15 Then Yahweh gave me another message: 16 “So now, son of humanity, take a stick for yourself and write on it, ‘For Yehudah (Judah) and for all their associated people.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Yosef (Joseph), the branch of Yisrael (Israel; Heb. Efrayim), and for all their associated people.’ 17 Then hold both of them together so that they seem like one stick in your hand. 18 When your people ask you and insist, ‘Aren’t you going to tell us what these props of yours mean?’ 19 then tell them, ‘The master Yahweh says this: Look, I’m taking Yosef’s branch that’s in Yisrael’s hand along with the tribes of Yisrael his companions, and joining it to Yehudah’s branch, so that they’ll make one branch, and they’ll become one in my hand.’

20 Hold the branches in your hand that you wrote on while they watched. 21 Tell the people, ‘The master Yahweh says this: Look, I’m about to take the Israeli people out from the nations where they went. I’ll gather them from the surrounding lands and bring them back to their land. 22 I’ll unite them as a single nation in the land, on the mountains of Yisrael, and there’ll be one king as king over all of them, and they’ll no longer be two nations—they’ll no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 Then they’ll no longer defile themselves with their idols, with their disgusting things, or with any of their other sins. I’ll save them from all of their faithless actions[fn] with which they’ve sinned, and I’ll purify them so they’ll be my people and I’ll be their god. 24 My servant David will be king over them, so there’ll be one shepherd over them all,[ref] and they’ll follow my instructions and keep my regulations and obey them. 25 They’ll live in the land that I’ve given to my servant Ya’akov (Jacob) (also called Yisrael), where your ancestors had stayed. They’ll live in it forever—they, their children, and their grandchildren, and my servant David will be their permanent leader. 26 I’ll establish a peace treaty with them—a never-ending agreement with them. I’ll establish them and multiply them and put my sacred place among them forever. 27 My residence will be with them—I’ll be their god, and they’ll be my people.[ref] 28 Then the other nations will know that I am Yahweh who sets Yisrael apart, when my sacred place is permanently among them.’ ”