יחזקאל לז

GOD’s hand came upon me. I was taken out by the spirit of GOD and set down in the valley. It was full of bones.

[God] led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry.

I was asked, “O mortal, can these bones live again?” I replied, “O my Sovereign GOD, only You know.”

And I was told, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of GOD!

Thus said the Sovereign GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again.

I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. And I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. And you shall know that I am GOD!”

I prophesied as I had been commanded. And while I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone.

I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them.

Then [God] said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.”

I prophesied as I was commanded. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude.

And I was told, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’

Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel.

You shall know, O My people, that I am GOD, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves.

I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I, GOD, have spoken and have acted”—declares GOD.

The word of GOD came to me:

And you, O mortal, take a stick and write on it, “Of Judah and the Israelites associated with him”; and take another stick and write on it, “Of Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and all the House of Israel associated with him.”

Bring them close to each other, so that they become one stick, joined together in your hand.

And when any of your people ask you, “Won’t you tell us what these actions of yours mean?”

answer them, “Thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim—and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place the stick of Judah upon it and make them into one stick; they shall be joined in My hand.”

You shall hold up before their eyes the sticks that you have inscribed,

and you shall declare to them: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land.

I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

Nor shall they ever again defile themselves by their fetishes and their abhorrent things, and by their other transgressions. I will save them in all their settlements where they sinned, and I will purify them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws.

Thus they shall remain in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your ancestors dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time.

I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever.

My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people.

And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I, GOD, do sanctify Israel.