Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

37 With the hand of Adonai upon me, Adonai carried me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. ² He had me pass by all around them — there were so many bones lying in the valley, and they were so dry! ³ He asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?” I answered, “Adonai Elohim! Only you know that!” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones! Say to them, ‘Dry bones! Hear what Adonai has to say! ⁵ To these bones Adonai Elohim says, “I will make breath enter you, and you will live. ⁶ I will attach ligaments to you, make flesh grow on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you. You will live, and you will know that I am Adonai.”’”

⁷ So I prophesied as ordered; and while I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound; it was the bones coming together, each bone in its proper place. ⁸ As I watched, ligaments grew on them, flesh appeared and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Next he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy, human being! Say to the breath that Adonai Elohim says, ‘Come from the four winds, breath; and breathe on these slain, so that they can live.’”

¹⁰ So I prophesied as ordered, and the breath came into them, and they were alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army! ¹¹ Then he said to me, “Human being! These bones are the whole house of Isra’el; and they are saying, ‘Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy; say to them that Adonai Elohim says, ‘My people! I will open your graves and make you get up out of your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Isra’el. ¹³ Then you will know that I am Adonai — when I have opened your graves and made you get up out of your graves, my people! ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you; and you will be alive. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Adonai, have spoken, and that I have done it,’ says Adonai.”

⁶ Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom. ⁷ For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah — indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God.

⁹ But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit — provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him. ¹⁰ However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

11 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El‘azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. ² (This Miryam, whose brother El‘azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” ⁴ On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”

⁵ Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El‘azar; ⁶ so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; ⁷ then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” ⁸ The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” ⁹ Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.”

¹¹ Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El‘azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” ¹² The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El‘azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. ¹⁴ So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El‘azar has died. ¹⁵ And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may come to trust. But let’s go to him.” ¹⁶ Then T’oma (the name means “twin”) said to his fellow talmidim, “Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!”

¹⁷ On arrival, Yeshua found that El‘azar had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim, ¹⁹ and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother. ²⁰ So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv‘ah in the house.

²¹ Marta said to Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” ²³ Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.” ²⁵ Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; ²⁶ and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸ After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: “The Rabbi is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him. ³⁰ Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him; ³¹ so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³² When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you buried him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Yeshua cried; ³⁶ so the Judeans there said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “He opened the blind man’s eyes. Couldn’t he have kept this one from dying?”

³⁸ Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance. ³⁹ Yeshua said, “Take the stone away!” Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, “By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!” ⁴⁰ Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me.” ⁴³ Having said this, he shouted, “El‘azar! Come out!” ⁴⁴ The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, “Unwrap him, and let him go!” ⁴⁵ At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.