Today's Reading

¹The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

²He caused me to pass by them all around: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and behold, they were very dry.

³He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I answered, "Lord God, you know."

⁴Again he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, 'You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.'

⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.'"

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

⁸I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, 'Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.'"

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.'

¹²Therefore prophesy, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³You shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people.

¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,' says the Lord."

¹⁵The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

¹⁶"You, son of man, take one stick, and write on it, 'For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions': then take another stick, and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions':

¹⁷and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸When the children of your people shall speak to you, saying, 'Will you not show us what you mean by these?'

¹⁹tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "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, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand."'

²⁰The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.

²¹"Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

²²and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;

²³neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴"'"My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.

²⁵They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

²⁶Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

²⁷My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

²⁸The nations shall know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in their midst forevermore."'"

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

³and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

⁴and I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

⁵Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

⁶Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.

⁷"'"Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them.

⁸After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.

⁹You shall ascend, you shall come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with you."

¹⁰"'Thus says the Lord God: "It shall happen in that day, that things shall come into your mind, and you shall devise an evil device:

¹¹and you shall say, 'I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;

¹²to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.'

¹³Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions of it, shall tell you, 'Have you come to take the spoil? Have you assembled your company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great spoil?'"'

¹⁴"Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, 'Thus says the Lord God: "In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, shall you not know it?

¹⁵You shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army;

¹⁶and you shall come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes."

¹⁷"'Thus says the Lord God: "Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?"

¹⁸It shall happen in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,' says the Lord God, 'that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils.

¹⁹For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

²⁰so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the field, and all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

²¹I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,' says the Lord God: 'every man's sword shall be against his brother.

²²With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur.

²³I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am the Lord.'

¹"You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

²and I will turn you around, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel;

³and I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.

⁴You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the animals of the field to be devoured.

⁵You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken it," says the Lord God.

⁶I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely in the islands; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷"'My holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I allow my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

⁸Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord God; this is the day about which I have spoken.

⁹"'Those who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years;

¹⁰so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord God.

¹¹"'It shall happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop those who pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon Gog.

¹²Seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.

¹³Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God.

¹⁴They shall set apart men of continual employment, who shall pass through the land, and, with those who pass through, those who bury those who remain on the surface of the land, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

¹⁵Those who pass through the land shall pass through; and when any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.

¹⁶Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus shall they cleanse the land.'

¹⁷"You, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, 'Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

¹⁸You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

¹⁹You shall eat fat until you be full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

²⁰You shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war,' says the Lord God.

²¹"'I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.

²²So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day and forward.

²³The nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.

²⁴According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I to them; and I hid my face from them.'

²⁵"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name.

²⁶They shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid;

²⁷when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.

²⁸They shall know that I am the Lord their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there;

²⁹neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord God."

¹Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

²For in many things we all stumble. If anyone does not stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

³Now if we put bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we guide their whole body.

⁴Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

⁵So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

⁶And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by hell.

⁷For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.

⁸But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

¹¹Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Nor is salt water able to produce sweet.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and do not lie against the truth.

¹⁵This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.

¹⁸Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

¹My son, do not forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:

²for length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you.

³Do not let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

⁸It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.

⁹Honor the Lord with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase:

¹⁰so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:

¹²for whom the Lord loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding.

¹⁴For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.

¹⁹By wisdom the Lord founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.

²⁰By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

²¹My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

²²so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck.

²³Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble.

²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:

²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

²⁸Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you," when you have it by you.

²⁹Do not devise evil against your neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by you.

³⁰Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

³¹Do not envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

³²For the perverse is an abomination to the Lord, but his friendship is with the upright.

³³The Lord's curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

³⁴Surely he is scornful to scoffers, but he gives grace to the humble.

³⁵The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.