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.’
Parallel Translations
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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.’
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Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
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Then He said unto 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 clean cut off.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 37:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 2:1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
- Psalms 77:7-9 “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?”
- Ezekiel 39:25 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name.
- Jeremiah 31:1 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
- Ezekiel 36:10 I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be built.
- Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
- Ezekiel 37:1-8 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. 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. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear Yahweh’s word. The Lord Yahweh says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. 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.” ’ ” 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. 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.
- Numbers 17:12-13 The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! Everyone who keeps approaching Yahweh’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”
- Psalms 141:7 “As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
- Jeremiah 2:25 “Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’
- Jeremiah 33:24-26 “Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has Yahweh cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” Yahweh says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”
- Hosea 1:11 The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.
- Isaiah 40:27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”
- Lamentations 3:54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
- Ezekiel 37:16 “You, son of man, take one stick, and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.’ Then take another stick, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.’
- Ezekiel 37:19 tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.
- Romans 11:26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
- 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of…
Eze 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Ver. 11. These bones are.] That is, they signify and betoken. And here we have the accommodation or application of the preceding parable or type; where also we may soon see that this chapter is of the same subject and method with the former, only that which is there plainly is here more elegantly discoursed, viz., the deplorable condition of the Israelites in Babylon, together with their wonderful deliverance and restitution in this and the three next verses.
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Our bones are dried.] We lie in Babylon as in a sepulchre; we are buried alive, as it were; we are "free among the dead," free of that company.
We are cut off for our parts,] q.d., Let them hope as hope can: we have hanged up all our hopes now that the city and temple are destroyed. Thus carnal confidence, as it riseth up into a corky, frothy hope, when it seeth sufficient help, so it sitteth down in a faithless, sullen discontent and despair, when it can see no second causes.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The whole house; the hieroglyphic or emblem of the…
The whole house; the hieroglyphic or emblem of the house of Israel.
They say; think, discourse, and conclude.
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Our bones are dried; their state as hopeless, as far from recovery, as dried bones scattered abroad, and, undistinguished, heaped up, are from life.
Our hope is lost; the hope, not that false prophets gave us, but that the true prophets proposed to us, is utterly lost, and we are out of all expectation of a recovery.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then he said unto me, son of man,.... Here…
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:
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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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The whole house - The emblem of the house…
The whole house - The emblem of the house of Israel. Are dried - Our state is as hopeless, as far from recovery, as dried bones are from life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. These bones are the whole house of…
Verse 11. These bones are the whole house of Israel] That is, their state is represented by these bones; and their restoration to their own land is represented by the revivification of these bones.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 37:11-12. These bones are the whole house of…
Eze 37:11-12. These bones are the whole house of Israel — These bones represent the forlorn and desperate condition to which the whole nation of Israel is reduced; they say, Our bones are dried, &c. — Our affairs are in the most desperate condition; there is not so much as any hope left of their being retrieved. We are cut off for our parts — We are separated and cut off from one another, like a limb that is cut off from the body. Therefore prophesy, &c. — Inform these poor, dejected, desponding Israelites of their mistake, and revive their hope by a new promise and declaration of my purposes of mercy toward them. O my people, I will open your graves — Though your captivity be as death, your prisons and places of confinement close as graves, yet will I open those graves. And cause you to come up out of your graves — I will bring you out of your state of captivity, in which you are little better than dead persons, having no power or privileges of your own, nor enjoying any thing which can properly be called life. The Jewish nation, in their state of dispersion and captivity, are called the dead Israelites, by Baruch, chap. Eze 3:4: and their restoration is described as a resurrection by Isa 26:19. In like manner St. Paul expresses their conversion, and the general restoration which shall accompany it, by life from the dead, Rom 11:15. And the foregoing similitude showed, in a strong and beautiful manner, that God, who could even raise the dead, had power to convert and restore them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain We are cut off for our parts - That…
We are cut off for our parts - That is, “as for us, we are cut off.” The people had fallen into despair.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Off, like branches. Notwithstanding these desponding thoughts, God will…
Off, like branches. Notwithstanding these desponding thoughts, God will restore his people, (Worthington) by means of Cyrus. The grave is often put for punishment and grievous calamities, Osee vi. 3.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Our bones are dried-- (Psa 141:7), explained by "our…
Our bones are dried-- (Psa 141:7), explained by "our hope is lost" (Isa 49:14); our national state is as hopeless of resuscitation, as marrowless bones are of reanimation.
cut off for our parts--that is, so far as we are concerned. There is nothing in us to give hope, like a withered branch "cut off" from a tree, or a limb from the body.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. The whole house of Israel] viz. Judah and…
11. The whole house of Israel] viz. Judah and Ephraim.
our hope is lost] Those who speak are the living members of the nation, and it is of the nationality that they speak. The destruction and dissolution of the nation appeared to them final. It could no more be revived than the dry bones could be made to live. This feeling often appears in exile writings, e.g. Isaiah 40-56 (Isa_49:14 &c.) cf. the singular struggling against the idea, Lam_3:20 seq.
