Ezekiel 37: 1- 8, 11- 14
This is Ezekiel speaking
37 The Lord’s power came on me. The Spirit[a] of
the Lord carried me out
of the city and put me down in the middle of the valley.[b] The valley was full of dead
men’s bones. 2 There were many bones lying on the
ground in the valley. The Lord made me walk all around among the bones. I saw
the bones were very dry.
3 Then the Lord said to
me, “Son of man,[c] can these bones come to
life?”
I answered, “Lord God, only you know the answer to that question.”
4 Then he said to me,
“Speak to these bones for me. Tell them, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of
the Lord! 5 This
is what the Lord God says
to you: I will cause breath[d] to
come into you, and you will come to life! 6 I will put sinew and muscles on you, and I will cover
you with skin. Then I will put breath in you, and you will come back to life!
Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I spoke to the
bones for the Lord, as he
said. I was still speaking, when I heard the loud noise. The bones began to
rattle, and bone joined together with bone! 8 There
before my eyes, I saw sinew and muscles begin to cover the bones. Skin began to
cover them, but there was no breath in them.
11 Then he said to me,
“Son of man, these bones are like the whole family of Israel. The people of Israel
say, ‘Our bones have dried up;[f] our hope is gone. We have
been completely destroyed!’
12 So speak to them for
me. Tell them this is what the Lord God says:
‘My people, I will open your graves and bring you up out of them! Then I will
bring you to the land of Israel.
13 My people, I will
open your graves and bring you up out of your graves, and then you will know
that I am the Lord. 14 I
will put my Spirit[g] in
you, and you will come to life again.
Excerpts from John 11: 1, 3-4a, 11, 20 – 29,
32 – 44
11 There
was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where
Mary and her sister Martha lived.
3 So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, “Lord,
your dear friend Lazarus is sick.”
4 When
Jesus heard this he said, “The end of this sickness will not be death.”
11 Then
Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus is now sleeping, but I am going there to wake
him.”
20 When
Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to greet him. But Mary stayed
home. 21 Martha
said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But
I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”
23 Jesus
said, “Your brother will rise and be alive again.”
24 Martha
answered, “I know that he will rise to live again at the time of the
resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus
said to her, “I am the resurrection. I am life. Everyone who believes in me
will have life, even if they die.26 And everyone who
lives and believes in me will never really die. Martha, do you believe this?”
27 Martha
answered, “Yes, Lord”. 28 After Martha said
these things, she went back to her sister Mary and said, “The Teacher is here.
He is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she stood up and
went quickly to Jesus.
32 Mary
went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she bowed at his feet and
said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When
Jesus saw Mary crying and the people with her crying too, he was very upset and
deeply troubled. 34 He
asked, “Where did you put him?”
They said, “Lord,
come and see.”
35 Jesus
wept.
36 And
the Jews said, “Look! He loved Lazarus very much!”
37 But
some of them said, “Jesus healed the eyes of the blind man. Why didn’t he help
Lazarus and stop him from dying?”
38 Again
feeling very upset, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone
covering the entrance. 39 He
said, “Move the stone away.”
Martha said, “But,
Lord, it has been four days since Lazarus died. There will be a bad smell.” 40 Then
Jesus said to her, “Remember what I told you? I said that if you believed, you
would see God’s divine greatness.”
41 So
they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said,
“Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I
know that you always hear me. But I said these things because of the people
here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me.” 43 After
Jesus said this he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The
dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with pieces of cloth. He had
a handkerchief covering his face.
Jesus said to the
people, “Unbind him and let him go.”
~~~
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