Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
- BSB This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life.
- NKJV Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.
- NASB This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life.
- NLT This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
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 promises to cause breath to enter the bones so that they live. Life comes by God's sovereign, creative word.
Overview
God declares that He will put breath in the bones and they shall live, echoing the breath of life in creation. The promise rests entirely on God's power. It points to the new life God grants by His Spirit to all who are united to the risen Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezek 37:14I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.
- Gen 2:7Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Ps 104:29–30You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.
- Ezek 37:9–10Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.
- John 20:22When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
- Eph 2:5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
- Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 37:5 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.