Ezekiel 37–39

The Valley of Dry Bones

37^dThe hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^ehe 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. ³And he said to me, ^f“Son of man, ^gcan these bones live?” And ^hI answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^jO dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^kbreath² to enter you, and you shall live. ^6lAnd 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.”

⁷So I prophesied ⁿas I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^oa rattling,³ and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ^pthere was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^fson of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^qthe four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰So I prophesied ⁿas he commanded me, and ^rthe 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 ^sour hope is lost; ^twe are indeed cut off.’ ¹²Therefore ⁱprophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^uI will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^vI will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And ^wyou shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴And ^xI 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; ^yI have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ^16z“Son of man, ^atake a stick⁴ and write on it, ‘For ^bJudah, and ^cthe people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^bJoseph (the stick of ^dEphraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷And ^ejoin them one to another into one stick, that ^fthey may become ^gone in your hand. ¹⁸And when ^hyour people say to you, ⁱ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^jthe 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 ^jstick of Judah,⁵ and ^kmake them one stick, ^gthat they may be one in my hand. ²⁰When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^lbefore their eyes, ²¹then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^mI will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^mbring them to their own land. ²²And ⁿI will make them one nation in the land, on ^othe mountains of Israel. And ^pone king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^qtwo nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ^23rThey shall not ^sdefile themselves anymore ^twith their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^uI will save them from all the backslidings⁶ in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^vthey shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴“My servant ^wDavid ^xshall be king over them, and they shall all have ^yone shepherd. ^zThey shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ^25aThey 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 ^bforever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^cforever. ^26dI will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^ean everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land⁷ and ^fmultiply them, and will ^gset my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ^27hMy dwelling place shall be with them, ^vand I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸Then ⁱthe nations will know that ^jI am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^gmy sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Prophecy Against Gog

38The word of the Lord came to me: ^2k“Son of man, ^lset your face toward ^mGog, of the land of ⁿMagog, the ^ochief prince of ^pMeshech¹ and ^pTubal, and ^qprophesy against him ³and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^rI am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech² and Tubal. ^4sAnd I will turn you about and ^tput hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and ^uall your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. ^5vPersia, ^wCush, and ^vPut are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ^6xGomer and all his ^yhordes; ^zBeth-togarmah from ^athe uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—^umany peoples are with you.

^7b“Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ^8cAfter many days you will be mustered. ^dIn the latter years you will go against ^dthe land that is restored from war, the land whose people ^ewere gathered from many peoples upon ^fthe mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and ^gnow dwell securely, all of them. ⁹You will advance, coming on ^hlike a storm. You will be ⁱlike a cloud covering the land, you and all your ^yhordes, and many peoples with you.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, ^jthoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme ¹¹and say, ‘I will go up against ^kthe land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon ^lthe quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ ¹²to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against ^mthe waste places that are now inhabited, and ^mthe people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, ⁿwho dwell at the center of the earth. ^13oSheba and ^pDedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all ^qits leaders³ will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

¹⁴“Therefore, ^rson of man, prophesy, and say to ^sGog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are ^gdwelling securely, ^twill you not know it? ¹⁵You will come from your place out of ^uthe uttermost parts of the north, you and ^vmany peoples with you, ^wall of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. ¹⁶You will come up against my people Israel, ⁱlike a cloud covering the land. ^xIn the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, ^yI vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

¹⁷“Thus says the Lord God: Are you ^zhe of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, ^amy wrath will be roused in my anger. ¹⁹For ^bin my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day ^cthere shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ^20dThe fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, ^eshall quake at my presence. And ^fthe mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. ^21gI will summon a sword against Gog⁴ on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. ^hEvery man’s sword will be against his brother. ²²With pestilence and bloodshed ⁱI will enter into judgment with him, and ^jI will rain upon him and ^khis hordes and the many peoples who are with him ^ltorrential rains and hailstones, ^mfire and sulfur. ²³So I will show my greatness and my ⁿholiness and ^omake myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then ^pthey will know that I am the Lord.

39“And you, ^qson of man, ^rprophesy against ^sGog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^tI am against you, O Gog, ^uchief prince of ^vMeshech¹ and ^vTubal. ^2wAnd I will turn you about and drive you forward,² and bring you up from ^xthe uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the ^ymountains of Israel. ³Then ^zI will strike your bow from your left hand, and ^zwill make your arrows drop out of your right hand. ^4aYou shall fall on ^ythe mountains of Israel, you and all your ^bhordes and the peoples who are with you. ^cI will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. ⁵You shall fall in the open field, for ^dI have spoken, declares the Lord God. ^6eI will send fire on ^fMagog and on those ^gwho dwell securely in ^hthe coastlands, and ⁱthey shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷“And ^jmy holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and ^kI will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And ^lthe nations shall know that I am ^mthe Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ⁿBehold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day ^oof which I have spoken.

⁹“Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and ^pmake fires of the weapons and burn them, shields and bucklers, bow and arrows, ^qclubs³ and spears; and they will make fires of them for seven years, ¹⁰so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for ^pthey will make their fires of the weapons. ^rThey will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

¹¹“On that…