Ezekiel 36:1

Blessings on the Mountains of Israel

36:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord!

Isaiah 26:19

26:19 ¹ Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ² 

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ³ 

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ⁴ 

Isaiah 42:18

The Lord Reasons with His People

42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!

Take notice, ⁵  you blind ones!

Jeremiah 22:29

22:29 O land of Judah, land of Judah, land of Judah! ⁶ 

Listen to what the Lord has to say!

Micah 6:2

6:2 Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,

you enduring foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he has a dispute with Israel! ⁷ 

John 5:25

5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁸  a time ⁹  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 5:28-29

5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time ¹⁰  is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 5:29 and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation. ¹¹ 

¹ sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.

² tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

³ tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.

⁴ sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).

⁵ tn Heb “look to see”; NAB, NCV “look and see”; NRSV “look up and see.”

⁶ tn There is no certain explanation for the triple repetition of the word “land” here. F. B. Huey (Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 209) suggests the idea of exasperation, but exasperation at what? Their continued apostasy which made these exiles necessary? Or exasperation at their pitiful hopes of seeing Jeconiah restored? Perhaps “pitiful, pitiful, pitiful land of Judah” would convey some of the force of the repetition without being any more suggestive of why the land is so addressed.

⁷ tn This verse briefly interrupts the Lord’s statement (see vv. 1, 3) as the prophet summons the mountains as witnesses. Because of this v. 2 has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

⁹ tn Grk “an hour.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “an hour.”

¹¹ tn Or “a resurrection resulting in judgment.”