They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

"Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.

"All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.'

They come to you in crowds, and they sit in front of you as my people. They hear your words, but do not obey them. For they talk lustfully, and their heart is set on their own advantage.

Realize that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. They hear your words, but they do not obey them.

When all this comes true -- and it certainly will -- then they will know that a prophet was among them."

They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.

In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.

As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.

"'I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods.

I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing.

The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid.

I will prepare for them a healthy planting. They will no longer be victims of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations.

Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.

Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, "They are desolate, they have been given to us for food."

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you -- you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all of Edom -- all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.'"

So prophesy and say: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip and slander among the people,

"'But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon.

I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times, and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, "You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,"

"Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period.

So I poured my anger on them because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it.

I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them.

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.'

I was concerned for my holy reputation which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went.

They will say, "This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited."

Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord."

He made me walk all around among them. I realized there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry.

He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, -- prophesy, son of man -- and say to the breath: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.'"

So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.

Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, 'Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.'

Join them as one stick; they will be as one in your hand.

tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, and make them into one stick -- they will be one in my hand.'

Then tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land.

I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms.

They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

"'My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow my regulations and carefully observe my statutes.

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it -- they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

They are joined by Gomer with all its troops, and by Beth Togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops -- many peoples are with you.

I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.'

I will send fire on Magog and those who live securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am the Lord.

"'Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and use the weapons for kindling -- the shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears -- they will burn them for seven years.

They will not need to take wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, declares the sovereign Lord.

"'On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog.

They will designate men to scout continually through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months.

When the scouts survey the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, until those assigned to burial duty have buried it in the valley of Hamon-Gog.

(A city by the name of Hamonah will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.'

The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.

They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.

Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile any longer.

Then he led me toward the south. I saw a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and its porches; they had the same dimensions as the others.

There was a chamber with its door by the porch of the gate; there they washed the burnt offering.

The four tables for the burnt offering were of carved stone, 32 inches long, 32 inches wide, and 21 inches high. They would put the instruments which they used to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them.

a human face toward the palm tree on one side and a lion's face toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around;

For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and upper ones.

with a passage in front of them. They looked like the chambers on the north. Of the same length and width, and all their exits according to their arrangements and entrances

Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings -- the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy.

When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are."

He said to me: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.

When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger.

Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

"As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern.

When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its pattern, its exits and entrances, and its whole design -- all its statutes, its entire design, and all its laws; write it all down in their sight, so that they may observe its entire design and all its statutes and do them.

"On the second day, you will offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they purified it with the bull.

For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, so they will consecrate it.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible for their sin.

They will not come near me to serve me as priest, nor will they come near any of my holy things, the things which are most sacred. They will bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have committed.

"'But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

They will enter my sanctuary, and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge.

"'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple.

Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

"'They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads.

They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel or a widow who is a priest's widow.

Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean.

"'In a controversy they will act as judges; they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe my Sabbaths.

"'They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves.

After a priest has become ceremonially clean, they must count off a period of seven days for him.

They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

An area eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live.

"'When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship will go out by way of the south gate; whoever enters by way of the south gate will go out by way of the north gate. No one will return by way of the gate they entered but will go out straight ahead.

When they come in, the prince will come in with them, and when they go out, he will go out.

Thus they will provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil morning by morning, as a perpetual burnt offering.

He said to me, "This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people."

He said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh.

Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea.

But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty.

On both sides of the river's banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart to the Lord.

So the king assigned them a daily ration from his royal delicacies and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king's service.

When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king's service.