Ezekiel 37
Lexham English Bible
A Valley of Dried Bones; A Renewed Nation of Israel
37 The hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he brought me by the Spirit of Yahweh, and he let me rest[a] in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2 And he led me all around[b] over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man,[c] can these bones live?” And I said, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” 4 And he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, to the dry bones, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh! 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: “Look! I am bringing into you breath, and you will live! 6 And I will lay on you sinews, and I will let flesh come upon you, and I will cover you over with skin, and I will put breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”
7 And I prophesied just as[d] I had been commanded, and there was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together—the bones! Bone to its bone! 8 And I looked, and indeed, sinews were on them, and flesh went up,[e] and skin covered over[f] them upward,[g] but breath was not in them. 9 And he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man,[h] and you must say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh from the four winds,[i] “Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!”’” 10 And I prophesied as[j] he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group.
11 And he said to me, “Son of man,[k] these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; we are cut off as far as we are concerned.’[l] 12 Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel! 13 And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people! 14 And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!”’ declares[m] Yahweh.”
15 And the word of Yahweh came[n] to me, saying,[o] 16 “And you, son of man,[p] take for yourself a piece of wood,[q] and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites[r] his associates,’ and take another piece of wood, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the piece of wood of[s] Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.’ 17 And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. 18 When[t] your people[u] say to you, saying,[v] ‘Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?’ 19 Then speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.’” 20 And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the Israelites[w] from among the nations to which they went,[x] and I will gather them from everywhere,[y] and I will bring them to their own soil. 22 And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and they will all have one king as their king,[z] and they[aa] will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again. 23 And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy by which they sinned,[ab] and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.
24 “‘“And my servant David will be king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them. 25 And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, in which your ancestors dwelled,[ac] and they will dwell on it, they and their children and the children of their children forever,[ad] and my servant David will be a leader for them forever.[ae] 26 And I will make with them a covenant of peace; an everlasting covenant[af] it will be with them. And I will establish them, and I will cause them to increase, and I will put my sanctuary in the midst of them forever.[ag] 27 And my tabernacle will be with them, and I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation. 28 And the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am consecrating Israel when my sanctuary is in the midst of them forever.”’”[ah]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 37:1 Or “placed me”; literally “set me”
- Ezekiel 37:2 Literally “all around, all around”
- Ezekiel 37:3 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 37:7 Literally “as that”
- Ezekiel 37:8 Or “appeared”
- Ezekiel 37:8 Or “on”
- Ezekiel 37:8 Literally “from to above”
- Ezekiel 37:9 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 37:9 Literally “from four winds”
- Ezekiel 37:10 Literally “like what”
- Ezekiel 37:11 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 37:11 Literally “we are cut in two for us”
- Ezekiel 37:14 Literally “declaration of”
- Ezekiel 37:15 Literally “was”
- Ezekiel 37:15 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 37:16 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
- Ezekiel 37:16 Literally “a piece of wood one”
- Ezekiel 37:16 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Ezekiel 37:16 Or “for”
- Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “as that”
- Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “the children of your people”
- Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “to say”
- Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “which they went there”
- Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “all around”
- Ezekiel 37:22 Literally “and king one he will be for all of them to king”
- Ezekiel 37:22 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
- Ezekiel 37:23 Or “which they sinned by them”
- Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “which they dwelt in it your fathers”
- Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “until eternity” or “until unlimited time”
- Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “to eternity” or “to endless ages”
- Ezekiel 37:26 Literally “a covenant of eternity”
- Ezekiel 37:26 Literally “to eternity” or “to unlimited ages”
- Ezekiel 37:28 Literally “to eternity” or “to unlimited ages”
Ezekiel 37
International Standard Version
The Vision of the Valley of Bones
37 The Lord laid his hand on me and brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord to the middle of a valley that was filled with bones. 2 He led me here and there throughout[a] the valley, and I was amazed to see that the surface of the entire valley was covered with myriads of very dry bones! 3 The Lord[b] asked me, “Son of Man, will these bones ever live?”
