[5] Thus says the Lord G-D to these bones:
Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you
shall live.
[6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause
flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you
shall know that I am the L-RD."
[7] So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a
rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its
bone.
[8] And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but
there was no breath in them.
[9] Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord
G-D: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."
10] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their
feet, an exceedingly great host.
[11] Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, `Our bones are
dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.'
[12] Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord G-D: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise
you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.
[13] And you shall know that I am the L-RD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my
people.
[14] And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall
know that I, the L-RD, have spoken, and I have done it, says the L-RD."
[15] The word of the L-RD came to me:
[16] "Son of man, take a stick and write on it, `For Judah, and the children of Israel associated with him'; then
take another stick and write upon it, `For Joseph (the stick of E'phraim) and all the house of Israel associated with
him';
[17] and join them together into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.
[18] And when your people say to you, `Will you not show us what you mean by these?'
[19] say to them, Thus says the Lord G-D: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of
E'phraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him; and I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them
one stick, that they may be one in my hand.
[20] When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes,
[21] then say to them, Thus says the Lord G-D: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among
which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land;
[22] and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over
them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
[23] They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their
transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them;
and they shall be my people, and I will be their G-d.
[24] "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my
ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
[25] They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children
and their children's children shall dwell there for ever; and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
[26] I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless
them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
[27] My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their G-d, and they shall be my people.
[28] Then the nations will know that I the L-RD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for
evermore."
|
