Ezekiel 37:8
in Ezekiel 37As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Ezekiel 37
Commentary
6 notes on this verseon 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.
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
on Ezekiel 37:7-8
For the prophets have proclaimed two advents of His: the one, that which is already past, when He came as a dishonoured and suffering Man; but the second, when, according to prophecy, He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensibility, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils. And that these things also have been foretold as yet to be, we will prove.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Ezekiel 37:7-10
But we call in vain, still they are dead, still they are very dry; we must therefore be earnest with God in prayer for the working of the Spirit with the word: Come, O breath! and breathe upon them. God's grace can save souls without our preaching, but our preaching cannot save them without God's grace, and that grace must be sought by prayer.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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?"
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
So far, they were only cohering in order as unsightly skeletons. The next step, that of covering them successively with sinews, skin, and flesh, gives them beauty; but still "no breath" of life in them. This may imply that Israel hereafter, as at the restoration from Babylon was the case in part, shall return to Judea unconverted at first (Zec 13:8, 9).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְרָאִ֜יתִי | veraiti | and I saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וְהִנֵּֽה־ | vehineh- | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶ֤ם | ʾaleihem | [were] on them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| גִּדִים֙ | gidim | sinews | H1517 → | |
| וּבָשָׂ֣ר | uvasar | and flesh | H1320 → | 270 times |
| עָלָ֔ה | ʾalah | it came up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| וַיִּקְרַ֧ם | vaiyikram | and it covered | H7159 → | |
| עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם | ʾaleihem | over them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| ע֖וֹר | or | skin | H5785 → | |
| מִלְמָ֑עְלָה | milmaelah | from to above <towards> | H4605 → | 140 times |
| וְר֖וּחַ | veruach | and [was] breath | H7307 → | 378 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| בָּהֶֽם׃ | bahem | in them |
וְרָאִ֜יתִיand I saw
veraitiH7200 →1300 times
וְהִנֵּֽה־and there!
vehineh-H2009 →843 times
עֲלֵיהֶ֤ם[were] on them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
גִּדִים֙sinews
gidimH1517 →
וּבָשָׂ֣רand flesh
uvasarH1320 →270 times
עָלָ֔הit came up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
וַיִּקְרַ֧םand it covered
vaiyikramH7159 →
עֲלֵיהֶ֛םover them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
ע֖וֹרskin
orH5785 →
מִלְמָ֑עְלָהfrom to above <towards>
milmaelahH4605 →140 times
וְר֖וּחַand [was] breath
veruachH7307 →378 times
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
בָּהֶֽם׃in them
bahem
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter LII; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.