: Speak to every kind of bird and wild animal: ‘Come together, come! Come together from all around to my sacrifice. I will prepare it for you. It is a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. Then you can eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men. You will drink the blood of the rulers of the earth. You will do it as people eat all the fat animals from Bashan: male sheep, lambs, goats and bulls. ¹⁹ You will eat and drink from my sacrifice which I have made ready for you. So you will eat fat until you are full. You will drink blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you will eat until you are full of horses and riders and all kinds of soldiers,’ says the Lord God.

²¹ “And I will show my greatness among the nations. All the nations will feel my power when I punish them. ²² From that day on the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ And the nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them. And I let their enemies defeat them. All of them died in war. ²⁴ I punished them for their uncleanness and their sins. I turned away from them.

²⁵ “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity. I will have mercy on the whole nation of Israel. I will not let them dishonor me. ²⁶ The people will forget their shame. And they will forget how they rejected me. They will live in safety on their own land. No one will make them afraid. ²⁷ I will bring the people back from other lands. I will gather them from the lands of their enemies. That is how I will show that I am holy through my people. And many nations will see that I am holy. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. This is because I sent them into captivity among the nations. But then I brought them back to their own land. And I didn’t leave any behind. ²⁹ I will not turn away from them anymore. I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God.”

False Teachers

2 There used to be false prophets among God’s people, just as there are now. And you will have some false teachers in your group. They will secretly teach things that are wrong—teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master, Jesus, who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. ² Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the Way of truth. ³ Those false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you what is not true. But God has already judged them guilty. And they will not escape the One who will destroy them.

⁴ When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. God sent them to hell and put them in caves^[a] of darkness. They are being held there to be judged. ⁵ And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against him. But God saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who preached about being right with God. ⁶ And God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.^[b] He burned those cities until there was nothing left but ashes. He made those cities an example to show what will happen to those who are against God. ⁷ But God saved Lot from those cities. Lot, a good man, was troubled because of the sinful behavior of evil people. ⁸ (Lot was a good man, but he lived with evil people every day. His good heart was hurt by the evil things that he saw and heard.) ⁹ And so the Lord knows how to save those who serve him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people and punish them, while waiting for the Judgment Day. ¹⁰ That punishment is especially for those who live by doing the evil things their sinful selves want, and for those who hate the Lord’s authority.

These false teachers do anything they want and brag about it. They are not afraid to say bad things about the glorious angels. ¹¹ The angels are much stronger and more powerful than false teachers. But even the angels do not accuse them with insults before^[c] the Lord. ¹² But these men say bad things about what they do not understand. They are like animals that act without thinking. These animals are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, these false teachers will be destroyed. ¹³ They have caused many people to suffer; so they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They take pleasure in doing evil things openly. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you. They bring shame to you in the meals that you eat together. ¹⁴ Every time they look at a woman they want her. Their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin. They have taught their hearts to be selfish. God will punish them. ¹⁵ These false teachers left the right road and lost their way. They followed the way that Balaam went. Balaam was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. ¹⁶ But a donkey told Balaam that he was sinning. And the donkey is an animal that cannot talk. But the donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet’s crazy thinking.

¹⁷ Those false teachers are like rivers that have no water. They are like clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them. ¹⁸ They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires they lead people into the trap of sin. They lead away people who are just beginning to escape from other people who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For a person is a slave of anything that controls him. ²⁰ They were made free from the evil in the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they return to evil things and those things control them, then it is worse for them than it was before. ²¹ Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. ²² What they did is like this true saying: “A dog eats what it throws up.”^[d] And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud.”