The Valley of Dry Bones

1 ^dThe hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^ehe brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;¹ it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, ^f“Son of man, ^gcan these bones live?” And ^hI answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^jO dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^kbreath² to enter you, and you shall live. 6 ^lAnd I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^lcover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^mand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

7 So I prophesied ⁿas I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^oa rattling,³ and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ^pthere was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^fson of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^qthe four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied ⁿas he commanded me, and ^rthe breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, ^f“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^sour hope is lost; ^twe are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore ⁱprophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^uI will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^vI will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ^wyou shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And ^xI 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 am the Lord; ^yI have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 ^z“Son of man, ^atake a stick⁴ and write on it, ‘For ^bJudah, and ^cthe people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^bJoseph (the stick of ^dEphraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And ^ejoin them one to another into one stick, that ^fthey may become ^gone in your hand. 18 And when ^hyour people say to you, ⁱ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^jthe stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^jstick of Judah,⁵ and ^kmake them one stick, ^gthat they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^lbefore their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^mI will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^mbring them to their own land. 22 And ⁿI will make them one nation in the land, on ^othe mountains of Israel. And ^pone king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^qtwo nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 ^rThey shall not ^sdefile themselves anymore ^twith their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^uI will save them from all the backslidings⁶ in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^vthey shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24 “My servant ^wDavid ^xshall be king over them, and they shall all have ^yone shepherd. ^zThey shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 ^aThey shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there ^bforever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^cforever. 26 ^dI will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^ean everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land⁷ and ^fmultiply them, and will ^gset my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 ^hMy dwelling place shall be with them, ^vand I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then ⁱthe nations will know that ^jI am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^gmy sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

The Remnant of Israel

1 I ask, then, ^hhas God rejected his people? By no means! For ⁱI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,¹ a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 ^jGod has not rejected his people whom he ^kforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 ^l“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? ^m“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is ⁿa remnant, chosen by grace. 6 ^oBut if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? ^pIsrael failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest ^qwere hardened, 8 as it is written,

9 And David says,

Gentiles Grafted In

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass ^usalvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion² mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as ^vI am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and ^wthus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means ^xthe reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 ^yIf the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if ^zsome of the branches were broken off, and you, ^aalthough a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root³ of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you ^bstand fast through faith. So ^cdo not become proud, but ^dfear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, ^eprovided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise ^fyou too will be cut off. 23 And ^geven they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation

25 ^hLest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:^{4 i}a partial hardening has come upon Israel, ^juntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are ^obeloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and ^pthe calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as ^qyou were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now⁵ receive mercy. 32 For God ^rhas consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and ^swisdom and knowledge of God! ^tHow unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

36 For ^xfrom him and through him and to him are all things. ^yTo him be glory forever. Amen.