The Vision of the Dry Bones

¹The hand of the Lord came upon me. He took me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the valley. It was full of bones. ²He led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, “O mortal, can these bones live again?” I replied, “O Lord God, only You know.” ⁴And He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵Thus said the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again. ⁶I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. And I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. And you shall know that I am the Lord!”

⁷I prophesied as I had been commanded. And while I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Lord God: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.” ¹⁰I prophesied as He commanded me. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude.

¹¹And He said to me, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’ ¹²Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. ¹³You shall know, O My people, that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. ¹⁴I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and have acted”—declares the Lord.

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶And you, O mortal, take a stick and write on it, “Of Judah and the Israelites associated with him”; and take another stick and write on it, “Of Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and all the House of Israel associated with him.” ¹⁷Bring them close to each other, so that they become one stick, joined together in your hand. ¹⁸And when any of your people ask you, “Won’t you tell us what these actions of yours mean?” ¹⁹answer them, “Thus said the Lord God: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim—and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place the stick of Judah upon it and make them into one stick; they shall be joined in My hand.” ²⁰You shall hold up before their eyes the sticks which you have inscribed, ²¹and you shall declare to them: Thus said the Lord God: I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. ²²I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. ²³Nor shall they ever again defile themselves by their fetishes and their abhorrent things, and by their other transgressions. I will save them in all their settlements where they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws. ²⁵Thus they shall remain in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your fathers dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time. ²⁶I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. ²⁸And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.