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].
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of 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 about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding 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, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest.
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 concerning these bones; and 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 God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.
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 cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you 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.
And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one to its 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 saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit 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 spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again.
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.
And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
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 he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off.
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 to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: 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 you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people:
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 shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God:
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.’
And thou son of man, take thee a stick: and write upon it: Of Juda, and of the children of Israel his associates: and take another stick and write upon it: For Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, and of his associates.
17 Then join them together to become [as though they were] one piece of wood in your hand.
And join them one to the other into one stick, and they shall become one in thy hand.
18 When your fellow Israelis ask you, ‘What does (this action/what you just did) mean?’,
And when the children of thy people shall speak to thee, saying: Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by this?
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.’
Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that are associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Juda, and will make them one stick: and they shall be one in his hand.
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 sticks whereon thou hast written, shall be in thy hand, before their eyes.
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 children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own land.
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 one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more 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.
Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations, nor with all their iniquities: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their 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 king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall walk in my judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall 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 the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, wherein your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, they and their children, and their children’s children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
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 a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will establish them, and will multiply them, and will set 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 with them: and I will be their 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 the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.
