20. Hold these two sticks where they can be seen by everyone
21. and then say:I, the Lord God, will gather the people of Israel and bring them home from the foreign nations where they now live.
22. I will make them into one nation and let them once again live in the land of Israel. Only one king will rule them, and they will never again be divided into two nations.
23. They will no longer worship idols and do things that make them unacceptable to me. I will wash away their sin and make them clean, and I will protect them from everything that makes them unclean. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24-25. Their king will always come from the family of my servant King David and will care for them like a shepherd. The people of Israel will faithfully obey my laws. They and their descendants will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, just as their ancestors did.
26. I solemnly promise to bless the people of Israel with unending peace. I will protect them and let them become a powerful nation. My temple will stand in Israel for all time,
27. and I will live among my people and be their God.
28. Every nation on earth will know that my temple is in Israel and that I have chosen the Israelites to be my people.