Ezekiel 37

EasyEnglish Bible

The valley of dry bones^[a]

37 The Lord took hold of me with great power. In a vision, the Lord's Spirit took me to the middle of a valley. Bones covered all the ground there. ² The Lord made me walk up and down among the bones. I could see many bones there, on the ground in the valley. They were completely dry.

³ He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones become alive again?’

I said, ‘Almighty Lord, only you know the answer.’

⁴ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, “Dry bones, listen to the Lord's message! ⁵ This is what the Almighty Lord says to you bones: Listen! I will put breath into you and you will become alive. ⁶ I will join you together and I will put meat on you. I will cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and you will become alive. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’^[b]

⁷ So I prophesied, as the Lord had commanded me to do. While I was still speaking, there was a noise. It was the sound of the bones as they knocked against each other when they joined together. ⁸ While I watched, I saw meat come and join to the bones. Then skin covered them. But there was no breath in them yet.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Prophesy to the wind, son of man. Speak my message to the wind. Say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Blow from all directions and put breath into these dead bodies! Cause them to become alive again.” ’

¹⁰ So I spoke the message that the Lord had commanded me to speak. Breath went into those dead bodies and they became alive. They stood up on their feet. They were as many as a great army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are a picture of all Israel's people. The Israelites are saying, “Our bones are dead and dry. There are no good things that we can hope for. We have come to an end.” ¹² So prophesy and say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen, my people! I will soon open up your graves. I will bring you out of your graves. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ When that happens to you, my people, you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ I will put the breath of my Spirit in you, and you will become alive. I will let you live safely in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken. You will know that I have done what I said I would do. That is what the Lordsays.” ’^[c]

¹⁵ The Lord gave this message to me: ¹⁶ ‘Son of man, take a stick and write on it, “This stick belongs to Judah and the Israelite tribes that are with him.” Then take another stick and write on it, “This stick belongs to Joseph's son Ephraim and the Israelite tribes that are with him.”^{[d] 17} Make the two sticks join together to become one stick in your hand. ¹⁸ Your people will ask you, “Please tell us what this means.” ¹⁹ When they ask that, say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Joseph's stick that belongs to Ephraim and the Israelite tribes that are with him. I will cause it to join together with Judah's stick. I will make them become one stick in my hand.”

²⁰ Hold the two sticks that you have written words on. Hold them in your hand for the people to see. ²¹ Say to the people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Israel's people out from among the nations where they have gone. I will bring them back together from all those foreign countries. I will bring them to their own land. ²² In that land, I will make them become one nation. They will live on Israel's mountains. They will have one king to rule over them all. They will never again become two nations or two separate kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer worship their disgusting idols and make themselves unclean. They will not refuse to obey me. They have turned away from me and done bad things. But I will save them from all their sins. I will make them clean. They will be my people and I will be their God.

²⁴ My servant David will be their king. There will be one shepherd who takes care of them all. They will carefully obey my rules and my laws. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. It is the land where your ancestors lived. My people, their children and their grandchildren will live there. They will live there for ever. My servant David will rule over them for ever.^[e]

²⁶ I will make a covenant with them to give them peace. It is a promise to my people that will continue for ever. I will cause them to live safely in their land. I will cause them to grow in number. I will put my temple among them, to be with them for ever. ²⁷ I will make my home with them. I will be their God and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, have chosen the Israelites as my own people. The nations will see that I have put my temple among my people for ever.” ’