EZEKIEL 37 [†] d The hand of the LORD was upon me, and  e he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; [1] it was full of bones. 2And 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,  f “Son of man,  g can these bones live?” And  h I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4[†]Then he said to me,  i “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them,  j O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5[^]Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause  k breath [2] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 l And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and  l cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live,  m and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

7So I prophesied  n as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold,  o a rattling, [3] 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  p there was no breath in them. 9[†]Then he said to me,  i “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy,  f 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.” 10So I prophesied  n as he commanded me, and  r the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11Then he said to me,  f “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and  s our hope is lost;  t we are indeed cut off.’ 12[†]Therefore  i prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold,  u I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And  v I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13And  w you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14[†]And  x 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;  y I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

15[†]The word of the LORD came to me: 16[†] z “Son of man,  a take a stick [4] and write on it, ‘For  b Judah, and  c the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For  b Joseph (the stick of  d Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17And  e join them one to another into one stick, that  f they may become  g one in your hand. 18And when  h your people say to you,  i ‘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  j 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  j stick of Judah, [5] and  k make them one stick,  g that they may be one in my hand. 20When the sticks on which you write are in your hand  l before their eyes, 21[†]then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold,  m I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and  m bring them to their own land. 22And  n I will make them one nation in the land, on  o the mountains of Israel. And  p one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer  q two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23[†] r They shall not  s defile themselves anymore  t with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But  u I will save them from all the backslidings [6] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and  v they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24[^][†]“My servant  w David  x shall be king over them, and they shall all have  y one shepherd.  z They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 a 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  b forever, and David my servant shall be their prince  c forever. 26[†] d I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be  e an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land [7] and  f multiply them, and will  g set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27[†] h My dwelling place shall be with them,  v and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28Then  i the nations will know that  j I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when  g my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”