Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38; Ezekiel 39; 2 Peter 2

1 I felt the power of the Lord on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones.

2 He led me around among the bones, and I saw that there were many bones in the valley and that they were very dry.

3 Then he asked me, "Human, can these bones live?" I answered, "Lord God, only you know."

4 He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

5 This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you so you will come to life.

6 I will put muscles on you and flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you so you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone.

8 I looked and saw muscles come on the bones, and flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, human, and say to the wind, 'This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds, and breathe on these people who were killed so they can come back to life.'"

10 So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a very large army.

11 Then he said to me, "Human, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.'

12 So, prophesy and say to them, 'This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 My people, you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and cause you to come up from them.

14 And I will put my Spirit inside you, and you will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.'"

15 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying,

16 "Human, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah and all the Israelites with him.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph and all the Israelites with him.'

17 Then join them together into one stick so they will be one in your hand.

18 "When your people say to you, 'Explain to us what you mean by this,'

19 say to them, 'This is what the Lord God says: I will take the stick for Joseph and the tribes of Israel with him, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and I will put it with the stick of Judah. I will make them into one stick, and they will be one in my hand.'

20 Hold the sticks on which you wrote these names in your hand so the people can see them.

21 Say to the people, 'This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule all of them. They will never again be two nations; they will not be divided into two kingdoms anymore.

23 They will not continue to make themselves unclean by their idols, their statues of gods which I hate, or by their sins. I will save them from all the ways they sin and turn against me, and I will make them clean. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

24 "'My servant David will be their king, and they will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws.

25 They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children, and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever.

26 I will make an agreement of peace with them, an agreement that continues forever. I will put them in their land and make them grow in number. Then I will put my Temple among them forever.

27 The place where I live will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

28 When my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.'"

1 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying,

2 "Human, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him

3 and say, 'The Lord God says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal.

4 I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws. And I will bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of whom will be dressed in beautiful uniforms. They will be a large army with large and small shields and all having swords.

5 Persia, Cush, and Put will be with them, all of them having shields and helmets.

6 There will also be Gomer with all its troops and the nation of Togarmah from the far north with all its troops -- many nations with you.

7 "'Be prepared. Be prepared, you and all the armies that have come together to make you their commander.

8 After a long time you will be called for service. After those years you will come into a land that has been rebuilt from war. The people in the land will have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which were empty for a long time. These people were brought out from the nations, and they will all be living in safety.

9 You will come like a storm. You, all your troops, and the many nations with you will be like a cloud covering the land.

10 "'This is what the Lord God says: At that time ideas will come into your mind, and you will think up an evil plan.

11 You will say, "I will march against a land of towns without walls. I will attack those who are at rest and live in safety. All of them live without city walls or gate bars or gates.

12 I will capture treasures and take loot. I will turn my power against the rebuilt ruins that now have people living in them. I will attack these people who have been gathered from the nations, who have become rich with farm animals and property, who live at the center of the world."

13 Sheba, Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, "Did you come to capture treasure? Did you bring your troops together to take loot? Did you bring them to carry away silver and gold and to take away farm animals and property?"'

14 "So prophesy, human, and say to Gog, 'This is what the Lord God says: Now that my people Israel are living in safety, you will know about it.

15 You will come with many people from your place in the far north. You will have a large group with you, a mighty army, all riding on horses.

16 You will attack my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. This will happen in the days to come when I bring you against my land. Gog, then the nations will know me when they see me prove how holy I am in what I do through you.

17 "'This is what the Lord God says: You are the one about whom I spoke in past days. I spoke through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them.

18 This is what will happen: On the day Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will become very angry, says the Lord God.

19 With jealousy and great anger I tell you that at that time there will surely be a great earthquake in Israel.

20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild animals, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the people on the earth will shake with fear before me. Also the mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

21 Then I will call for a war against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Everyone's sword will attack the soldier next to him.

22 I will punish Gog with disease and death. I will send a heavy rain with hailstones and burning sulfur on Gog, his army, and the many nations with him.

23 Then I will show how great I am. I will show my holiness, and I will make myself known to the many nations that watch. Then they will know that I am the Lord.'

1 "Human, prophesy against Gog and say, 'This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal.

2 I will turn you around and lead you. I will bring you from the far north and send you to attack the mountains of Israel.

3 I will knock your bow out of your left hand and throw down your arrows from your right hand.

4 You, all your troops, and the nations with you will fall dead on the mountains of Israel. I will let you be food for every bird that eats meat and for every wild animal.