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for our parts] A rendering of the ethical dat., which merely gives vividness to the words “we are cut off,” or expresses the feeling of those who speak by reflecting the action back upon the subject. The term “cut off” (otherwise uncommon) is used also of the servant of the Lord, Isa_53:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) Are the whole house of Israel.—This Divine interpretation…
(11) Are the whole house of Israel.—This Divine interpretation of the vision leaves no doubt of its meaning. Whatever other sense might possibly be attached to its language, there can be no uncertainty as to that which the Spirit intended. The last clause of the verse, “cut off for our parts,” is obscure in the English, but in the original is simply for us—i.e., “as for us, we are cut off.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Verses 11-14 contain, according to most commentators, the Divine…
Verses 11-14 contain, according to most commentators, the Divine interpretation of the vision, Kliefoth alone contending that they furnish, not so much an exposition of the vision which, he thinks, must be explained independently, and which he regards as teaching the future resurrection of God"s people as an application to Israel"s ease of the doctrine contained in the vision.
These bones are the whole house of Israel. On the principle that "God is his own best interpreter," it should not be difficult to see that, whatever foreshadowings of the final resurrection of the just may be contained in the vision, its primary intention was to depict the political and national restoration of Israel (Ephraim and Judah) whose condition at the time the field of withered bones appropriately represented. That Hitzig errs in supposing the "bones" alluded to in this verse symbolized the portions of Ephraim and Judah then dead, instead of the portions still living (in exile), who considered themselves as practically dead, is apparent from the words that follow. Behold, they say. The complaint was manifestly taken from the popular sayings current among the people of the exile. Broken up, dispersed, expatriated, and despairing, the members of what had once been "the whole house of Israel" felt there was no hope more of recovering national life and unity. The cheerless character of the outlook they expressed by saying, Our bones (not the bones of the dead, but of the living) are dried meaning, "The vital force of our nation is gone" (the bones being regarded in Scripture as the seat of the vital force comp. (Psa_32:3) our hope is lost our hope, i.e. , of ever again returning to our own land or regaining national existence and we are out off for our parts; literally, we are cut off for ourselves; which Gesenius explains to mean, "We are lost," taking Wnl; as a datlvus pleonastteus; Hitzig, "We are reduced to ourselves;" Delitzsch and Keil, "We are cut off from the land of the living," i.e. it is all over with us; Hengstenberg, "We are cut off a sad fact for us;" Revised Version, "We are clean cut off;" any one of which renders the force of the words. (Lam_3:54)
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Vers. 11-14The Divine Restorer.
The interpretation of the vision of the valley of dry bones was given by the prophet himself. It was intended that the Israelites, when restored to their own land and to national unity and vigor, should discern in this restoration the hand of Divine Providence. A most unlikely event was about to happen, and Ezekiel desired that those in whose favor the great interposition was about to be wrought should be mindful, both of the condition of hopelessness into which they had been plunged by their own sins, and of the marvel of the Divine mercy to which they owed their deliverance, renewal, and revival.
I THE DEATH AND DESPONDENCY OF THE CAPTIVITY. The Jewish people had endured many afflictions and chastisements; but the Captivity was the sorest disaster which had overtaken them, the profoundest humiliation into which they had been plunged. To so earnest a patriot as Ezekiel the case seemed, apart from Divine commiseration and help, one utterly depressing to contemplate. Human deliverer there was not; way of deliverance opened not up; the prospect was dark. The whole house of Israel, contemplating the situation, summed it up in the mournful exclamation, "Our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.
II THE COMPASSIONATE INTERPOSITION OF THE DIVINE DELIVERER. When human help there was none, the Lord looked in pity upon his own. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people." Their state was as that of those dead and buried out of men"s sight. But with God nothing is impossible. His voice can summon even the dead to life. The hearts of kings and rulers are in his hands. He deviseth means whereby his banished ones may return.
