Ezekiel 37

1The hand of the LORD came on me, and he carried me out by the Spirit of the LORD and put me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. 2He led me back and forth among them, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the floor of the valley, and they were very dry. 3He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord GOD, only you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5The Lord GOD says this to these bones: I am going to put breath into you, and you will come to life. 6I will put tendons on you and make flesh grow on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and you will come alive. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” 7So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, each bone to its own bone. 8As I watched, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew on them, and skin covered them over. But there was no breath in them. 9Then he told me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to it, The Lord GOD says this: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live.” 10So I prophesied as he had commanded me, and breath entered them. They came to life and stood up on their feet, a huge army.

11He said to me, “Son of man, these bones stand for the whole house of Israel. They keep saying, ‘Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone; we are completely cut off.’ 12So prophesy and say to them, The Lord GOD says this: I am going to open your graves and raise you up out of them, my people. I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13Then you will know that I am the LORD, my people, when I open your graves and raise you up out of them. 14I will put my Spirit within you so that you live, and I will set you down on your own soil. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, declares the LORD.”

15The word of the LORD came to me: 16Now you, son of man, take a stick of wood and inscribe it, “For Judah and the Israelites allied with him.” Then take a second stick and inscribe it, “For Joseph, that is, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel allied with him.” 17Join the two to each other to make one stick, so that they are one in your hand. 18When your own people ask you, “Will you not tell us what you mean by this?” 19tell them, The Lord GOD says this: I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in Ephraim’s hand, and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and join it to the stick of Judah. I will make them a single stick, and they will become one in my hand. 20Hold the sticks you have written on in your hand where they can see them, 21and say to them, The Lord GOD says this: I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back to their own land. 22I will make them into a single nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, with one king ruling over them all. Never again will they be two nations or be split into two kingdoms. 23They will no longer make themselves unclean with their idols, their vile idols or any of their rebellious acts. I will rescue them from all the places where they lived and sinned, and I will make them clean. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 24My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my rulings and be careful to keep my statutes. 25They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They will live there forever, they and their children and their grandchildren, and my servant David will be their prince forever. 26I will make a covenant of peace with them, a covenant that will last forever. I will establish them and make them numerous, and I will place my sanctuary among them forever. 27My dwelling place will be among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28Then the nations will know that I, the LORD, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.