Ezekiel 37:15-28

I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My People

15 The word of the LORD came to me:
16 1"Son of man, 2take a stick[a] and write on it, 'For 3Judah, and 4the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For 5Joseph (the stick of 6Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.'
17 And 7join them one to another into one stick, that 8they may become 9one in your hand.
18 And when 10your people say to you, 11'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?'
19 say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take 12the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the 13stick of Judah,[b] and 14make them one stick, 15that they may be one in my hand.
20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand 16before their eyes,
21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, 17I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and 18bring them to their own land.
22 And 19I will make them one nation in the land, on 20the mountains of Israel. And 21one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer 22two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
23 23They shall not 24defile themselves anymore 25with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But 26I will save them from all the backslidings[c] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and 27they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
24 "My servant 28David 29shall be king over them, and they shall all have 30one shepherd. 31They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.
25 32They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there 33forever, and David my servant shall be their prince 34forever.
26 35I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be 36an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land[d] and 37multiply them, and will 38set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
27 39My dwelling place shall be with them, 40and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 Then 41the nations will know that 42I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when 43my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."

Ezekiel 37:15-28 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 37

This chapter contains a prophecy of the Jews' return from captivity to their own land; of the union of the each tribes with one another; and of the glorious kingdom of Christ among them. Their restoration is represented by a vision of dry bones made alive; the place in which they were; the condition they were in; and the manner in which they were made to live, are described, Eze 37:1-10, the explication and application of this vision to the Jews, Eze 37:11-14, their union is signified by a sign or emblem of two sticks, which became one in the hand of the prophet, Eze 37:15-17, the meaning of this is shown, Eze 37:18-20, then follow promises of their return to their own land, in express words; of their being one kingdom, under one King, Christ, the antitype of David, of their sanctification; of their covenant interest in God, made manifest to them; and of his presence, and dwelling among them, Eze 37:21-28.

Cross References 43

  • 1. See Ezekiel 2:1
  • 2. [Numbers 17:2]
  • 3. [Zechariah 10:6]
  • 4. 2 Chr. 11:12, 13, 16; 2 Chronicles 15:9; 2 Chronicles 30:11, 18
  • 5. [Zechariah 10:6]
  • 6. Gen. 48:13, 14, 19; [Hosea 5:3, 5]
  • 7. [ver. 22, 24]
  • 8. [Isaiah 11:13]
  • 9. [Ezekiel 35:10]
  • 10. See Ezekiel 33:2
  • 11. See Ezekiel 12:9
  • 12. [ver. 16]
  • 13. [ver. 16]
  • 14. [ver. 17]
  • 15. [See ver. 17 above]
  • 16. See Ezekiel 12:3
  • 17. ver. 25; Ezekiel 36:24; See Ezekiel 11:17
  • 18. ver. 25; Ezekiel 36:24; See Ezekiel 11:17
  • 19. [ver. 17; Jeremiah 50:4]
  • 20. See Ezekiel 6:2
  • 21. [ver. 24, 25; Ezekiel 34:24]
  • 22. [Ezekiel 35:10]
  • 23. [Ezekiel 36:25]
  • 24. Ezekiel 14:11
  • 25. Ezekiel 36:25
  • 26. Ezekiel 36:29
  • 27. Ezekiel 34:24, 30; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 21:3; See Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12
  • 28. See Ezekiel 34:23
  • 29. See Jeremiah 23:5
  • 30. [ver. 22]
  • 31. Ezekiel 36:27
  • 32. Ezekiel 28:25
  • 33. Isaiah 60:21; Joel 3:20; Amos 9:15
  • 34. [John 12:34]
  • 35. Ezekiel 34:25
  • 36. See Isaiah 55:3
  • 37. See Ezekiel 36:10
  • 38. ver. 28; Ezekiel 43:7; See Ezekiel 11:16
  • 39. Leviticus 26:11; Revelation 21:3
  • 40. [See ver. 23 above]
  • 41. See Ezekiel 36:23
  • 42. See Ezekiel 20:12
  • 43. [See ver. 26 above]

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or one piece of wood; also verses 17, 19, 20
  • [b]. Hebrew And I will place them on it, the stick of Judah
  • [c]. Many Hebrew manuscripts; other Hebrew manuscripts dwellings
  • [d]. Hebrew lacks in their land
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.