The Fifth Sunday in Lent/Disability Justice Sunday
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Ministry Intern
Ezekiel 37:1-14, read by Jennifer Baergen Davis, Pastor of Adult and Family Ministries:
The hand of the LORD came upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was filled with bones. He made me walk amid and around them. For there were a great many upon the face of the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “O’ mortal, can these bones live?” I said, “O’ Lord God, you know!” Then, he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: ‘O’ dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!’” Thus says the Lord God to the bones: “Behold, I shall cause breath to enter you, and you shall live!” I shall lay sinews upon you. I shall draw out flesh over you, and skin shall cover you. I shall put breath in you. You shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
I prophesied that which I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound. There was a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and sinews were upon them. Flesh was drawn over them, and skin covered them. But breath was not in them. Then, he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy o’ mortal, and say to the breath ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from four winds, o’ breath, and breathe upon these slain ones so they may live.”’” I prophesied that which I was commanded, and breath entered into them. They lived, and they stood upon their feet, a vast multitude of exceeding might.
Then, he said to me, “O’ mortal, these bones are all the house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried, and our hope is destroyed. We are cut off.’ Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God, “I am going to open your graves. I shall bring you up from your graves, o’ my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel. You will know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and when I raise you from your graves, o’ my people. For I shall put my breath in you, and you shall live. I will place you on your land, and you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act,” declares the LORD.
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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