(KJV) Ezekiel 371

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⥃The Valley of Dry Bones

[1] The hand2 of the Lord was upon me, and carried3 me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, [2] And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley4; and, lo, [they were5] very dry. [3] And he said unto me, Son of man, can6 these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God7, thou knowest. [4] Again he said unto me, Prophesy8 upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye9 dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. [5] Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will10 cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: [6] And I will11 lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall12 live; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord. [7] So I prophesied as13 I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there14 was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. [8] 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. [9] Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind15, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come16 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 breath17 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 house18 of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones19 are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. [12] Therefore20 prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open21 your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring22 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,23 [14] And shall put24 my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord25 have spoken [it], and performed [it], saith the Lord.

⥃One Nation with One King

[15] The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, [16] Moreover, thou son of man, take thee26 one stick, and write upon it, For Judah27, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph28, 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.29

[18] [¶]And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt30 thou not shew us what thou [meanest] by these? [19] Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold31, 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 thine32 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:33 [22] And I will make34 them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one35 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 defile36 themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but37 I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse38 them: so shall they be39 my people, and I will be their God. [24] And David40 my servant [shall be] king over them; and they all shall have one41 shepherd: they shall42 also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. [25] And they shall dwell in43 the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, [even] they44, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my45 servant David [shall be] their prince for ever. [26] Moreover I will make46 a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply47 them, and will set48 my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. [27] My tabernacle49 also shall be with them: yea, I will50 be their God, and they shall be my people. [28] And the heathen51 shall know that I the Lord do sanctify52 Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

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  1. Ezek 37:1, By the resurrection of dry bones, Ezek 37:11. the dead hope of Israel is revived; Ezek 37:15, By the uniting of two sticks, Ezek 37:18. is shewn the incorporation of Israel into Judah; Ezek 37:21, The promises of Christ’s kingdom. ↩

  2. In this vision, the dry bones aptly represent the ruined and desperate state of both Israel and Judah; and the revivification of these bones signifies their restoration to their own land after their captivity, and also their recovery from their present long dispersion. Although this is the primary and genuine scope of the vision, yet the doctrine of a general resurrection of the dead may justly be inferred from it; for "a simile of the resurrection," says Jerome, after Tertullian and others, "would never have been used to signify the restoration of the people of Israel, unless such a future resurrection had been believed and known; because no one attempts to confirm uncertain things by things which have no existence." Ezek 1:3, Ezek 3:14, Ezek 3:22, Ezek 33:22, Ezek 40:1; Rev 1:10 ↩

  3. Ezek 8:3, Ezek 11:24; 1Kgs 18:12; 2Kgs 2:16; Luke 4:1; Acts 8:39 ↩

  4. or, champaign, Deut 11:30 ↩

  5. Ezek 37:11; Ps 141:7 ↩

  6. John 6:5-6 ↩

  7. Deut 32:29; 1Sam 2:6; John 5:21, John 11:25-26; Acts 26:8; Rom 4:17; 2Cor 1:9-10; Heb 11:19 ↩

  8. Ezek 37:11, Ezek 37:15-16; Num 20:8; 1Kgs 13:2; Matt 21:21; John 2:5 ↩

  9. Ezek 36:1; Isa 26:19, Isa 42:18; Jer 22:29; Mic 6:2; John 5:25, John 5:28-29 ↩

  10. Ezek 37:9-10, Ezek 37:14; Gen 2:7; Ps 104:29-30; John 20:22; Rom 8:2; Eph 2:5 ↩

  11. Ezek 37:8-10 ↩

  12. Ezek 37:14, Ezek 6:7, Ezek 6:13, Ezek 7:4, Ezek 7:9, Ezek 11:10, Ezek 11:12, Ezek 20:38, Ezek 28:22-26, Ezek 32:15, Ezek 34:27; Ezek 35:9, Ezek 35:12, Ezek 35:15, Ezek 38:23, Ezek 39:6, Ezek 39:22, Ezek 39:28; Deut 29:6; 1Kgs 20:28; Isa 49:23; Joel 2:27, Joel 3:17 ↩

  13. Jer 13:5-7, Jer 26:8; Acts 4:19, Acts 5:20-29 ↩

  14. 1Kgs 19:11-13; Acts 2:2, Acts 2:37, Acts 16:26-29 ↩

  15. or, breath ↩

  16. Ezek 37:5, Ezek 37:14; Song 4:16; John 3:8 ↩

  17. Ps 104:30; Rev 11:11, Rev 20:4-5 ↩

  18. Ezek 37:16, Ezek 37:19, Ezek 36:10, Ezek 39:25; Jer 31:1, Jer 33:24-26; Hos 1:11; Rom 11:26; 2Cor 5:14; Eph 2:1 ↩

  19. Ezek 37:1-8; Num 17:12-13; Ps 77:7-9, Ps 141:7; Isa 40:27, Isa 49:14; Jer 2:25 ↩

  20. Job 35:14-15 ↩

  21. This is a pointed allusion to the resurrection; under which figure Isaiah (Isa 26:9) also describes the restoration of the house of Israel, when he says, "thy dead men shall live;" at which time their bones are said to flourish (Isa 66:14), or to be restored to their former strength and vigour; and, in like manner, St. Paul (Rom 11:15), expresses their conversion by "life from the dead." In the land of their captivity, they seemed as absolutely deprived of their country as persons committed to the grave are cut off from the land of the living; but when Cyrus issued his proclamation, Jehovah, as it were, opened their graves, and when he stirred up their spirits to embrace the proffered liberty, he put his Spirit within them, that they might live; and their re-establishment in their own land evinced the truth of God in the prediction, and his power in its accomplishment. Ezek 37:21; Isa 26:19, Isa 66:14; Hos 6:2, Hos 13:14; 1Thess 4:16; Rev 20:13 ↩

