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Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

Ezekiel 37


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1The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the plain, which was now filled with bones.2He made me walk among them in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were!3He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? "Lord GOD," I answered, "you alone know that."4Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!5Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.6I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.7I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise; it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.8I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.9Then he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.10I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.11Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off."12Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.13Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!14I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.15Thus the word of the LORD came to me:16Now, son of man, take a single stick, and write on it: Judah and those Israelites who are associated with him. Then take another stick and write on it: Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.17Then join the two sticks together, so that they form one stick in your hand.18When your countrymen ask you, "Will you not tell us what you mean by all this?",19answer them: Thus says the Lord GOD: (I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will join to it the stick of Judah, making them a single stick; they shall be one in my hand.20The sticks on which you write you shall hold up before them to see.21Tell them: Thus speaks the Lord GOD:) I will take the Israelites from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.22I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.23No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God.24My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.25They shall live on the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with my servant David their prince forever.26I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.27My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.28Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.