Ezekiel 37 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
shortly after 585 BC, while the exile still had decades to run
Location
A valley or plain in Babylonia seen in vision, filled with dry human bones
Audience
Judean exiles who described themselves as dried up, cut off and without hope
Situation
Ezekiel is set down in a valley of bones and told to prophesy to them, and the bones rattle together, take on sinew and flesh, and then come alive when breath enters them. God explains that the bones are the whole house of Israel and that he will open their graves and bring them back to their land, after which Ezekiel joins two sticks into one to signal the reuniting of the long-divided northern and southern kingdoms.
Key Background
Bones left unburied on open ground were the mark of an army destroyed and never recovered, a battlefield picture any ancient hearer would recognise as final and shameful. The Hebrew word used here means breath, wind and spirit all at once, so the four winds blowing life into corpses deliberately echoes the account of the first human receiving the breath of life. The two joined sticks address a split that had lasted since about 930 BC, when the northern tribes broke away, and the northern kingdom had already been scattered by Assyria in 722 BC, so reunion meant recovering people long assumed lost.
The of was on me. He carried me out by the of and set me down in the middle of a — and it was full of bones.
He led me back and forth among them. There were vast numbers of them scattered across the open valley, and they were
He asked me, of can these bones live?" I answered, — only you know that."
Then he said to me, over these bones. Say to them: Dry bones — hear the word of Yahweh!"
This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says to these bones: I am about to bring into you, and you will live.
I will lay on you, bring flesh over you, stretch skin across you, and put breath in you — and you will live. Then you will that I am
So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound — a — and the bones came together, bone to bone.
I watched — and suddenly sinews appeared on them, flesh grew over them, and skin stretched tight across them. But there was no in them.
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says — Come from the breath, and breathe into these so they may live!"
I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath entered them — they came alive and stood on their feet, an
Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the of Look — they are saying, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, we are completely.'"
So prophesy. Say to them: This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says — My people, I am going to and raise you out of them, and I will bring you back to the of
You will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves and raise you out of them, my people.
I will put my in you and you will live, and I will you on your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have — and I have it," declares Yahweh.
The word of Yahweh came to me:
"Son of man, take a single and write on it: 'For and the Israelites joined with him.' Then take another and write on it: 'For Joseph — the of — and the whole house of Israel joined with him.'"
Join them together into one stick so they become a single stick in your hand.
When your people ask you, 'Won't you explain what you mean by this?' —
say to them: This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says — I am about to take the stick of Joseph, which is in Ephraim's hand, along with the tribes of Israel joined with him, and I will attach them to the stick of Judah. I will make them one stick, and they will become one in my hand.
Hold the sticks you have written on in front of their eyes,
and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says — I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will them from every direction and bring them back to their own land.
I will make them in the land, on the of and king will rule over all of them. They will never again be two nations. They will never again be divided into two kingdoms.
They will no longer defile themselves with their their detestable practices, or any of their rebellions. I will rescue them from every place where they turned away and failed, and I will them They will be my and I will be their
My will be king over them, and there will be one for all of them. They will follow my and be careful to keep my instructions.
They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there and my servant David will be their forever.
I will make a of with them, and it will be a permanent I will establish them, multiply them, and set the for me among them forever.
My will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Then the will know that I, Yahweh, am the one who when the for me is among them