Ezekiel 37:1–14

The Valley of Dry Bones

37The hand of the Lord was on me,^x and he brought me out by the Spirit^y of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley;^z it was full of bones.^{a 2}He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.^b”

⁴Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!^{c 5}This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^a enter you, and you will come to life.^{d 6}I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^e’ ”

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath;^f prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds^g and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded^h me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.ⁱ

¹¹Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’^{j 12}Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.^{k 13}Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,^l when I open your graves and bring you up from them.^{m 14}I will put my Spiritⁿ in you and you will live, and I will settle^o you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.^p’ ”