37 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,

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.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

20 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.

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. And he led me all around[b] over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man,[c] can these bones live?” And I said, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” And he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, to the dry bones, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: “Look! I am bringing into you breath, and you will live! 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.”’”

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! 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. 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

  1. Ezekiel 37:1 Or “placed me”; literally “set me”
  2. Ezekiel 37:2 Literally “all around, all around”
  3. Ezekiel 37:3 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  4. Ezekiel 37:7 Literally “as that”
  5. Ezekiel 37:8 Or “appeared”
  6. Ezekiel 37:8 Or “on”
  7. Ezekiel 37:8 Literally “from to above”
  8. Ezekiel 37:9 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  9. Ezekiel 37:9 Literally “from four winds”
  10. Ezekiel 37:10 Literally “like what”
  11. Ezekiel 37:11 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  12. Ezekiel 37:11 Literally “we are cut in two for us”
  13. Ezekiel 37:14 Literally “declaration of”
  14. Ezekiel 37:15 Literally “was”
  15. Ezekiel 37:15 Literally “to say”
  16. Ezekiel 37:16 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  17. Ezekiel 37:16 Literally “a piece of wood one”
  18. Ezekiel 37:16 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  19. Ezekiel 37:16 Or “for”
  20. Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “as that”
  21. Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “the children of your people”
  22. Ezekiel 37:18 Literally “to say”
  23. Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  24. Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “which they went there”
  25. Ezekiel 37:21 Literally “all around”
  26. Ezekiel 37:22 Literally “and king one he will be for all of them to king”
  27. Ezekiel 37:22 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  28. Ezekiel 37:23 Or “which they sinned by them”
  29. Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “which they dwelt in it your fathers”
  30. Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “until eternity” or “until unlimited time”
  31. Ezekiel 37:25 Literally “to eternity” or “to endless ages”
  32. Ezekiel 37:26 Literally “a covenant of eternity”
  33. Ezekiel 37:26 Literally “to eternity” or “to unlimited ages”
  34. Ezekiel 37:28 Literally “to eternity” or “to unlimited ages”