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Ezekiel 37:1

in Ezekiel 37

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

KJV

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

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This verse in Ezekiel 37

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
The valley - The same word as “the plain” Eze 3:22; Eze 8:4. The “dry bones” represented the Israelites dispersed abroad, destitute of life national and spiritual.

This site's exposition

full of bones

on Ezekiel 37:1-3

The hand of the Lord sets the prophet down in a valley full of bones and walks him through them, very many, and very dry: an unburied army long past any human help, which the commentators read against the battlefield dead of the fall. The question is put to the prophet before any promise, son of man, can these bones live?, and his answer is the exact posture the book has been teaching, O Lord God, thou knowest, neither presuming nor despairing. Keil notes that the vision's force depends on the honest hopelessness first: nothing here is sick or dying; everything is dead.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

on Ezekiel 37:1-10

THIS vision has been used, from the time of Jerome onwards, as a description of the resurrection and certainly it may be so accommodated with much effect. What a vision of the great day the words picture before the mind's eye! The great army of the quick, who once were dead, seem to start up as we read. Here, too, we have a very fit and appropriate question to be asked in a tomb—"Son of man, can these bones live?"

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

The hand of the Lord came upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, etc.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 37:1:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • הָיְתָ֣הit was

    hayetahH1961 →3559 times

  • עָלַי֮on me

    ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times

  • יַד־[the] hand of

    yad-H3027 →1618 times

  • יְהוָה֒Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַיּוֹצִאֵ֤נִיand he brought out me

    vaiyotzieniH3318 →1067 times

  • בְר֙וּחַ֙by [the] spirit of

    veruachH7307 →378 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַיְנִיחֵ֖נִיand he set down me

    vaynicheniH5117 →142 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] middle of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • הַבִּקְעָ֑הthe valley

    habikahH1237 →20 times

  • וְהִ֖יאand it

    vehi'H1931 →1879 times

  • מְלֵאָ֥ה[was] full

    meleahH4392 →64 times

  • עֲצָמֽוֹת׃bones

    atzamotH6106 →126 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 3:22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”13 worksActs 8:39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.12 worksEzekiel 1:3the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.12 worksEzekiel 33:22Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.11 worksJeremiah 7:32So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.8 worksEzekiel 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.8 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Ezekiel 8:3He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.7 worksLuke 4:1Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,6 works1 Kings 18:12I do not know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off when I leave you. Then when I go and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.6 worksEzekiel 40:1In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.5 worksJeremiah 8:2They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.5 worksRevelation 1:10On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,5 works2 Kings 2:16“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” “Do not send them,” Elisha replied.5 worksEzekiel 11:24And the Spirit lifted me up and carried me back to Chaldea, to the exiles in the vision given by the Spirit of God. After the vision had gone up from me,5 worksEzekiel 43:5Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.3 worksJeremiah 8:1“At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.2 worksEzekiel 11:1Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders of the people.2 worksEzekiel 8:1In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 1:3

    the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 3:14

      So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 3:22

      And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Acts 8:39

    When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 18:12

      I do not know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off when I leave you. Then when I go and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill…

    • 2 Kings 2:16

      “Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put…

    • Ezekiel 8:3

      He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God…

    • Ezekiel 43:5

      Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

    • Ezekiel 11:1

      Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them…

  • Through

    Ezekiel 33:22

    Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 1:3

      the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 37 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 582: “The Restoration And Conversion Of The Jews” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 37 →