How is the Holy Spirit at work in the Old Testament?

¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

²The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.

¹⁸“Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you will eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh will give you flesh, and you will eat.

¹⁹You will not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days,

²⁰but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because that you have rejected Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”

²¹Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.’

²²Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?”

²³Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”

²⁴Moses went out, and told the people Yahweh’s words; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent.

²⁵Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

²⁶But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

²⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!”

²⁹Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!”

³⁰Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

¹Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”

²Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.

³Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.”

⁴Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”

⁵He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely Yahweh’s anointed is before him.”

⁷But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”

⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has Yahweh chosen this one.”

⁹Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “Neither has Yahweh chosen this one.”

¹⁰Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.”

¹¹Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?” He said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

¹²He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.”

¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

¹The hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

²He caused me to pass by them all around: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and behold, they were very dry.

³He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Lord Yahweh, you know.

⁴Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear Yahweh’s word.

⁵Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

⁸I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.

¹²Therefore prophesy, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people.

¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.

²⁸“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.

²⁹And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

³⁰I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

³¹The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

³²It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.