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Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
37 The (A)hand of Yahweh was upon me, and He (B)brought me out [a]by the Spirit of Yahweh and caused me to rest in the middle of the (C)valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, (D)can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord Yahweh, (E)You know.” 4 Then He said to me, “(F)Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, (G)hear the word of Yahweh.’ 5 Thus says Lord Yahweh to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause [b](H)breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh come up upon you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will (I)know that I am Yahweh.’”
7 So I prophesied (J)as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [c]noise, and behold, a rumbling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh came up upon them, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Come from the four [d]winds, O breath, and (K)breathe on these who were killed, that they may (L)come to life.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the (M)breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an (N)exceedingly great military force.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the (O)whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our (P)bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are [e]completely (Q)cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will open your graves and (R)cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 And I will (S)put My [f]Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will [g]place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done it,” declares Yahweh.’”
Israel Will No Longer Be Divided
15 The word of Yahweh came again to me saying, 16 “Now as for you, son of man, take for yourself (T)one stick and write on it, ‘For (U)Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For (V)Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then (W)draw them together for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us (X)what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And speak to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will (Y)take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them (Z)one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and (AA)one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They also will (AB)no longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions; but (AC)I will save them from all their [h]places of habitation in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.
Yahweh Cuts a Covenant
24 “And My servant (AD)David will be king over them, and they will all have (AE)one shepherd; and they will walk in My judgments and keep My statutes and do them. 25 They will inhabit the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, which your fathers inhabited; and they will inhabit it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and (AF)David My servant will be their prince forever. 26 And I will cut a (AG)covenant of peace with them; it will be an (AH)everlasting covenant with them. And I will give them the land and (AI)multiply them and will set My (AJ)sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My [i](AK)dwelling place also will be with them; and (AL)I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am Yahweh (AM)who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”
Prophecy Against Gog
38 And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward (AN)Gog of the land of (AO)Magog, the [j](AP)chief prince of (AQ)Meshech and (AR)Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, [k]chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will (AS)bring you out, and all your military force, (AT)horses and horsemen, all of them [l]magnificently dressed, a great assembly with large shield and shield, all of them [m]wielding swords; 5 (AU)Persia, [n](AV)Ethiopia, and (AW)Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 (AX)Gomer with all its troops; (AY)Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.
7 “(AZ)Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your assembly that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 (BA)After many days you will be mustered; in the last years you will come into the land that is [o]restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been (BB)gathered from many peoples to the (BC)mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but [p]its people were brought out from the peoples, and they are (BD)living securely, all of them. 9 And you will go up; you will come (BE)like a storm; you will be like a (BF)cloud covering the land, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “It will be in that day, that [q]thoughts will come into your heart, and you will (BG)devise an evil plan, 11 and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of [r](BH)unwalled villages. I will go against those who (BI)dwell quietly, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, 12 to (BJ)capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places, which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and property, who live at the [s]center of the world.’ 13 (BK)Sheba and (BL)Dedan and the merchants of (BM)Tarshish with all its [t]young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your assembly to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great (BN)spoil?’”’
14 “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On that day when My people Israel are (BO)living securely, will you not know it? 15 (BP)You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and numerous peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a numerous military force; 16 and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will be in the last days that I will bring you against My land so that the nations may (BQ)know Me when I (BR)prove Myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog.”
17 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of My slaves the prophets of Israel, who (BS)prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? 18 And it will be in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares Lord Yahweh, “that My wrath will mount up in My (BT)anger. 19 In My (BU)zeal and in My blazing fury I have spoken that on that day there will surely be a great [u](BV)earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 (BW)And the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will quake at My presence; the (BX)mountains also will be pulled down, the steep pathways will fall, and every wall will fall to the earth. 21 And I will call for a (BY)sword against [v]him on all My mountains,” declares Lord Yahweh. “(BZ)Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and with blood I will enter into (CA)judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the numerous peoples who are with him, [w]a torrential rain, with (CB)hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 And I will magnify Myself, I will manifest Myself as holy, and I will (CC)make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am Yahweh.”’
Doers of the Word
19 [a](A)Know this, (B)my beloved brothers. But everyone must be quick to hear, (C)slow to speak and (D)slow to anger; 20 for (E)the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, (F)laying aside all filthiness and all [b]that remains of wickedness, in gentleness receive (G)the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 (H)But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [c]natural face (I)in a mirror; 24 for once he looked at himself and has gone away, [d]he immediately forgot what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, (J)the law of freedom, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be (K)blessed in [e]what he does.
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious while not [f](L)bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion (M)before our God and Father is this: to (N)visit (O)orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained [g]by (P)the world.
The Sin of Favoritism
2 (Q)My brothers, (R)do not hold your faith in our [h](S)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of (T)personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your [i]assembly with a gold ring and dressed in (U)bright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in (V)dirty clothes, 3 and you [j]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the (W)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges (X)with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, (Y)my beloved brothers: did not (Z)God choose the poor [k]of this world to be (AA)rich in faith and (AB)heirs of the kingdom which He (AC)promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves (AD)drag you into [l]court? 7 (AE)Do they not blaspheme the good name [m]by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you (AF)are fulfilling the [n]royal law according to the Scripture, “(AG)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you (AH)show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the [o]law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole [p]law and yet (AI)stumbles in one point, he has become (AJ)guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “(AK)Do not commit adultery,” also said, “(AL)Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the [q]law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by (AM)the law of freedom. 13 For (AN)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy [r]triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 (AO)What use is it, (AP)my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can [s]that faith save him? 15 (AQ)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “(AR)Go in peace, [t]be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so (AS)faith, if it has no works, is [u]dead by itself.
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