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The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the center of the valley. It was full of bones. He led me around the valley. I saw there were very many bones, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, only You know that.” He said to me, “Speak in My name over these bones. Say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.’ This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘I will make breath come into you, and you will come to life. I will join you together, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you to make you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

So I spoke as I was told. And as I spoke, there was a noise, the sound of bones hitting against each other. The bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and saw that parts had grown to hold them together. Flesh had grown, and they were covered with skin. But there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Speak to the breath in My name, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘The Lord God says, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these dead bodies to make them come to life.”’” 10 So I spoke as I had been told. The breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet. They were a large army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone. We are all destroyed.’ 12 So speak in My name and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will open your graves, My people, and make you come out of them. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then, My people, you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and brought you up. 14 I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life. I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it,” says the Lord.’”

Judah and Israel under One King

15 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, 16 “Son of man, take one stick of wood and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the people of Israel with him.’ Then take another stick of wood and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the people of Israel with him.’ 17 Then join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not let us know what you mean by these?’ 19 tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the people of Israel who are with him. And I will put it with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick. They will be one in My hand.”’ 20 Hold in front of them the sticks you write on, 21 and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will take the people of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king will rule over all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided under two kings. 23 They will no longer make themselves unclean with their false gods, or with their hated objects of worship, or with any of their sins. I will keep them from turning again to these sins, and will make them clean. They will be My people, and I will be their God.

24 “My servant David will be their king, and they will have one shepherd. They will follow and keep My Laws, and obey them. 25 And they will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live in it forever. And My servant David will be their leader forever. 26 I will make a peace agreement with them, one that lasts forever. I will bring good to them and make them many in number. And I will set My holy place among them forever. 27 I will live with them, and will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord Who makes Israel holy, when My holy place is among them forever.”’”

Words against Gog

38 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and speak against him. Tell him, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, O Gog, leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your mouth, and bring you out with your whole army. Your horses and horsemen will be dressed for battle. The army will be very large, with all the men holding battle-coverings and waving swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Put will be with you, all with battlecoverings and head-coverings. There will be Gomer with all its army, and Beth-togarmah from the farthest parts of the north with all its army. Many nations will be with you.

“Get ready and keep ready, you and all the armies gathered around you, and watch over them. After many days you will be called. In future years you will come into the land where people have been gathered from many nations and have lived without fear of war. You will come to the mountains of Israel, which had been a waste land for a long time. But its people were brought out from the nations, and all of them are living without fear. You and all your army will come up against them like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land. Many nations will be with you.”

10 ‘The Lord God says, “On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will make a sinful plan. 11 You will say, ‘I will go up against the open country, where people are quiet and live in peace. They live in villages without walls and have no iron pieces or gates.’ 12 You will go to rob the land and fight in the waste places where people now live. You will go up against the people who were gathered from the nations and are rich with cattle and good things and who live at the center of the land. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish and all its villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to take prizes of war? Have you gathered your army to carry away silver and gold, cattle, good things, and many prizes of war?’”’

14 “So, son of man, speak in My name and tell Gog, ‘The Lord God says, “On that day when My people Israel are living in peace and without fear, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, and many nations will be with you. All of them will be riding on horses, a large and powerful army. 16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the last days, O Gog, I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you in front of their eyes.” 17 ‘The Lord God says, “Are you the one I spoke of in the past, through My servants of Israel who spoke in My name? At that time they said for many years that I would bring you against them.

18 “On the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel, I will become very angry,” says the Lord God. 19 “In My jealousy and in My burning anger I have said that on that day the earth will shake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the wild animals of the field, all the animals that move upon the earth, and all the men on the earth will shake before Me. Mountains will be thrown down, the mountain sides will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will call for a sword against Gog on all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “His men will turn their swords against one another. 22 I will punish him with disease and with blood. I will send down a hard rain, hailstones, fire and sulphur upon him and his army and the many nations with him. 23 I will show the many nations that I am great and holy. And they will know that I am the Lord.”

Gog’s Armies Are Destroyed

39 “Son of man, speak against Gog, and tell him, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, O Gog, leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around and drive you on. I will bring you from the farthest parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel. I will knock your bow out of your left hand, and knock your arrows out of your right hand. You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your army and the nations who are with you. I will feed you to every kind of meat-eating bird and wild animal of the field. You will fall dead in the open field, for I have spoken,” says the Lord God. “I will send fire upon Magog and upon those who think they are safe in the islands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“I will make My holy name known among My people Israel. I will not let My holy name be made unclean any more. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. It is coming, and it will be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day I have spoken of.

“Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires to burn up the objects of war. They will burn battle-coverings, bows and arrows, heavy sticks, and spears. For seven years they will use them to make fires. 10 They will not take wood from the field or from among the trees to burn. For they will make fires with the objects of war. And they will rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord God.

Gog Is Buried

11 “On that day I will give Gog a place in Israel for burying his dead. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea. And it will close that road to travelers, for Gog and all his people will be buried there. They will call it the Valley of Hamon-Gog. 12 It will take the people of Israel seven months to bury the dead and make the land clean again. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and they will be honored for this on the day that I show My greatness,” says the Lord God. 14 “At the end of seven months, they will choose men to pass through the land to look for bodies that may be left on the ground. And the bodies will be buried to make the land clean. 15 Those who pass through and see a man’s bone will set up something to mark the place, until it is buried in the Valley of Hamon-Gog. 16 (There will be a city called Hamonah there also.) And so they will make the land clean.”’”

17 “Son of man, the Lord God says, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every wild animal of the field. Say to them, “Gather together and come. Come together from every side to the special supper I have made for you. Much food has been killed for you on the mountains of Israel. You will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of powerful men, and drink the blood of the leaders of the earth. It will be as if they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fat animals of Bashan. 19 You will eat fat until you are filled, and drink blood until you are drunk, at the special supper I have killed and made ready for you. 20 You will be filled at My table with horses and horsemen, with powerful men and all the men of war,” says the Lord God.

The Land Is Given Back to Israel

21 “I will show My greatness among the nations. All the nations will see how I have punished Israel and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 Then the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day on. 23 The nations will know that the people of Israel were taken from their land because of their sin, because they were not faithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and gave them over to those who hated them, and they died in battle. 24 I punished them because they were unclean and sinful, and I hid My face from them.”’”

25 So the Lord God says, “Now I will return the people of Jacob to their land and show loving-kindness to all the people of Israel. And I will be jealous for My holy name. 26 They will forget their shame and how unfaithful they were to Me, when they live in peace on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 27 I will bring them back from the nations and gather them from the lands of those who hate them. In this way I will show the many nations that I am holy. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them away into the other nations and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will not leave any of them there any longer. 29 I will not hide My face from them again, for I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel,” says the Lord God.