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Ezequiel 37

ARC · Chapter 37/48

1Veiu sobre mim a mão do Senhor, e o Senhor, pelo espirito, me levou e me poz no meio de um valle que estava cheio de ossos.

2E me fez passar por toda a roda d'elles; e eis que eram mui numerosos sobre a face do valle, e eis que estavam sequissimos.

3E me disse: Filho do homem, porventura viverão estes ossos? E eu disse: Senhor Jehovah, tu o sabes.

4Então me disse: Prophetiza sobre estes ossos, e dize-lhes: Ossos seccos, ouvi a palavra do Senhor.

5Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah a estes ossos: Eis que farei entrar em vós o espirito, e vivereis.

6E porei nervos sobre vós, e farei crescer carne sobre vós, e sobre vós estenderei pelle, e porei em vós o espirito, e vivereis, e sabereis que eu sou o Senhor.

7Então prophetizei como se me deu ordem; e houve um arroido, prophetizando eu; e eis que se fez um reboliço, e os ossos se achegaram, cada osso ao seu osso.

8E olhei, e eis que vinham nervos sobre elles, e cresceu a carne, e estendeu-se a pelle sobre elles por cima; porém não havia n'elles espirito.

9E elle me disse: Prophetiza ao espirito, prophetiza, ó filho do homem, e dize ao espirito: Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Vem dos quatro ventos, ó espirito, e assopra sobre estes mortos, e viverão.

10E prophetizei como elle me deu ordem: então o espirito entrou n'elles, e viveram, e se pozeram em seus pés, um exercito grande em extremo.

11Então me disse: Filho do homem, estes ossos são toda a casa de Israel: eis que dizem: Os nossos ossos se seccaram, e pereceu a nossa esperança: nós estamos cortados.

12Portanto prophetiza, e dize-lhes: Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Eis que eu abrirei as vossas sepulturas, e vos farei subir das vossas sepulturas, ó povo meu, e vos trarei á terra de Israel.

13E sabereis que eu sou o Senhor, quando eu abrir as vossas sepulturas, e vos fizer subir das vossas sepulturas, ó povo meu.

14E porei em vós o meu espirito, e vivereis, e vos metterei na vossa terra, e sabereis que eu, o Senhor, fallei isto, e o fiz, diz o Senhor.

15E veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

16Tu, pois, ó filho do homem, toma um pau, e escreve n'elle: A Judah e aos filhos de Israel, seus companheiros. E toma outro pau, e escreve n'elle: A José, o pau de Ephraim, e de toda a casa de Israel, seus companheiros.

17E ajunta um ao outro, para que sejam um pau; e serão unidos na tua mão.

18E quando te fallarem os filhos do teu povo, dizendo: Porventura não nos declaras que significam estas coisas?

19Então lhes dirás: Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Eis que eu tomarei o pau de José, que esteve na mão de Ephraim, e das tribus de Israel, seus companheiros, e os ajuntarei com elle ao pau de Judah, e farei d'elles um só pau, e elles se farão um só na minha mão.

20E os paus, sobre que houveres escripto, estarão na tua mão, perante os olhos d'elles.

21Dize-lhes pois: Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Eis que eu tomarei os filhos de Israel de entre as nações, para onde elles foram, e os congregarei de todas as partes, e os levarei á sua terra.

22E d'elles farei uma nação na terra, nos montes d'Israel, e todos elles terão por seu rei um só rei; e nunca mais serão duas nações; nunca mais para o futuro se dividirão em dois reinos.

23E nunca mais se contaminarão com os seus idolos, nem com as suas abominações, nem com as suas prevaricações, e os livrarei de todas as suas habitações, em que peccaram, e os purificarei: assim me serão por povo, e eu lhes serei por Deus.

24E meu Servo David será rei sobre elles, e todos elles terão um só pastor; e andarão nos meus juizos, e guardarão os meus estatutos, e os farão.

25E habitarão na terra que dei a meu servo Jacob, em que habitaram vossos paes; e habitarão n'ella, elles e seus filhos, e os filhos de seus filhos, para sempre, e David, meu servo, será seu principe eternamente.

26E farei com elles um concerto de paz; será com elles um concerto perpetuo; e os porei, e os multiplicarei, e porei o meu sanctuario no meio d'elles para sempre.

27E o meu tabernaculo estará com elles, e lhes serei por Deus e elles me serão por povo.

28E as nações saberão que eu sou o Senhor que sanctifico a Israel, quando estiver o meu sanctuario no meio d'elles para sempre.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

In the book's most famous vision, Ezekiel sees a valley full of dry bones that receive flesh, skin, and the breath of life, symbolizing the national restoration of Israel; afterward, he joins two pieces of wood together, representing the reunification of Judah and Israel under a single king.

Explanation

The vision of the valley of dry bones is one of the most powerful images in the entire Bible, responding directly to the despair of the exiled people, who felt like 'dry bones' without hope (v.11). The two-stage process — first the bones reconnect and receive flesh, then they receive breath (the same Hebrew word for 'spirit' and 'wind,' ruach) — shows that external restoration without inner spiritual life remains incomplete. The union of the two sticks representing Judah and Israel (divided since the time of Rehoboam, around 930 BC) promises the end of a centuries-long division between the Northern and Southern kingdoms, under a single Davidic shepherd. The central message is that no situation is so dead or divided that it lies beyond God's restoring power.

