v.22 is about two kingdoms; vv.15-20 is about two books. http://tinyurl.com/ezek3715

15 ¶ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20 ¶ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" It is so clearly about both. where the Lord says "take thee one stick, and write upon it", the word 'stick' means a scroll. Back then, they didn't have books like we do now, so they write on scrolls, and that is what a stick is. The stick of Ephraim is the Book of Mormon, and the stick of Judah is the Bible. The two have been blended. Now, as for the blending of the kingdoms that is the prophesy of the Restoration and the gathering of Israel. This is quite an amazing prophesy considering that at the time this was written, these two tribes were not the best of friends. So, we believe it is both. The Restoration is SOOOOOOOOO much more than the Book of Mormon coming forth. Usually you will find LDS members using this scripture to point out the BOM and the Bible blended together, but I admit they do fail to further explain the next few verses...as those verses further prove the Restoration is true and taking place.

You guys try to say that we are blinded and try to find any answer and twist it to make the Church true, yet that is all I see you doing. Tell me where does God Himself explain the prophesy to meet your interpretation, John Pacella? It clearly says in those verses, "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it." What else does that mean than WRITING on scrolls? What does God mean when he says "write upon it" other than write 0upon it? Please enlighten me. I have read about ten different Gospel Symbolism books (15 if you count books by the Church), but ten non-LDS Gospel Symbolism books, and all of them agree that the word branch symbolizes a nation, and the word stick means scolls. I am not trying to get into a Bible bash here, I am genuinely OPENLY trying to see what you have to say. If these verses didn't say anything about "write upon" I would agree that these verses probably are only talking about nations, and that the tranlation to the word stick should have been branch, but it seems to me and to every Biblical scholar that these verse are talking about those nations writing upon their own scrolls.

This is exactly what I am talking about. You will bring up one question, bash us on it, then when we give a logical answer, you know that you can't argue with it, so then you say something like "What about the hundreds of other things"...once we answer one question, you just move onto the next one and stay blinded to the first answer. So, I'll play your little game. All the verses you believe say there is no other gospel do not mean that. Non-denominational churches have twisted scripture around bashing Mormonism. Again, go find me any university Bible scholar and they will tell you that all those verses in no way say that there can be no other Gospel. Tell me what verses say that, and I will show you how they cannot mean that there cannot be another Gospel. If you truly believe that, then you would have to be Catholic, and no other religion otherwise you are a huge hypocrit.

oops, meant to post the following as a comments :-( --- Thanks Rockie... -- But we have a living Prophet in Jesus Christ. He is not dead. -- We also have an Eternal High Priest in Jesus Christ. That was able to sacrifice for us once and for all, Himself to be that unblemished lamb of God. What other high priests are needed? What are their duties that Christ has/doen not already take(n) care of? -- We are to try and keep the commandments to the best of our ability... out of love and obedience to God... not out because we want to receive the greatest Glory. -- I don't want to get into an eternal argument here :-) . But... everyone, read the Bible. Decide for yourself.

of HIS KINGDOM,THE ISRAELITES AT THAT PRESENT TIME,two tribes of this Kingdom(Israelites) were to unite..Israel and Judah to become of HIS KINGDOM.... they would no longer be divided...into 2 nations...they didn't unite, but Jesus Kingdom did, as God showed, they just weren't to be part of the Kingdom..verse 22 tells of the KING over this Kingdom =Christ ..actually ,chapter 37 with verse 1, is the start of Ezekials message and PROPHECY of HOPE=Jesus...ONE KINGDOM <ONE KING... has not a thing to do with 2 books or 2 nations ...just the nation of the KING, Jesus....Israelites just didn't see that HOPE and still don't..God is ONE...in all things..but that's ..just my reasoning..:)justme

Because it IS about two BOOKS that are the RECORDS of two KINGDOMS. The Bible is the stick (scroll), record, of Judah. The Book of Mormon is the stick (scroll), record, of Ephraim.

According to the Mormon Church, Ezekiel 37:16-17 predicts the coming of the Book of Mormon. These verses read as follows: Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. The Mormon Church claims that the “sticks” mentioned in this passage refer to scrolls, which in ancient times were wrapped around sticks. They then say that the “stick of Judah” refers to the Bible, and the “stick of Joseph” refers to the Book of Mormon. The two sticks becoming one symbolizes the Bible and Book of Mormon coming together as complimentary scriptures. A careful examination of this passage reveals serious problems with this interpretation. First of all, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) the Hebrew word translated “stick” always refers to wood and is never used, even figuratively, to mean a scroll or book. Therefore, nothing in these verses even suggests a book or scroll. Secondly, the Mormon Church’s interpretation ignores the historical background of Ezekiel’s message. At the time of the prophet Ezekiel (6th century B.C.), the nation of Israel was in turmoil. Since shortly after the time of Solomon, it had been divided into two kingdoms. The ten northern tribes, henceforth called Israel, had earlier been taken captive by the nation of Assyria in 723/722 B.C. Then the two southern tribes (the Kingdom of Judah), were taken into captivity by the Babylonians (606 – 583 B.C.). The dissolution of God’s covenant people was extremely distressing for the remnant of faithful Hebrew believers. It appeared that God’s promises had failed. This is the setting for chapter 37. So what is Ezekiel’s message to the beleaguered Hebrew believers? In the midst of their despair and pain, Ezekiel gives a two-part message of comfort and hope from God. The first part (verses 1-14) contains the well-known vision of the valley of dry bones. Through that vision, Israel’s God pledges to breathe new life into the dry and scattered nation of Israel and bring the people back into the land. For those who have read this passage it is quite a picture with those dry bones being miraculously brought to life. Then, in verses 15-22, God promises a future restoration for the whole nation, and announces that some day the northern kingdom, called “Joseph,” and the southern kingdom, called “Judah,” would once again be a united Israel. It is here that we find the meaning of the “sticks” that are joined together in Ezekiel 37:15-22. In verse 16 Ezekiel is told to write on one stick “For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.” This first stick represented the southern kingdom, or Judah. On a second stick, or piece of wood, Ezekiel was to write, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.” This represented the northern kingdom, called Israel. God then tells Ezekiel, in verse 17, to join the two sticks into one stick and have them become one in Ezekiel's hand. In doing so, God is saying that He will bring back together His divided and decimated people. That this is the meaning of the two sticks and their being joined together is stated very explicitly in verses 21-22. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. The prophecy of Ezekiel 37:16-17 has a specific historical context. It is a prediction of the future unity of God’s divided covenant people. The attempt by the Mormon Church to make this passage a prediction regarding the Book of Mormon violates the clear historical, grammatical context of the passage, and is thus a fallacious interpretation of this Biblical passage.

1) In those days, "sticks" meant scrolls, or books. 2) God doesn't talk about one thing for the whole chapter. Rarely ever does. If he did, how short would the chapters in the bible be! Especially Isiah...wow lol!