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.