Fun facts

  • The Hebrew word 'ruach,' used repeatedly throughout this chapter, means 'wind,' 'breath,' and 'spirit' all at once — a theological wordplay that connects the creation of the first man (Genesis 2:7) with this new national creation.
  • This vision inspired the African-American spiritual 'Dem Bones' (Dry Bones), which became popular in the twentieth century and remains one of the best-known cultural references to a passage from the book of Ezekiel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezequiel 37:1The question ‘can these bones live?,’ put to Ezekiel in a valley full of completely dry bones, is rhetorical: no human answer would make sense in the face of such old bones, which makes what happens next even more striking.
  2. Ezequiel 37:2It describes the scene: bones, very many, scattered across the whole valley and completely dry — an image of old death, with no apparent chance of life.
  3. Ezequiel 37:3The question exposes the human impossibility of the scene: only God could answer whether those dry bones could live again.
  4. Ezequiel 37:4An order that seems strange at first: to speak directly to dry bones, as though they could hear — the order itself is already part of the miracle about to come.
  5. Ezequiel 37:5The vision’s first promise: to make the spirit (breath, life) enter the bones, reversing the death described at the start of the chapter.
  6. Ezequiel 37:6It details the physical stages of reconstruction: sinews, flesh, and skin — even before life enters, the body is reassembled piece by piece.
  7. Ezequiel 37:7Ezekiel obeys and the effect is immediate and loud: a noise of bones snapping together, forming complete skeletons across the valley.
  8. Ezequiel 37:8The first stage of the vision is fulfilled — the body formed, with flesh and skin — but the decisive element is still missing: there was no breath in them yet.
  9. Ezequiel 37:9The text itself explains the vision’s meaning shortly after, in verse 11: the bones represent ‘the whole house of Israel,’ without hope, and the breath of life that raises them symbolizes the exiled people coming back to life as a nation — it is not, in its original context, a teaching about individual resurrection after death.
  10. Ezequiel 37:10The second stage is fulfilled: as he prophesies again, the breath enters the bodies and they stand up as a vast army, a complete scene of life restored.
  11. Ezequiel 37:11The text itself explains the meaning of the vision: the bones represent ‘the whole house of Israel,’ the exiled people who felt without hope, as though they were dead and cut off for good.
  12. Ezequiel 37:12The divine interpretation of the vision: opening ‘your graves’ (the exile) and bringing the people back to the land — the resurrection symbolizes the return from exile, not a promise about individual death.
  13. Ezequiel 37:13It repeats the promise of recognition: the very act of bringing the people back would be the proof of who the Lord is.
  14. Ezequiel 37:14It reinforces: God’s spirit within the people and the return to the land are the two parts of the same promise of national restoration.
  15. Ezequiel 37:15The formula that introduces a second symbolic sign in this chapter — now with two pieces of wood, on the same theme of the people’s reunification.
  16. Ezequiel 37:16Joining two pieces of wood, one representing Judah and the other representing Israel, the northern tribes separated since the kingdom’s division centuries before, symbolizes the promise of reuniting the divided people under a single king.
  17. Ezequiel 37:17The sign’s central action: joining the two pieces of wood in the prophet’s own hand, until they form a single object.
  18. Ezequiel 37:18It anticipates the natural question from the people, curious to understand the meaning of the gesture — a device common in the symbolic acts Ezekiel performs throughout the book.
  19. Ezequiel 37:19The sign’s explanation: the two pieces represent the two historically divided kingdoms — Judah in the south and the northern tribes led by Ephraim — being reunited as one.
  20. Ezequiel 37:20A visual detail: the two pieces would remain in view, in the prophet’s hand, before all the people, reinforcing the public nature of this demonstration.
  21. Ezequiel 37:21The promise behind the sign: gathering the children of Israel scattered among the nations and bringing them back to their own land.
  22. Ezequiel 37:22It details the result of the reunification: one people, one king, an end to the division between the two kingdoms that had existed since the time of Solomon.
  23. Ezequiel 37:23A promise of purification: an end to the idolatry and practices that caused the exile, restoring the covenant relationship between the people and God.
  24. Ezequiel 37:24‘David my servant’ and the ‘everlasting covenant of peace’ pick up the same promise from chapter 34, now also tied to a sanctuary that would stand in the middle of the people forever — a theme that returns in the book’s final chapters.
  25. Ezequiel 37:25It details the permanence of the promise: the land given to the ancestors would be inhabited forever by their descendants, with ‘David’ as prince forever.
  26. Ezequiel 37:26It picks up the language of ‘a covenant of peace’ already used in chapter 34, now adding the promise of a permanent sanctuary in the midst of the people.
  27. Ezequiel 37:27God’s presence dwelling among the people seals the covenant relationship — ‘their God… my people,’ a formula repeated at several points in the book.
  28. Ezequiel 37:28The conclusion: the sanctuary’s permanent presence would serve as a witness even to the other nations, showing that Israel had been restored by God.

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