Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord God, You Yourself know.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Lord Yahweh, you know.
- KJV And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
- BSB Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.”
- NKJV And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
- NLT Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God asks whether these bones can live, and Ezekiel leaves the answer to God. The question highlights that life is God's prerogative alone.
Overview
Faced with an impossible question, Ezekiel wisely defers to God's knowledge and power: 'Lord Yahweh, you know.' Human ability is exhausted; hope rests in God alone. This posture of faith acknowledges that resurrection life comes only from the Lord, fulfilled in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 5:21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
- Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- Rom 4:17As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
- 2 Cor 1:9–10Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
- Heb 11:19concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
- 1 Sam 2:6“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.
- Acts 26:8Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?
- John 6:5–6Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
- Deut 32:29Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 37:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.