37:1 THE HAND of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. |
37:2 And He caused me to pass round about among them, and behold, there were very many [human bones] in the open valley {or} plain, and behold, they were very dry. |
37:3 And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, You know! |
37:4 Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. |
37:5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath {and} spirit to enter you, and you shall live; |
37:6 And I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath {and} spirit in you, and you [dry bones] shall live; and you shall know, understand, {and} realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]. |
37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [thundering] noise and behold, a shaking {and} trembling {and} a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. |
37:8 And I looked and behold, there were sinews upon [the bones] and flesh came upon them and skin covered them over, but there was no breath {or} spirit in them. |
37:9 Then said He to me, Prophesy to the breath {and} spirit, son of man, and say to the breath {and} spirit, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath {and} spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. |
37:10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath {and} spirit came into [the bones], and they lived and stood up 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 completely cut off. |
37:12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you [back home] to the land of Israel. |
37:13 And you shall know that I am the Lord [your Sovereign Ruler], when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people. |
37:14 And I shall put My Spirit in you and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then you shall know, understand, {and} realize that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. |
37:15 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, |
37:16 Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his companions; |
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 will take the stick of Joseph--which is in the hand of Ephraim--and the tribes of Israel his associates, and will join with it the stick of Judah and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand. |
37:20 When the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes, |
37:21 Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into 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, neither be divided into two kingdoms any more. |
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 out of all their dwelling places {and} from all their backslidings in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. So shall they be My people, and I will be their God. |
37:24 And David My Servant shall be King over them, and they all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My ordinances and heed My statutes and do them. |
37:25 They shall dwell in the land in which your fathers dwelt, that I gave to My servant Jacob, and they shall dwell there, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My Servant David shall be their Prince forever. |
37:26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will give blessings to them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. |
37:27 My tabernacle {or} dwelling place also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. |
37:28 Then the nations shall know, understand, {and} realize that I the Lord do set apart {and} consecrate Israel for holy use, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forevermore. |