The Valley of Dry Bones
1 Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” 4 Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear Yahweh’s word. 5 The Lord Yahweh says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.’”
A prophet is asked whether bones can live, gives the only honest answer, and then watches the answer assembled in two stages.
The setting is established with two words repeated. The valley is full of bones; he is made to pass by them all around; there are very many, and they are very dry. Dryness is the detail that matters. These are not recent dead. They are a battlefield long finished, bleached, past any question of resuscitation, and the tour is conducted so that the prophet can verify the condition before he is asked anything.
The question is then put: Son of man, can these bones live? Ezekiel's answer is four words long and it is exactly right. Lord Yahweh, you know. He does not say no, which the evidence would support. He does not say yes, which he has no ground for. He returns the question to the only person who could answer it, and the book treats that as the correct response.
The assembly happens in two distinct stages, and the two-stage structure is the passage's argument. First he prophesies to the bones, and there is a noise and a shaking, and bone comes to its bone, and sinews and flesh and skin come up over them. The valley is now full of complete bodies. And the text stops to say what is still missing: but there was no breath in them. An intact body without breath is not a lesser form of life. It is a corpse, and the first stage has produced a valley full of them.
Only then is he told to prophesy to the breath, and it comes from the four winds, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. The word used for breath in the chapter is the same word used for wind and for spirit, and the passage plays on all three. What made the bodies alive was not the reassembly, however complete. It was breath given from outside them, exactly as at the beginning Genesis 2:7.
The interpretation is supplied and it is national. These bones are the whole house of Israel, and what they are saying is quoted: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off. That is the despair of chapter 33 in another form, and the vision is the answer to it. But the promise given is expressed in terms the picture does not require — I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves — and graves are not battlefields. A people who thought themselves dead are told they will be raised, and the language chosen for a national restoration is the language of resurrection, which the book leaves standing in both senses. The last clause names what will do it: I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live.
settled What this mark means