16. "And as for you, son of man, take up a piece of wood for yourself, and write upon it: 'For Judah, and for the sons of Israel, his companions.' And take up another piece of wood, and write upon it: 'For Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and for the entire house of Israel, and for his companions.'
17. And join these, one to the other, for yourself, as one piece of wood. And they will be united in your hand.
18. Then, when the sons of your people will speak to you, saying: 'Will you not tell us what you intend by this?'
19. you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, which are joined to him, and I will put them together with the wood of Judah, and I will make them one piece of wood. And they will be one in his hand.
20. Then the pieces of wood, on which you have written, will be in your hand, before their eyes.
21. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the sons of Israel, from the midst of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them together on every side, and I will lead them onto their own soil.
22. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be ruler over all. And they will no longer be two nations, nor will they be divided any more into two kingdoms.
23. And they will no longer be defiled by their idols, and by their abominations, and by all their iniquities. And I will save them, out of all the settlements in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. And they will be my people, and I will be their God.
24. And my servant David shall be the king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my judgments, and they shall keep my commandments, and they shall do them.
25. And they shall live upon the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived. And they shall live upon it, they and their sons, and the sons of their sons, even for all time. And David, my servant, shall be their leader, in perpetuity.
26. And I will strike a covenant of peace with them. This will be an everlasting covenant for them. And I will establish them, and multiply them. And I will set my sanctuary in their midst, unceasingly.
27. And my tabernacle shall be among them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.
28. And the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary will be in their midst, forever."