¹⁸ “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’^{(A) 19} say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’^{(B) 20} Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.^{(C) 22} I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.^(D) There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.^{(E) 23} They will no longer defile^(F) themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,^[a](G) and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.^(H)

²⁴ “‘My servant David^(I) will be king^(J) over them, and they will all have one shepherd.^(K) They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.^{(L) 25} They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived.^(M) They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever,^(N) and David my servant will be their prince forever.^(O)

⁵ Afterward the Israelites will return and seek^(A) the Lord their God and David their king.^(B) They will come trembling^(C) to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.^(D)