Ezekiel 37:2
in Ezekiel 37He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
KJV
And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
⋯
This verse in Ezekiel 37
Commentary
2 notes on this verseon 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?"
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The hand of the Lord came upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, etc.
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 wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהֶעֱבִירַ֥נִי | veheevirani | and he made pass by me | H5674 → | 556 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם | ʾaleihem | at them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| סָבִ֣יב׀ | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| סָבִ֑יב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֨ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| רַבּ֤וֹת | rabot | many [bones] | H7227 → | 454 times |
| מְאֹד֙ | meod | very | H3966 → | 300 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [were] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵ֣י | penei | [the] surface of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הַבִּקְעָ֔ה | habikah | the valley | H1237 → | 20 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֖ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| יְבֵשׁ֥וֹת | yeveshot | [they were] dry | H3002 → | 10 times |
| מְאֹֽד׃ | meod | very | H3966 → | 300 times |
וְהֶעֱבִירַ֥נִיand he made pass by me
veheeviraniH5674 →556 times
עֲלֵיהֶ֖םat them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
סָבִ֣יב׀all around
savivH5439 →336 times
סָבִ֑יבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
וְהִנֵּ֨הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
רַבּ֤וֹתmany [bones]
rabotH7227 →454 times
מְאֹד֙very
meodH3966 →300 times
עַל־[were] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵ֣י[the] surface of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
הַבִּקְעָ֔הthe valley
habikahH1237 →20 times
וְהִנֵּ֖הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
יְבֵשׁ֥וֹת[they were] dry
yeveshotH3002 →10 times
מְאֹֽד׃very
meodH3966 →300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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 37:11Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Psalms 77:7–9
“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- Ezekiel 39:25
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.
- Ezekiel 36:10
I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
- Jeremiah 31:1
“At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.”
- Ephesians 2:1
Through
Psalms 141:7As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
it leads to
- Romans 8:36
As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
- Psalms 53:5
There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.
- Romans 8:36
Through
Deuteronomy 11:30Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?
it leads to
- Genesis 12:6
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.
- Genesis 12:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 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.