Ezekiel 37:1-23

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand ¹  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed ²  me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 37:2 He made me walk all around among them. ³  I realized ⁴  there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry. 37:3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.” 37:4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 37:5 This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath ⁵  into you and you will live. 37:6 I will put tendons ⁶  on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath ⁷  in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied – I heard ⁸  a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 37:8 As I watched, I saw ⁹  tendons on them, then muscles appeared, ¹⁰  and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath ¹¹  in them.

37:9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, ¹²  – prophesy, son of man – and say to the breath: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’” 37:10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.

37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 37:12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel. 37:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. 37:14 I will place my breath ¹³  in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord – I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’”

37:15 The word of the Lord came to me: 37:16 “As for you, son of man, take one branch, and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 37:17 Join ¹⁴  them as one stick; ¹⁵  they will be as one in your hand. 37:18 When your people ¹⁶  say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’ 37:19 tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, ¹⁷  and make them into one stick – they will be one in my hand.’ ¹⁸  37:20 The sticks you write on will be in your hand in front of them. 37:21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land. 37:22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms. ¹⁹  37:23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness ²⁰  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

[37:1]  ¹ tn Or “power.”

[37:1]  ² tn Heb “caused me to rest.”

[37:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he made me pass over them, around, around.”

[37:2]  ⁴ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and is here translated as “I realized” because it results from Ezekiel’s recognition of the situation around him. In Hebrew, the exclamation is repeated in the following sentence.

[37:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “I am about to bring a spirit.”

[37:6]  ⁶ tn The exact physiological meaning of the term is uncertain. In addition to v. 8, the term occurs only in Gen 32:33; Job 10:11; 40:17; and Jer 48:4.

[37:6]  ⁷ tn Or “a spirit.”

[37:7]  ⁸ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[37:8]  ⁹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[37:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “came up.”

[37:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “spirit.”

[37:9]  ¹² tn Or “spirit,” and several times in this verse.

[37:14]  ¹³ tn Or “spirit.” This is likely an allusion to Gen 2 and God’s breath which creates life.

[37:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bring near.”

[37:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “one to one for you for one stick.”

[37:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the sons of your people.”

[37:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will place them on it, that is, on the stick of Judah.”

[37:19]  ¹⁸ sn The reunification of Israel and Judah is envisioned as well in Ezek 33:23, 29; Jer 3:18; 23:5-6; Hos 1:11; Amos 9:11.

[37:22]  ¹⁹ sn Jeremiah also attested to the reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms (Jer 3:12, 14; 31:2-6).

[37:23]  ²⁰ tc Heb “their dwellings.” The text as it stands does not make sense. Based on the LXX, a slight emendation of two vowels, including a mater, yields the reading “from their turning,” a reference here to their turning from God and deviating from his commandments. See BDB 1000 s.v. מְשׁוּבָה, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:407.