Read the Bible

The Valley of Dry Bones

^1 (a)The hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^(b)he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;^[a] it was full of bones. ² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³ And he said to me, ^(c)"Son of man, ^(d)can these bones live?" And ^(e)I answered, "O Lord God, you know." ⁴ Then he said to me, ^(f)"Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^(g)O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^(h)breath^[b] to enter you, and you shall live. ^6 (i)And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^(j)cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^(k)and you shall know that I am the Lord."

⁷ So I prophesied ^(l)as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^(m)a rattling,^[c] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ⁽ⁿ⁾there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, ^(o)"Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^(p)son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^(q)the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." ¹⁰ So I prophesied ^(r)as he commanded me, and ^(s)the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, ^(t)"Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^(u)our hope is lost; ^(v)we are indeed cut off.' ¹² Therefore ^(w)prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(x)I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^(y)I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And ^(z)you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ And ^(aa)I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; ^(ab)I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord."

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ^16 (ac)"Son of man, ^(ad)take a stick^[d] and write on it, ‘For ^(ae)Judah, and ^(af)the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(ag)Joseph (the stick of ^(ah)Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.' ¹⁷ And ^(ai)join them one to another into one stick, that ^(aj)they may become ^(ak)one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when ^(al)your people say to you, ^(am)‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?' ¹⁹ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^(an)the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^(ao)stick of Judah,^[e] and ^(ap)make them one stick, ^(aq)that they may be one in my hand. ²⁰ When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^(ar)before their eyes, ²¹ then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(as)I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^(at)bring them to their own land. ²² And ^(au)I will make them one nation in the land, on ^(av)the mountains of Israel. And ^(aw)one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^(ax)two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ^23 (ay)They shall not ^(az)defile themselves anymore ^(ba)with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^(bb)I will save them from all the backslidings^[f] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^(bc)they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ "My servant ^(bd)David ^(be)shall be king over them, and they shall all have ^(bf)one shepherd. ^(bg)They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ^25 (bh)They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there ^(bi)forever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^(bj)forever. ^26 (bk)I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^(bl)an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land^[g] and ^(bm)multiply them, and will ^(bn)set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ^27 (bo)My dwelling place shall be with them, ^(bp)and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸ Then ^(bq)the nations will know that ^(br)I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^(bs)my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."