The Valley of Dry Bones - Bible Story

Share

Bible Articles Video Audio
The Valley of Dry Bones - Bible Story

The Valley of Dry Bones, or Vision of the Dry Bones

From the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 37, God brings Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones in a dream-like vision.  He is commanded to carry a prophecy and the bones connect into human figures, then become covered with flesh and skin. God reveals the bones as the People of Israel in exile and commands the Prophet to carry another prophecy in order to revitalize these human figures.  Ezekiel has been chosen to resurrect them and to bring them to the Land of Israel.  The fundamental lesson of this story is when the spirit of God is present, his people are enabled to live. 

This vision, Ezekiel's third in the book (Ezekiel 1:1), is one of the most famous passages in Ezekiel. While it stands on its own as a powerful statement of God's power to re-create the community, the context is important. The promised gift of new heart and spirit (Ez. 36:26-27) left questions remaining like how could this happen? and can it be true for us?

Ezekiel's vision is reported in the first ten verses of chapter 37 with vivid power. The landscape is filled with bleached bones to which Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy. As he does, the bones are restored to life. The vision receives a double interpretation, with the primary meaning relating to the exiles' despair and that this prophecy is one of the few hints of resurrection in the Old Testament.

The early Church fathers taught that Ezekiel's vision prophesies the Final Resurrection. As Saint Ambrose of Milan stated,

"Great is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that the prophet is taken as a witness of the future resurrection, that we, too might see it with his eyes... We notice here how the operations of the spirit of life are again resumed; we know after what manner the dead are raised from the opening tombs... And finally, he who has believed that the dead shall rise again 'in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound)... shall be caught up among the first in the clouds to meet Christ in the air'; he who has not believed shall be left, and subject himself to the sentence by his own unbelief."

Bible Meaning of Ezekiel 37

The following is an excerpt from the Matthew Henry Bible commentary for Ezekiel 37:

"No created power could restore human bones to life. God alone could cause them to live. Skin and flesh covered them, and the wind was then told to blow upon these bodies, and they were restored to life. The wind was an emblem of the Spirit of God and represented his quickening powers. The vision was to encourage the desponding Jews; to predict both their restoration after the captivity and also their recovery from their present and long-continued dispersion. It was also a clear intimation of the resurrection of the dead; and it represents the power and grace of God, in the conversion of the most hopeless sinners to himself. Let us look to Him who will at last open our graves, and bring us forth to judgment, that He may now deliver us from sin, and put his Spirit within us, and keep us by his power, through faith, unto salvation."

Read the full scripture below and find articles and audio sermons relating to this remarkable story. 

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Gustave Doré engraving "The Vision of The Valley of The Dry Bones" - 1866

Ezekiel 37:1-14

1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ”

Ezekiel 37

1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ”
15 The word of the LORD came to me:
16 “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’
17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.
18 “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’
19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’
20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on
21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.
22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.
23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24 “ ‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.
25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.
26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.
27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.
28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’ ”

Ezekiel 37 Commentaries

Articles about The Valley of Dry Bones - Bible Story

Chris Tomlin and Lecrae Team up to Perform Song Based on Ezekiel 37 Prophecy

Chris Tomlin and Lecrae Team up to Perform Song Based on Ezekiel 37 Prophecy Veronica Neffinger

When a Dream Dies - Encouragement for Today

When a Dream Dies - Encouragement for Today Sharon Jaynes

Unpredictable Wind

Unpredictable Wind Christine Wyrtzen

Bible Pathway - Ezekiel 37

Bible Pathway - Ezekiel 37

Audio about The Valley of Dry Bones - Bible Story

The Valley Of Dry Bones Living Oracles - Roger Salter

Dry Bones, Part 1 From His Heart - Dr. Jeff Schreve

Dry Bones, Part 2 From His Heart - Dr. Jeff Schreve

Questions & Answers Thru the Bible - Dr. J. Vernon McGee

Featured Bible Stories