Chapter 37

¹ And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord brought me forth by the Spirit, and set me in the midst of the plain, and it was full of human bones. ² And he led me round about them ¹every way: and, behold, there were very many on the face of the plain, very dry.

³ And he said to me, Son of man, will these bones live? and I said, O Lord God, thou knowest this. ⁴ And he said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus saith the Lord to these bones; Behold, I will bring upon you the breath of life: ⁶ and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and will spread skin upon you, and will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷ So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me: and it came to pass while I was prophesying, that, behold, there was a shaking, and the bones approached each one to his joint. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh grew upon them, and ²skin came upon them above: but there was not breath in them. ⁹ And he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord; Come from the four winds, and breathe upon these dead men, and let them live. ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, a very great congregation.

¹¹ And the Lord spoke to me, saying, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: and they say, Our bones are become dry, our hope has perished, we are quite spent. ¹² therefore prophesy and say,

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you up out of your tombs, and will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, that I may bring up my people from their graves. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit within you, and ye shall live, and I will place you upon your own land: and ye shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and will do it, saith the Lord.

¹⁵ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁶ Son of man, take for thyself a rod, and write upon it, Juda, and the children of Israel his adherents; and thou shalt take for thyself another rod, and thou shalt inscribe it for Joseph, the rod of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel ³that belong to him. ¹⁷ And thou shalt joint them together for thyself, so as that they should bind themselves into one stick; and they shall be in thine hand.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass, when the children of thy people shall say to thee, Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by these things? ¹⁹ Then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord; behold, I will take the tribe of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that belong to him, and I will add them to the tribe of Juda, and they shall become one rod in the hand of Juda. ²⁰ And the

1030

rods on which thou didst write shall be in thine hand in their presence. ²¹ And thou shalt say to them,

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the whole house of Israel out of the midst of the nations, among whom they have gone, and I will gather them from all that are round about them, and I will bring them into the land of Israel. ²² And I will make them a nation in my land, even on the mountains of Israel; and ⁴they shall have one prince: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided any more at all into two kingdoms: ²³ that they may no more defile themselves with their idols; and I will deliver them from all their transgressions whereby they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be to me a people, and I the Lord will be to them a God.

²⁴ And my servant David shall be a prince in the midst of them: there shall be one shepherd of them all; for they shall walk in mine ordinances, and keep my judgments, and do them. ²⁵ And they shall dwell in their land, which I have given to my servant Jacob, where their fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell upon it:⁵ and David my servant shall be their prince forever.

²⁶ And I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. ^{27 6}And my tabernacle shall be among them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸ And the nations shall know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for ever.