Ezekiel 37:9-28

9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and ¹breathe on these slain, that they ²come to life.""'

10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ³breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ⁴exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the ⁵whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our ⁶bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely ⁷cut off.'

12 "Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and ⁸cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.

14 "I will ⁹put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.' "

Reunion of Judah and Israel

15 The word of the LORD came again to me saying,

16 "And you, son of man, take for yourself ¹⁰one stick and write on it, 'For ¹¹Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions '; then take another stick and write on it, 'For ¹²Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'

17 "Then ¹³join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

18 "When the sons of your people speak to you saying, 'Will you not declare to us ¹⁴what you mean by these?'

19 say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand."'

20 "The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

21 "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will ¹⁵take the sons of Israel from among the nations where * they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

22 and I will make them ¹⁶one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ¹⁷one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

23 "They will ¹⁸no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but ¹⁹I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The Davidic Kingdom

24 "My servant ²⁰David will be king over them, and they will all have ²¹one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.

25 "They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever *; and ²²David My servant will be their prince forever.

26 "I will make a ²³covenant of peace with them; it will be an ²⁴everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and ²⁵multiply them, and will set My ²⁶sanctuary in their midst forever.

27 "My ²⁷dwelling place also will be with them; and ²⁸I will be their God, and they will be My people.

28 "And the nations will know that I am the LORD ²⁹who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.""'

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Ezekiel 37:9-28 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 29

1. Psalms 104:30
2. Hosea 13:14
3. Revelation 11:11
4. Jeremiah 30:19; Jeremiah 33:22
5. Jeremiah 33:24; Ezekiel 36:10; Ezekiel 39:25
6. Psalms 141:7
7. Psalms 88:5; Lamentations 3:54
8. Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 66:14; Hosea 13:14
9. Isaiah 32:15; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:27; Ezekiel 37:6, 9; Ezekiel 39:29; Joel 2:28, 29; Zechariah 12:10
10. Numbers 17:2, 3
11. 2 Chronicles 10:17; 2 Chronicles 11:11-17; 2 Chronicles 15:9
12. 1 Kings 12:16-20; 2 Chronicles 10:19
13. Isaiah 11:13; Jeremiah 50:4; Ezekiel 37:22-24; Hosea 1:11; Zephaniah 3:9
14. Ezekiel 12:9; Ezekiel 17:12; Ezekiel 20:49; Ezekiel 24:19
15. Isaiah 43:5, 6; Jeremiah 29:14; Ezekiel 36:24; Ezekiel 39:27; Amos 9:14, 15
16. Jeremiah 3:18; Jeremiah 50:4, 5; Ezekiel 36:10
17. Ezekiel 34:23, 24; Ezekiel 37:24
18. Ezekiel 36:25
19. Ezekiel 36:28, 29
20. Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 37:25; Hosea 3:5
21. Psalms 78:71; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:23
22. Isaiah 11:1; Ezekiel 37:24; Zechariah 6:12
23. Ezekiel 16:62; Ezekiel 20:37; Ezekiel 34:25
24. Psalms 89:3, 4; Isaiah 55:3; Isaiah 59:21; Ezekiel 16:60
25. Jeremiah 30:19; Ezek 36:10, 11, 37
26. Ezekiel 20:40; Ezekiel 43:7
27. John 1:14; Revelation 21:3
28. Ezekiel 37:23; 2 Corinthians 6:16
29. Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12

Footnotes 4

[a]. Lit "cut off to ourselves"
[b]. Or "breath"
[c]. Another reading is "backslidings"
[d]. Lit "give"