29And when I have delivered you from all your uncleanness, I will summon the grain and make it abundant, and I will not bring famine upon you. 30I will make the fruit of your trees and the crops of your fields abundant, so that you shall never again be humiliated before the nations because of famine. 31Then you shall recall your evil ways and your base conduct, and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abhorrent practices. 32Not for your sake will I act—declares the Lord GOD—take good note! Be ashamed and humiliated because of your ways, O House of Israel!
33Thus said the Lord GOD: When I have cleansed you of all your iniquities, I will people your settlements, and the ruined places shall be rebuilt; 34and the desolate land, after lying waste in the sight of every passerby, shall again be tilled. 35And men shall say, “That land, once desolate, has become like the garden of Eden; and the cities, once ruined, desolate, and ravaged, are now populated and fortified.” 36And the nations that are left around you shall know that I the LORD have rebuilt the ravaged places and replanted the desolate land. I the LORD have spoken and will act.
37Thus said the Lord GOD: Moreover, in this I will respond to the House of Israel and act for their sake: I will multiply their people like sheep. 38As Jerusalem is filled with sacrificial sheep during her festivals, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. And they shall know that I am the LORD.
37 The hand of the LORD came upon me. He took me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the valley. It was full of bones. 2He led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to me, “O mortal, can these bones live again?” I replied, “O Lord GOD, only You know.” 4And He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5Thus said the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again. 6I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. And I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. And you shall know that I am the LORD!”
7I prophesied as I had been commanded. And while I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone. 8I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Lord GOD: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.” 10I prophesied as He commanded me. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude.
11And He said to me, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’ 12Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. 13You shall know, O My people, that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. 14I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I the LORD have spoken and have acted”—declares the LORD.
15The word of the LORD came to me: 16And you, O mortal, take a stick and write on it, “Of Judah and the Israelites associated with him”; and take another stick and write on it, “Of Joseph—the stick of Ephraim— and all the House of Israel associated with him.” 17Bring them close to each other, so that they become one stick, joined together in your hand. 18And when any of your people ask you, “Won’t you tell us what these actions of yours mean?” 19answer them, “Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim—and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place the stick of Judah a-upon it-a and make them into one stick; they shall be joined in My hand.” 20You shall hold up before their eyes the sticks which you have inscribed, 21and you shall declare to them: Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. 22I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. 23Nor shall they ever again defile themselves by their fetishes and their abhorrent things, and by their other transgressions. I will save them in all their settlements where they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
24My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws. 25Thus they shall remain in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your fathers dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time. 26I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establisha them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. 27My Presenceb shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. 28And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel.
38 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, turn your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him 3and say: Thus said the Lord GOD: Lo, I am coming to deal with you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! 4I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them clothed in splendor, a vast assembly, all of them with bucklers and shields, wielding swords. 5Among them shall be Persia, Nubia, and Put, everyone with shield and helmet; 6Gomer and all its cohorts, Beth-togarmah [in] the remotest parts of the north and all its cohorts—the many peoples with you.a 7Be ready, prepare yourselves, you and all the battalions mustered about you, and hold yourself in reserve for them.b 8After a long time you shall be summoned; in the distant future you shall march against the land [of a people] restored from the sword, gathered from the midst of many peoples—against the mountains of Israel, which have long lain desolate—[a people] liberated from the nations, and now all dwelling secure. 9You shall advance, coming like a storm; you shall be like a cloud covering the earth, you and all your cohorts, and the many peoples with you.
10Thus said the Lord GOD: On that day, a thought will occur to you, and you will conceive a wicked design. 11You will say, “I will invade a land of open towns, I will fall upon a tranquil people living secure, all of them living in unwalled towns and lacking bars and gates, 12in order to take spoil and seize plunder”—to turn your hand against repopulated wastes, and against a people gathered from among nations, acquiring livestock and possessions, living at the center of the earth. 13Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants and all the magnates of Tarshish will say to you, “Have you come to take spoil? Is it to seize plunder that you assembled your hordes—to carry off silver and gold, to make
