The word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”; and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am about