I will bring you back to live in your own land
1The Lord put his hand on me and his Spirit took me out of the city and He put me down in a valley. The valley was full of bones of dead people. 2The Spirit told me to walk around the bones. There were a lot of bones in the valley and the bones were very dry. 3The Lord asked me: ‘Son of man, can these bones become alive?’
I answered: ‘Lord, You who are God, only You know.’
4Then the Lord said to me: ‘You must prophesy to these bones. You must say to them: “Dry bones, listen to what the Lord says. 5The Lord God says to these bones: Listen, I will send breath into you and you will live. 6I will put muscles on you, I will put flesh over you and I will put skin over it. I will send breath into you and you will live. You will know that I am the Lord.” ’
7I prophesied to the bones as the Lord told me and while I did, I heard a sound. It sounded like an earthquake. And then all the bones came to each other. Each bone came to the bone that had to be with it. 8And while I was looking, I saw muscles that came onto the bones and flesh covered the bones and skin came over the flesh and bones. But there was no breath in the bodies. 9Then the Lord said to me: ‘Son of man, you must prophesy to the wind. You must talk to the wind and say: “The Lord God says: Wind, you must blow from the north, south, east and west and you must blow into these dead people so that they can become alive.” ’
10I prophesied to the wind as the Lord told me and then breath came into their bones. They came alive and they all got up and stood on their feet. It was a very big crowd of people, like an army. 11The Lord said to me: ‘Son of man, the bones that you saw are like all the people of Israel. They said: “We are like dry bones. We have no hope that anything good will happen to us. The Lord has cut us off and destroyed us.”
12That is why you must prophesy to them. You must tell them: “The Lord God says: My people, I will now open up your graves and I will bring you out of your graves. I will bring you back to the land_of_Israel. 13My people, you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you out of your graves. 14I will put my Spirit in you and you will live. I will bring you back to live in your own land and you will know that I am the Lord.” This is what I said and I will do it.’ This is what the Lord God said.
My people will no longer be 2 nations
15The Lord talked to me and He said: 16‘Son of man, you must take a stick and write these words on it: “This stick is for the people of Judah and all the Israelites with them.”
Then take another stick and write these words on it: “This stick is for Joseph”. This is the stick for Ephraim and all the Israelites with them. 17Then you must put the 2 sticks together so that they feel like one stick in your hand. 18And when your people ask you: “Please tell us what these 2 sticks mean,” 19you must tell them: “The Lord God says: I will take the stick for Joseph and the tribes_of_Israel with him, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and I will put it with the stick of Judah. I will make them into one stick, and they will be one in my hand.”
20Take the 2 sticks on which you wrote the names and hold it in your hand so that the people can see them, 21and tell them: “The Lord God says: I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have been and I will bring them back into their own land. 22I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains_of_Israel and they will have one king. They will no longer be 2 nations and they will never again be 2 kingdoms. 23They will not serve_idols again or do things that I hate. They will not rebel again and become impure. I will save them and I will take away all their disobedience that caused them to sin. I will purify them. They will be my people and I will be their God.
24And my servant David will be their king. He will be the only shepherd for them all. He will live as I say and he will do what I want him to do. 25The Israelites will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their forefathers lived. They will live there forever, they and their children and their children's children. My servant David will always rule over them. 26I will make a covenant with them, a covenant that will bring peace to them, and this covenant will be forever. I will give them what they need and I will make them a big nation. I will put my temple among them forever 27and I will live with them. I will be their God and they will be my people. 28And when my temple is among them forever, then the other nations will know that I am the Lord who has consecrated Israel to Me.” ’
