Ezekiel 37:11

11 And he said to me, "Son of man, these bones [are] all of the house of Israel; look! [they are] saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; {we are cut off as far as we are concerned}.'

Ezekiel 37:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 37:11

Then he said unto me, son of man
Here follow the explication and application of the above vision: these bones are the whole house of Israel;
an emblem of them, of their state and condition in the Babylonish captivity, and of them in their present state; and of the whole Israel of God, while in a state of unregeneracy: this phrase takes in the ten tribes, as well as the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, which returned from Babylon; and shows that respect is had to something more than that restoration barely: behold, they say, our bones are dried;
the house of Israel say we are like dry bones indeed; we have no spirit, nor strength, nor courage, nor life in us: and our hope is lost;
of being delivered from the present captivity; or of the Messiah's coming; or of ever enjoying their own land, and of the promises of those things made unto them: we are cut off for our parts;
from the land of Israel, and have no hope of possessing it again, whatever others have; indeed they are cut off from the olive tree, and are cut down like a tree, both as to their civil and church state. The Targum is,

``and we are perished;''

it is all over with us; we are lost and undone; all the expressions show the desperate and despairing condition they were in.

Ezekiel 37:11 In-Context

9 And he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and you must say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh {from the four winds}, "Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!" '"

10 And I prophesied {as} he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group.

11 And he said to me, "Son of man, these bones [are] all of the house of Israel; look! [they are] saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; {we are cut off as far as we are concerned}.'

12 Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I [am] opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel!

13 And you will know that I [am] Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people!

Footnotes

• [a] Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"
• [b] Literally "we are cut in two for us"