The vision about the valley of dry bones

1One 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.

2He led me to walk back and forth among those bones. I saw that there were very many bones there, bones that were very dry.

3He 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.”

4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, ‘You dry bones, listen to what Yahweh says.

5This is what Yahweh the Lord says to you bones: I will put my breath into each of you, and you will become alive again.

6I 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.’ ”

7So 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.

8While I was looking, I saw tendons fastening to them and flesh covering them, and then skin covered the flesh, but they did not breathe.

9Then 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!’ ”

10So I said what he commanded me to say, and then breath entered them. They became alive and stood up, like a huge army.

11Then 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.’

12So 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.

13Then, 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.

14I 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.’ ”

A prophecy about being one nation with one king

15Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

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.’

17Then join them together to become as though they were one piece of wood in your hand.

18When your fellow Israelis ask you, ‘What does ◄this action/what you just did► mean?’,

19tell 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.’

20Then, you human, hold up the pieces of wood that you have written on, in order that the people can see them.

21Say 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.

22And 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.

23No 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.

24Someone 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].

25They 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.

26I 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.

27The place where I will live will be among them; I will be their God and they will be my people.

28Then, 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.’”