161"Son of man, 2take a sticka and write on it, 'For 3Judah, and 4the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For 5Joseph (the stick of 6Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.'
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And 7join them one to another into one stick, that 8they may become 9one in your hand.
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And when 10your people say to you, 11'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?'
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say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take 12the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the 13stick of Judah,b and 14make them one stick, 15that they may be one in my hand.
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When the sticks on which you write are in your hand 16before their eyes,
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then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, 17I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and 18bring them to their own land.
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And 19I will make them one nation in the land, on 20the mountains of Israel. And 21one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer 22two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
2323They shall not 24defile themselves anymore 25with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But 26I will save them from all the backslidingsc in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and 27they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
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"My servant 28David 29shall be king over them, and they shall all have 30one shepherd. 31They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.
2532They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there 33forever, and David my servant shall be their prince 34forever.
2635I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be 36an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their landd and 37multiply them, and will 38set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
2739My dwelling place shall be with them, 40and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
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Then 41the nations will know that 42I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when 43my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."