Ezekiel 37
1 One day Yahweh gave me another vision. In the vision I felt the power [MTY] of God on me, and by his Spirit he took me to the middle of a valley. It was full of bones [of people who had been killed].
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 He led me to walk back and forth among those bones. I saw that there were very many bones there, bones that were very dry.
And he led me round about them every way: and, behold, [there were] very many on the face of the plain, very dry.
3 He asked me, “You human, [do you think that] these bones can become living [people again]?” I replied, “Yahweh my Lord, only you know [if that can happen].”
And he said to me, Son of man, will these bones live? and I said, O Lord God, thou knowest this.
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, ‘You dry bones, listen to what Yahweh says.
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 This is what Yahweh the Lord says to you bones: I will put my breath into each of you, and you will become alive again.
Thus saith the Lord to these bones; Behold, I [will] bring upon you the breath of life:
6 I will fasten tendons to your bones, and cause your bones to be covered with flesh. I will cover the flesh with skin. Then I will breathe into you, and you will become alive. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’”
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 spoke to the bones what Yahweh commanded me to speak. As I was speaking, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bones joining to each other.
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 While I was looking, I saw tendons fastening to them and flesh covering them, and then skin covered the flesh, but they did not breathe.
And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh grew upon them, and skin came upon them above: but there was not breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “You human, prophesy to the wind. Say to the wind, ‘Wind [APO], Yahweh says to you, blow from all four directions. Breathe into these people who have been killed, in order that they can become alive again!’”
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 said what he commanded me to say, and then breath entered them. They became alive and stood up, like a huge army.
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 Then he said to me, “You human, these bones represent all the Israeli people [MTY]. The people say, ‘[It is as though] our bones are dried up; there are no more good things that we can (hope for/confidently expect to happen to us); our nation is destroyed/finished.’
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 So prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: My people, [it will be as though] I will open your graves and cause your corpses to become alive again. I will bring you back to Israel.
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 Then, what that happens, you my people will know that I, Yahweh the Lord, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].
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 I will put my Spirit in you, and [it will be as though] you will become alive again, and I will enable you to live in your own land again. Then you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who said [that it would happen] and who has caused it to happen. That is what I, Yahweh, declare.’”
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 Yahweh gave me [another] message. He said,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
16 “You human, take a piece of wood and write on it, ‘This represents Judah and all the tribes of Judah.’ Then take another piece of wood and write on it, ‘This represents Israel and all the tribes of Israel.’
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 that belong to him.
17 Then join them together to become [as though they were] one piece of wood in your hand.
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 When your fellow Israelis ask you, ‘What does (this action/what you just did) mean?’,
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 tell them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: One of the pieces of wood in my hand represents Israel and all the tribes of Israel. I am joining it to the piece of wood that represents Judah, to form one piece of wood in his hand.’
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 Then, [you human], hold up the pieces of wood that you have written on, in order that the people can see them.
And the rods on which thou didst write shall be in thine hand in their presence.
21 Say to the people, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: I will take you Israeli people out of the countries to which you have been forced to go. I will gather you from all those nations and bring you back to your own land.
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 cause you to again be one nation in that land, on the mountains in Israel. And there will be one king to rule over all of you. Never again will you be two nations or divided into two kingdoms.
And I will make them a nation in my land, even on the mountains of Israel; and they 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 No longer will you (defile yourselves/make yourselves unacceptable to me) by [worshiping] idols and disgusting statues [of your gods], because I will enable you to quit your sinful behavior and to stop rejecting me. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
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 [Someone who will be like] [MET] [King] David who served [me well] will be the king [of your descendants], and [it will be as though] [MET] he will be their shepherd. They will carefully obey all my laws [DOU].
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 They will live in the land that I gave to Jacob, who also served [me well]; they will live in the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren will live there forever, and [the one who will be like] [MET] [King] David will be their king forever.
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: and David my servant [shall be their] prince forever.
26 I will make a peace agreement with them; it will be an agreement that will endure forever. I will again give them that land and cause their population to increase. And I will put my temple among them forever.
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 The place where I will live will be among them; I will be their God and they will be my people.
And my tabernacle shall be among them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be my people.
28 Then, when my temple is forever there among them, the people of other nations will know that I, Yahweh, have caused the Israeli people to be set apart [to belong to me].’”
And the nations shall know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for ever.
