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Ezekiel 37

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The Valley of Dry Bones 1–14

1
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, ​
2
And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. ​
3
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. ​
4
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. ​
5
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: ​
6
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. ​
9
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. ​
10
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. ​
11
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. ​
12
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ​
13
And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. ​

Reunification of Israel and Judah 15–28

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.
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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: ​
23
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. ​
24
And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. ​
25
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. ​
26
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. ​
27
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ​
28
And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 37

Verse 1

in the spirit of the LORD — 'The hand of the LORD was upon me' is the prophet's mark from the start (Ezek 1:3; 3:22). The 'valley' is biqah, the 'plain' where he had met the glory of the LORD (Ezek 3:22–23; 8:4). 'Spirit' is ruach, the word that becomes 'breath' and 'wind' through vv.5–14.

Verse 2

they were very dry — The bones lie in the open valley, and Ezekiel is made to pass among them 'round about'. He is a priest (Ezek 1:3), and 'a bone of a man' left a person 'unclean seven days' (Num 19:16). Ps 141:7 has the same picture: 'Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth.'

Verse 3

O Lord GOD, thou knowest — The answer leaves the question with the one who says 'I kill, and I make alive' (Deut 32:39). Paul names him 'God, who quickeneth the dead' (Rom 4:17), and Christ says, 'I am the resurrection, and the life' (John 11:25). The verb chayah, 'live', recurs in vv.5, 6, 9, 10 and 14.

Verse 4

hear the word of the LORD — The command is the one given for the mountains of Israel, 'prophesy… hear the word of the LORD' (Ezek 36:1), now addressed to the dead. Christ speaks of the same hearing: 'the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God' (John 5:25) and 'all that are in the graves shall hear his voice' (v.28).

Verse 5

I will cause breath to enter into you — Ruach is breath, wind and spirit in one word. The KJV renders it 'breath' in vv.5, 6, 8 and 10, 'wind' in v.9 and 'spirit' in vv.1 and 14. Ps 104:29–30 uses it for both ends of life: 'thou takest away their breath, they die… Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created.'

Verse 8

the sinews and the flesh came up upon them — The body is rebuilt of the same materials Job names: 'skin and flesh… bones and sinews' (Job 10:11). The sinews (gidim), flesh and skin were promised in v.6; the vision shows them complete, 'but there was no breath in them', and the breath is given only after the second prophesying.

Verse 9

Come from the four winds, O breath — 'Wind' and 'breath' are one word, ruach, four times in this verse; the four winds are the four quarters. 'Breathe upon' (naphach) is the verb of Gen 2:7, where the LORD 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life'. The dead are 'slain' (harag). Compare John 3:8.

Verse 10

an exceeding great army — 'Army' is chayil, a host or force: they 'stood up upon their feet', no longer slain bodies. Rev 11:11 echoes the verse: 'the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet'. Ezekiel's part was to prophesy 'as he commanded me'.

Verse 11

the whole house of Israel — The LORD gives the interpretation himself. The three laments, 'Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off', are the people's own words, and the reply calls them 'my people' (v.12). 'Hope' is tiqvah, a cord; 'lost' is abad, to perish; 'cut off' is gazar.

Verse 12

I will open your graves — The promise is for 'my people', brought up 'into the land of Israel'. Its terms are those Scripture uses of resurrection: 'Thy dead men shall live' (Isa 26:19), 'I will ransom them from the power of the grave' (Hos 13:14), 'all that are in the graves shall hear his voice' (John 5:28).

Verse 14

put my spirit in you — The promise made in Ezek 36:27, 'I will put my spirit within you', is repeated for the dead made alive. Joel 2:28 has 'I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh', which Peter says is 'that which was spoken by the prophet Joel' (Acts 2:16–17). 'Spoken it, and performed it': what he says he does (Num 23:19).

Verse 16

For Judah… For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim — Two pieces of wood (ets) are lettered, as names were written on rods in Num 17:2–3. Judah's has 'the children of Israel his companions', who gathered to Judah after the division (2 Chr 10:17; 15:9); Joseph's, 'the stick of Ephraim', the tribes that 'rebelled against the house of David' (2 Chr 10:19).

Verse 17

they shall become one in thine hand — 'Join' is qarab, to bring near. 'One' (echad) is the key word of the passage: one stick (vv.17, 19), one nation and one king (v.22), one shepherd (v.24). Hos 1:11 gives the same hope, 'appoint themselves one head', and Isa 11:13 says 'The envy also of Ephraim shall depart'.

Verse 22

one king shall be king to them all — 'Two nations… two kingdoms' (goy, mamlakah) names the division in Rehoboam's time (2 Chr 10:19), now undone 'upon the mountains of Israel'. The one king is named in v.24, 'David my servant'; Hos 3:5 has the children of Israel 'seek the LORD their God, and David their king'.

Verse 23

their idols… their detestable things — 'Idols' is gillulim, Ezekiel's word: 36 of the 45 verses that contain it are in this book. 'Save' (yasha) recalls Ezek 36:29, 'I will also save you from all your uncleannesses', and 'cleanse' (taher) recalls 36:25, 'from all your idols, will I cleanse you'. The closing formula returns in Rev 21:3.

Verse 24

David my servant shall be king over them — The words repeat Ezek 34:23, 'I will set up one shepherd over them… my servant David'; Jer 23:5 has 'a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign'. Gabriel tells Mary that 'the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David' (Luke 1:32); Christ says, 'one fold, and one shepherd' (John 10:16).

Verse 25

my servant David shall be their prince for ever — 'Prince' is nasi, where v.24 says 'king'; Ezek 34:24 has 'my servant David a prince among them'. 'For ever' (olam) is said twice, of the dwelling in the land and of the reign. Luke 1:33 says of Christ, 'he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end'.

Verse 26

a covenant of peace — Berith shalom, a covenant 'cut' (karath), stands also in Ezek 34:25 and was given to Phinehas (Num 25:12); Isa 54:10 calls it 'the covenant of my peace', Isa 55:3 'an everlasting covenant', 'the sure mercies of David'. The sanctuary 'in the midst of them' recalls Lev 26:11, 'I will set my tabernacle among you'.

Verse 27

My tabernacle also shall be with them — Mishkan is the dwelling-place; 'I will be their God, and they shall be my people' comes from Lev 26:12. John 1:14 says the Word 'dwelt' (skenoo, to tabernacle) 'among us'; Rev 21:3, 'the tabernacle of God is with men'; Paul writes to the church, 'ye are the temple of the living God' (2 Cor 6:16).

Verse 28

the LORD do sanctify Israel — 'Sanctify' (qadash) and 'sanctuary' (miqdash) are one root: his dwelling in the midst of them is what sets them apart. 'The LORD that sanctify them' stands in Ezek 20:12 of the sabbaths; Ezek 36:23 says 'the heathen shall know that I am the LORD'. The book closes with the city's name, 'The LORD is there' (Ezek 48:35).