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Ezekiel 37:5

in Ezekiel 37

This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.

KJV

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

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This verse in Ezekiel 37

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

Therefore, the prophet prophesies to the spirit, and says: Thus says the Lord God: Come, O spirit, from the four winds; come, that is, from the four corners of the world, so that just as in the first creation of man God breathed into his face and he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7), so in the second creation, that is, the resurrection of the dead, being breathed upon by the spirit, they may be brought to life again; for when the spirit entered the human bodies, immediately they lived, and stood upon their feet.

This site's exposition

Prophesy upon these bones

on Ezekiel 37:4-8

The means of the miracle is the point of it: prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, preaching commanded to an audience that cannot hear. As the prophet obeys there is a noise and a shaking, bone to his bone, sinews and flesh and skin, and then the verse's deliberate halt: but there was no breath in them. The bench draws the two-stage shape as the text draws it, structure without life first, which guards the vision from meaning mere reorganization, as Fairbairn puts it: a nation can be reassembled and still be a corpse.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On the Death of Satyrus 2.69 · Written before 397.

on Ezekiel 37:4-10

In minute detail the holy prophet Ezekiel teaches and describes how strength will be restored to our dry bones, feeling return and motion added; how, with the return of sinews, the whole structure of the human body will grow strong, and how the driest bones will be clothed with restored flesh and the openings of the veins and the streams of the blood will be concealed by a veil of skin drawn tautly over them.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Behold, I will cause breath - רוח ruach signifies both soul, breath, and wind; and sometimes the Spirit of God. Soul is its proper meaning in this vision, where it refers to the bones: “I will cause the Soul to enter into you.”

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?"

The words behind it

12 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.

  • כֹּ֤הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • אָמַר֙he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהוִ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • לָעֲצָמ֖וֹתto the bones

    laatzamotH6106 →126 times

  • הָאֵ֑לֶּה<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

  • הִנֵּ֨הhere!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • אֲנִ֜יI

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • מֵבִ֥יא[am] about to bring

    mevi'H935 →2568 times

  • בָכֶ֛םin you

    vakhem

  • ר֖וּחַbreath

    ruachH7307 →378 times

  • וִחְיִיתֶֽם׃and you will live

    vichyitemH2421 →282 times

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

Related verses

7 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.

Genesis 2:7Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.12 worksEzekiel 37:14I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’”12 worksPsalms 104:29–30When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.12 worksEzekiel 37:9–10Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”10 worksJohn 20:22When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.9 worksEphesians 2:5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!7 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Romans 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.6 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

    Genesis 2:7

    Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

    it leads to

    • Job 33:4

      The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ecclesiastes 12:7

      before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

    • 1 Corinthians 15:45

      So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

    • Isaiah 64:8

      But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

    • Acts 17:25

      Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

  • Through

    John 20:22

    When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 2:7

      Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 37:14

    I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 36:27

      And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

    • Joel 2:28–29

      And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On the Death of Satyrus 2.69; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 582: “The Restoration And Conversion Of The Jews” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.

Read on in Ezekiel 37 →