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Ezekiel 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

1 ^aThe hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^bhe brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; ^{▼

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Or plain; also verse 2} it was full of bones. 2 And 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, ^d“Son of man, ^ecan these bones live?” And ^fI answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, ^g“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^hO dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ⁱbreath ^{▼

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Or spirit; also verses 6, 9, 10} to enter you, and you shall live. 6 ^kAnd I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^lcover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live ^mand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

7 So I prophesied ⁿas I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^oa rattling, ^{▼

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Or an earthquake (compare 3:12, 13)} 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 ^qthere was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, ^r“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^sson of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^tthe four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied ^uas he commanded me, and ^vthe breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, ^w“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^xour hope is lost; ^ywe are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore ^zprophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold ^aaI will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^abI will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ^acyou shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And ^adI 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; ^aeI have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My People

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 ^af“Son of man ^agtake a stick ^{▼

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Or one piece of wood; also verses 17, 19, 20} and write on it, ‘For ^aiJudah, and ^ajthe people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^akJoseph (the stick of ^alEphraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And ^amjoin them one to another into one stick, that ^anthey may become ^aoone in your hand. 18 And when ^apyour people say to you, ^aq‘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 ^arthe 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 ^asstick of Judah ^{▼

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Hebrew And I will place them on it, the stick of Judah} and ^aumake them one stick ^avthat they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^awbefore their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^axI will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^aybring them to their own land. 22 And ^azI will make them one nation in the land, on ^bathe mountains of Israel. And ^bbone king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^bctwo nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 ^bdThey shall not ^bedefile themselves anymore ^bfwith their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^bgI will save them from all the backslidings ^{▼

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Many Hebrew manuscripts; other Hebrew manuscripts dwellings} in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^bithey shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24 “My servant ^bjDavid ^bkshall be king over them, and they shall all have ^blone shepherd. ^bmThey shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 ^bnThey 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 ^boforever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^bpforever. 26 ^bqI will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^bran everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land ^{▼

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Hebrew lacks in their land} and ^btmultiply them, and will ^buset my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 ^bvMy dwelling place shall be with them, ^bwand I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then ^bxthe nations will know that ^byI am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^bzmy sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”