5 You will lie fallen on the ground, because I have spoken, says the Lord God.

6 I will send fire on Magog and those who live in safety on the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

7 "'I will make myself known among my people Israel, and I will not let myself be dishonored anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

8 It is coming! It will happen, says the Lord God. The time I talked about is coming.

9 "'Then those who live in the cities of Israel will come out and make fires with the enemy's weapons. They will burn them, both large and small shields, bows and arrows, war clubs, and spears. They will use the weapons to burn in their fires for seven years.

10 They will not need to take wood from the field or chop firewood from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. In this way they will take the treasures of those who took their treasures; they will take the loot of those who took their loot, says the Lord God.

11 "'At that time I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers. Gog and all his army will be buried there, so people will call it The Valley of Gog's Army.

12 "'The people of Israel will be burying them for seven months to make the land clean again.

13 All the people in the land will bury them, and they will be honored on the day of my victory, says the Lord God.

14 "'The people of Israel will choose men to work through the land to make it clean. Along with others, they will bury Gog's soldiers still lying dead on the ground. After the seven months are finished, they will still search.

15 As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone is to put a marker by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers bury the bone in The Valley of Gog's Army.

16 A city will be there named Hamonah. So they will make the land clean again.'

17 "Human, this is what the Lord God says: Speak to every kind of bird and wild animal: 'Come together, come! Come together from all around to my sacrifice, a great sacrifice which I will prepare for you on the mountains of Israel. Eat flesh and drink blood!

18 You are to eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth as if they were fat animals from Bashan: male sheep, lambs, goats, and bulls.

19 You are to eat and drink from my sacrifice which I have prepared for you, eating fat until you are full and drinking blood until you are drunk.

20 At my table you are to eat until you are full of horses and riders, mighty men and all kinds of soldiers,' says the Lord God.

21 "I will show my glory among the nations. All the nations will see my power when I punish them.

22 From that time onward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God.

23 The nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them and handed them over to their enemies until all of them died in war.

24 Because of their uncleanness and their sins, I punished them and turned away from them.

25 "So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity, and I will have mercy on the whole nation of Israel. I will not let them dishonor me.

26 The people will forget their shame and how they rejected me when they live again in safety on their own land with no one to make them afraid.

27 I will bring the people back from other lands and gather them from the lands of their enemies. So I will use my people to show many nations that I am holy.

28 Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into captivity among the nations, but then I brought them back to their own land, leaving no one behind.

29 I will not turn away from them anymore, because I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God."

1 There used to be false prophets among God's people, just as you will have some false teachers in your group. They will secretly teach things that are wrong -- teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master, Jesus, who bought their freedom. So they will bring quick ruin on themselves.

2 Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the way of truth.

3 Those false teachers only want your money, so they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming, and their ruin is certain.

4 When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell and put them in caves of darkness where they are being held for judgment.

5 And God punished the world long ago when he brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against him. But God saved Noah, who preached about being right with God, and seven other people with him.

6 And God also destroyed the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrahn by burning them until they were ashes. He made those cities an example of what will happen to those who are against God.

7 But he saved Lot from those cities. Lot, a good man, was troubled because of the filthy lives of evil people.

8 (Lot was a good man, but because he lived with evil people every day, his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.)

9 So the Lord knows how to save those who serve him when troubles come. He will hold evil people and punish them, while waiting for the Judgment Day.

10 That punishment is especially for those who live by doing the evil things their sinful selves want and who hate authority. These false teachers are bold and do anything they want. They are not afraid to speak against the angels.

11 But even the angels, who are much stronger and more powerful than false teachers, do not accuse them with insults before the Lord.

12 But these people speak against things they do not understand. They are like animals that act without thinking, animals born to be caught and killed. And, like animals, these false teachers will be destroyed.

13 They have caused many people to suffer, so they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They take pleasure in openly doing evil, so they are like dirty spots and stains among you. They delight in trickery while eating meals with you.

14 Every time they look at a woman they want her, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin, and they have taught their hearts to be greedy. God will punish them!

15 These false teachers left the right road and lost their way, following the way Balaam went. Balaam was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong.

16 But a donkey, which cannot talk, told Balaam he was sinning. It spoke with a man's voice and stopped the prophet's crazy thinking.

17 Those false teachers are like springs without water and clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them.

18 They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires they lead people into the trap of sin -- people who are just beginning to escape from others who live in error.

19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For people are slaves of anything that controls them.

20 They were made free from the evil in the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they return to evil things and those things control them, then it is worse for them than it was before.

21 Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way than to know it and to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them.

22 What they did is like this true saying: "A dog goes back to what it has thrown up," and, "After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud."