¹⁶ “Take a stick and carve on it these words: ‘This stick represents Judah and her allied tribes.’ Then take another stick and carve these words on it: ‘This stick represents all the other tribes of Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now hold them together in your hand as one stick. ^18-20 Tell these people (holding the sticks so they can see what you are doing), the Lord God says: ‘I will take the tribes of Israel and join them to Judah and make them one stick in my hand.’”