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.”

By Grace Through Faith

1 ^jAnd you were ^kdead in the trespasses and sins 2 ^lin which you once walked, following the course¹ of this world, following ^mthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ⁿthe sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in ^othe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and ^pwere by nature ^qchildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.² 4 But³ God, being ^rrich in mercy, ^sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even ^twhen we were dead in our trespasses, ^umade us alive together with Christ—^vby grace you have been saved—

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^vfolly to him, and ^whe is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The ^xspiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 ^y“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But ^zwe have the mind of Christ.

6 For to set ^uthe mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is ^vhostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; ^windeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact ^xthe Spirit of God dwells in you. ^yAnyone who does not have ^zthe Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of ^ahim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus¹ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^bthrough his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

12 So then, brothers,² we are debtors, ^cnot to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you ^dput to death the deeds of the body, you will live.