  22. Ezek 37:25, Ezek 28:25, Ezek 36:24; Ezra 1:1-2:70; Amos 9:14-15 ↩

  23. Ezek 37:6, Ezek 16:62; Ps 126:2-3 ↩

  24. Ezek 37:9, Ezek 11:19, Ezek 36:27, Ezek 39:29; Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29; Zech 12:10; Acts 2:16-17; Rom 8:2, Rom 8:11; 1Cor 15:45; Titus 3:5-6 ↩

  25. Ezek 17:24, Ezek 22:14, Ezek 36:36 ↩

  26. Num 17:2-3 ↩

  27. 2Chr 10:17, 2Chr 11:11-17, 2Chr 15:9, 2Chr 30:11-18 ↩

  28. 1Kgs 12:16-20; 2Chr 10:19 ↩

  29. Ezek 37:22-24; Isa 11:13; Jer 50:4; Hos 1:11; Zeph 3:9 ↩

  30. Ezek 12:9, Ezek 17:12, Ezek 20:49, Ezek 24:19 ↩

  31. Ezek 37:16-17; 1Chr 9:1-3; Zech 10:6; Eph 2:13-14; Col 3:11 ↩

  32. Ezek 12:3; Num 17:6-9; Hos 12:10 ↩

  33. Ezek 34:13, Ezek 36:24, Ezek 39:25; Deut 30:3-4; Isa 11:11-16, Isa 27:12-13, Isa 43:6, Isa 49:12; Jer 16:15, Jer 23:3, Jer 23:8, Jer 29:14, Jer 30:3, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:8-10, Jer 32:37, Jer 33:7, Jer 33:11, Jer 50:19; Amos 9:14-15; Obad 1:17-21; Mic 7:11-12 ↩

  34. Isa 11:12-13; Jer 3:18, Jer 32:39, Jer 50:4; Hos 1:11; Eph 2:19-22 ↩

  35. It is evident that the grand union of Israel and Judah here predicted, and their government under one king, and that king to be David, must still be future; for, politically speaking, they never had a king from that day to this, far less a king or prince of that name. (See note on Ezek 34:23.) Ezek 37:24, Ezek 34:23-24; Gen 49:10; Ps 2:6, Ps 2:12, Ps 72:1, Ps 72:8; Isa 9:6-7; Jer 23:5-6; Jer 33:14-17, Jer 33:26; Hos 3:4-5; Luke 1:32-33; John 10:16; Rev 11:15 ↩

  36. Ezek 20:43, Ezek 36:25, Ezek 36:29, Ezek 36:31, Ezek 43:7-8; Isa 2:18; Hos 14:8; Zech 13:1-2, Zech 14:21 ↩

  37. Ezek 36:24, Ezek 36:29; Lev 20:7-8; Mic 7:14 ↩

  38. Eph 5:26-27; Heb 9:13-14; 1John 1:7, 1John 1:9 ↩

  39. Ezek 37:27, Ezek 36:28, Ezek 39:22; Gen 17:7-8; Ps 68:20, Ps 68:35; Jer 31:1, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38-39; Hos 1:10; Zech 13:9; Rev 21:3-4, Rev 21:7 ↩

  40. Ezek 37:25; Isa 55:3-4; Jer 23:5, Jer 30:9; Hos 3:5; Luke 1:32 ↩

  41. Ezek 37:22, Ezek 34:23-24; Ps 78:71-72, Ps 80:1; Eccl 12:11; Isa 40:11; Mic 5:2, Mic 5:4; Zech 13:7; John 10:11, John 10:14-16; Eph 4:4-6; Heb 13:20; 1Pet 5:4 ↩

  42. Ezek 36:27; Deut 30:6; Jer 31:33, Jer 32:39; 1Cor 11:2; Eph 2:10; Phil 2:12-13; Titus 2:11-13, Titus 3:3-8; 1John 2:6 ↩

  43. Ezek 37:21, Ezek 28:25, Ezek 36:28, Ezek 37:26; Jer 30:3, Jer 31:24, Jer 32:41 ↩

  44. Isa 60:21, Isa 66:22; Joel 3:20; Amos 9:15; Zeph 3:14-15; Zech 14:11 ↩

  45. Ezek 37:24; Isa 9:6-7; Dan 2:44-45; Zech 6:12-13; Luke 1:32-33; John 12:34; Heb 7:2, Heb 7:21 ↩

  46. Ezek 34:25; Gen 17:7; 2Sam 23:5; Ps 89:3-4; Isa 55:3, Isa 59:20-21; Jer 32:40; Hos 2:18-23; John 14:27; Heb 13:20-21 ↩

  47. Ezek 36:10, Ezek 36:37; Isa 27:6, Isa 49:21; Jer 30:19, Jer 31:27; Zech 8:4-5; Heb 6:14 ↩

  48. Ezek 11:16, Ezek 43:7, Ezek 45:1-6; Lev 26:11-12; 1Kgs 8:20-21; Ps 68:18; Zech 2:5; 2Cor 6:16 ↩

  49. John 1:14; Col 2:9-10; Rev 21:3, Rev 21:22 ↩

  50. Ezek 37:23, Ezek 11:20, Ezek 14:11, Ezek 36:28; Lev 26:12; Hos 2:23 ↩

  51. Ezek 36:23, Ezek 36:36, Ezek 38:23, Ezek 39:7, Ezek 39:23; Ps 79:10, Ps 102:15, Ps 126:2; Rom 11:15 ↩

  52. Ezek 20:12; Exod 31:13; Lev 20:8, Lev 21:8; John 17:17-19; 1Cor 1:30; Eph 5:26; 1Thess 5:23 ↩