RSV Ezekiel 37 Chapter
37:1
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley;it was full of bones.
37:2
And he led me round among them;and behold, there were very many upon the valley;and lo, they were very dry.
37:3
And he said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' And I answered, 'O Lord GOD, thou knowest.'
37:4
Again he said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
37:5
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
37:6
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live;and you shall know that I am the LORD.'
37:7
So I prophesied as I was commanded;and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling;and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
37:8
And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them;but there was no breath in them.
37:9
Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'
37:10
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host.
37:11
Then he said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost;we are clean cut off.'
37:12
Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people;and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.
37:13
And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
37:14
And 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, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it, says the LORD.'
37:15
The word of the LORD came to me:
37:16
'Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah, and the children of Israel associated with him';then take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph (the stick of E'phraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him';
37:17
and join them together into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.
37:18
And when your people say to you, Will you not show us what you mean by these?'
37:19
say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of E'phraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him;and I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand.
37:20
When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes,
37:21
then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land;
37:22
and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel;and one king shall be king over them all;and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
37:23
They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions;but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them;and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
37:24
'My servant David shall be king over them;and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
37:25
They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob;they and their children and their children's children shall dwell there for ever;and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
37:26
I will make a covenant of peace with them;it shall be an everlasting covenant with them;and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
37:27
My dwelling place shall be with them;and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
37:28
Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.'