“Lord God,” I replied, “you know the answer to that!”[c]
4 Then the Lord told me, “Prophesy to these bones. Tell them: ‘You dry bones, listen to the message from the Lord: “ 5 This is what the Lord God says to you[d] dry bones! ‘Pay attention! I’m bringing my Spirit into you right now, and you’re going to live! 6 I’m going to grow tendons on you, regenerate your flesh, cover you with skin, and make you breathe again so that you can come back to life and learn that I am the Lord.’”’”
The Bones are Raised to Life
7 So I prophesied, just as I had been ordered to do so. Immediately there was a noise and a rattling—and then all of a sudden the bones came together by themselves! Each bone came together, all of them attached together![e] 8 As I continued to watch, I saw tendons growing on the bones,[f] and muscles growing and covering them, and then skin covered the flesh from above. But the bodies weren’t breathing. 9 Then he ordered me, “Prophesy to the Spirit, Son of Man. Tell the Spirit, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Come from the four winds, you Spirit, and breathe into these people who have been killed, so they will live.”’” 10 So I prophesied as I had been ordered, breath entered them, and they began to live. They stood on their own feet as a vast, united army.
The Vision is Interpreted for Ezekiel
11 “These bones represent the entire house of Israel,” the Lord[g] explained to me. “Look how they keep saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our future is lost. We’ve been completely eliminated!’ 12 “Therefore prophesy to them, and tell them, ‘Watch me! I’m going to open your graves, lift you out of those graves, and bring my people back into the land of Israel. 13 Then you’ll learn that I am the Lord, when I’ve opened your graves and caused you to come up out of them, my people. 14 I’m going to place my Spirit in you all, and you will live. I’ll place you all into your land, and you’ll learn that I, the Lord, have been speaking and doing this,’ declares the Lord.’”
The Future Union of Israel and Judah
15 A message came to me from the Lord, and this is what it was: 16 “Now as for you, Son of Man, grab a stick of wood for yourself and write on it these words:
‘For Judah and the Israelis, his companions’
“Then grab another stick and write on it:
‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions’
17 “Then join them together end-to-end so that they become a single baton in your hand. 18 When the descendants of your people ask you, ‘Would you please explain to us what you mean by this?’ 19 you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Watch me! I’m taking the baton that represents Joseph, which Ephraim is holding in his hand, along with his companions the tribes of Israel, and I’m going to join them with the baton that represents Judah. I’m making them a single baton, that is, a complete baton in my hand.”
20 “The batons on which you engrave your writing are to remain right in front of them in your hand. 21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Watch me take the Israelis out of the nations where they’ve gone and return them from every direction. I’m going to bring them back into their own land. 22 I’m going to make them a united people in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and I’ll set a single king to rule over them. They’ll never again be two separate people. They’ll never again be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will never again defile themselves with their idols, with other loathsome things, or with any of their sins. Instead, I will deliver them from all of the places where they have sinned, and then I’ll cleanse them. They will be my people and I will be their God.”’”
David’s Rule as King
24 “‘“My servant King David will be there for them, and one shepherd will be appointed for them. They will live according to my decrees, keep my regulations, and practice them. 25 They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob and on which your ancestors lived. They will live in that land, along with their children and grandchildren, forever. David my servant will be their everlasting leader. 26 I’ll make a secure covenant[h] with them, one that will last forever. I will establish them, make them increase in population,[i] and will place my sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 I will pitch my tent among them and will be their God. They will be my people, 28 and the nations will learn that I, the Lord, am the sanctifier of Israel when I place my sanctuary in their midst forever.”’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 37:2 Lit. me over them all around all around
- Ezekiel 37:3 Lit. He
- Ezekiel 37:3 The Heb. lacks the answer to that
- Ezekiel 37:5 Lit. these
- Ezekiel 37:7 Lit. together, one to another
- Ezekiel 37:8 Lit. on them
- Ezekiel 37:11 Lit. Israel,” he
- Ezekiel 37:26 Or a covenant of peace
- Ezekiel 37:26 The Heb. lacks in population
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