auto_stories
Chapter Summary
The LORD said: "Prophesy to the bones." The bones became an army. The LORD said: "Join two sticks. I will join Ephraim and Judah."
1The hand of the Lord was set upon me, and he led me away in the Spirit of the Lord, and he released me in the midst of a plain which was full of bones. 2And he led me around, through them, on every side. Now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceedingly dry. 3And he said to me, “Son of man, do you think that these bones will live?” And I said, “O Lord God, you know.” 4And he said to me, “Prophesy about these bones. And you shall say to them: Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live. 6And I will set sinews upon you, and I will cause flesh to grow over you, and I will extend skin over you. And I will give you spirit, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7And I prophesied, just as he had instructed me. But a noise occurred, as I was prophesying, and behold: a commotion. And the bones joined together, each one at its joint. 8And I saw, and behold: sinews and flesh rose up over them; and skin was extended over them. But they had no spirit within them. 9And he said to me: “Prophesy to the spirit! Prophesy, O son of man, and you shall say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord God: Approach, O spirit, from the four winds, and blow across these ones who were slain, and revive them.” 10And I prophesied, just as he had instructed me. And spirit entered into them, and they lived. And they stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11And he said to me: “Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel. They say: ‘Our bones are dried out, and our hope has perished, and we have been cut off.’ 12Because of this, prophesy, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will lead you away from your sepulchers, O my people. And I will lead you into the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have opened your sepulchers, and when I will have led you away from your tombs, O my people. 14And I will place my Spirit within you, and you shall live. And I will cause you to rest upon your own soil. And you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and acted, says the Lord God.”
15And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 16“And as for you, son of man, take up a piece of wood for yourself, and write upon it: ‘For Judah, and for the sons of Israel, his companions.’ And take up another piece of wood, and write upon it: ‘For Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and for the entire house of Israel, and for his companions.’ 17And join these, one to the other, for yourself, as one piece of wood. And they will be united in your hand. 18Then, when the sons of your people will speak to you, saying: ‘Will you not tell us what you intend by this?’ 19you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, which are joined to him, and I will put them together with the wood of Judah, and I will make them one piece of wood. And they will be one in his hand. 20Then the pieces of wood, on which you have written, will be in your hand, before their eyes. 21And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the sons of Israel, from the midst of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them together on every side, and I will lead them onto their own soil. 22And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be ruler over all. And they will no longer be two nations, nor will they be divided any more into two kingdoms. 23And they will no longer be defiled by their idols, and by their abominations, and by all their iniquities. And I will save them, out of all the settlements in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. And they will be my people, and I will be their God. 24And my servant David shall be the king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my judgments, and they shall keep my commandments, and they shall do them. 25And they shall live upon the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived. And they shall live upon it, they and their sons, and the sons of their sons, even for all time. And David, my servant, shall be their leader, in perpetuity. 26And I will strike a covenant of peace with them. This will be an everlasting covenant for them. And I will establish them, and multiply them. And I will set my sanctuary in their midst, unceasingly. 27And my tabernacle shall be among them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28And the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary will be in their midst, forever.”