Like other prophets, Ezekiel thought of the restoration of his people in terms of all the exiles of Israelite nationality who were scattered over the lands of the Middle East from the Assyrian as well as from the Babylonian conquests of Palestine. In this prophetic sign, in which he takes two sticks, one for Judah and one for Israel, and joins them together, he acts out the reuniting of the Israelites. The reunited people will live together following God's laws in moral purity. Their ruler will be 'a king like my servant David'. God will make a new covenant with them and guarantee their security for ever. A new Temple will be built in the land which God gave to the Patriarchs, and God will be with them. The passage comes to a great climax in the final words. 'I will live there with them: I will be their God, and they will be my people. When I place my Temple there to be among them for ever, then the nations will know that I, the Loan, have chosen Israel to be my own people.'