III THE SPIRITUAL ENERGY CONDITIONING THE RECOVERY AND RENEWAL. Providential intervention is not all that is necessary. An internal as well as an external condition is requisite. No great work on behalf of a nation can, any more than a great work on behalf of an individual, be effected apart from the state, the character, the purposes, the voluntary cooperation of those who are to be benefited. We have an intimation of this in the present case in the promise, "I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live." To put a people in their own territory would be of no avail to the national life were not the people gifted with a spirit of patriotism, of unity, of hopefulness, above all, of true religion. A restoration such as that effected for Israel, in order to be a real thing, must be accompanied by the new heart, the new national endeavor and patience, the new devotedness to the higher aims of social and political existence. God, who gives the boon, gives also the preparation by which the boon may be appropriated and used.
IV THE RESTORATION ITSELF. This was mainly, at all events in the general apprehension, a political movement. The capital was reoccupied, the temple services were restored in something like their former dignity and beauty; the reputation of the nation was in some measure retrieved. But beyond all this, in the apprehension of the more thoughtful there was a religious reformation of greater interest and importance. The life from the dead was life unto Jehovah and unto his laws and ordinances a life not ceremonial, but spiritual. Idolatry, at all events, was forever abandoned; many of the temptations of former times were for ever outgrown. Some good was thus effected, and good of such a nature as to confer a real service and blessing upon mankind.
V THE GIVING OF GLORY TO WHOM IT WAS DUE. In two respects especially the Lord assured the Israelites, by his prophets, honor should accrue to himself through the return of his chosen people.
1. His power should be recognized as the true cause of the redemption.
2. His faithfulness should be adored by those to whom the promise had been given, and by whom the fulfillment of the promise was enjoyed. T.
The cry of the hopeless.
hope is lost: we are cut off to ourselves" (Fairbairn"s translation); i.e. we are "cut off from the source of power and influence, and. abandoned to ourselves." Taking these words apart from their connection (though quite in accordance with their spirit and tenor), our attention is directed to
I THE HOPELESS, BECAUSE THE ABANDONED. Many are they who have had, or still have, occasion to utter this most sad exclamation. It has been:
1. The remnant of a moribund race; or a dishonored community (like Israel in Egypt or in Babylon); or a people held in hopeless slavery or a company of men and women doomed to lifelong exile (Cayenne or Siberia).
2. Individuals, or families, or small groups of those who have once cherished hopes, perhaps high hopes, of a happy life, but who find themselves hopeless, cut off, away from all their resources, abandoned to themselves, with nothing but misery and death in view; it may be the marooned or castaway, left on some lonely island to pine and die; or it may be the condemned felon when the last effort to obtain a reprieve has failed; or it may be the family in the great city allowed to perish for lack of food; or it may be the helpless straggler whom the army has left behind to fall into the hands of a barbarous enemy. Sad and pitiable in the last degree is the fate of those who have to lament that they are "cut off (and abandoned) to themselves." Distinguished from these are:
3. The spiritually hopeless. Those who are perplexed and distressed in heart, because
(1) they cannot satisfy their minds as to the reality of sacred truths, as to the soundness of Christian doctrine; or because
(2) they cannot find the peace and. rest of heart they have been long seeking; or because
(3) they fancy that they have sinned beyond forgiveness and restoration. These souls cannot find the help they need; it seems to them that "no man careth for their soul," or can enter into their feelings, or go down to the dark depths of their necessity. They do not know what to do in their extremity; everything and every one has failed them; their "hope is perished;" they are "cut off" and abandoned.
II THEIR ONE RESOURCE. When man fails us, we can turn to God and trust in him. In him the helpless and the hopeless find their Refuge. "I am alone, and yet not alone, for the Father is with me," said our Lord. And many thousands of his disciples have gained relief where their Master sought and found it. The great and supreme fact that God "remembered us in our low estate;" that when we were as a race utterly undone, "cut off" from all resources, with no hope whatever in man, he had compassion on us, and stooped to save us; this is the strong, unfailing assurance that God will not desert us, even though we abandon one another. However low be our condition, and in whatever sense we may be hopeless, we may confidently count upon
(1) the near presence of God;
(2) the tender sympathy of our Divine Friend;
(3) his gracious and timely succor.
His will come to us, indeed, in his own time and way, which may not be after our choice or according to our expectation. But it will come; for it is quite impossible that the eternal Father will abandon his children, that the once-crucified and now exalted Savior will leave to their fate those for whom he died, and who turn earnest eyes to him for help and for salvation. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the…
Eze_37:11-13
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
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Despair denounced and grace glorified
I. A true word: They say, our bones are dried.
1. Observe, first, that they describe themselves as dead, as dried, and as divided. These people spoke of their bones, and therefore conceived of themselves as dead; and so the sinner may without, exaggeration conceive of himself as devoid of spiritual life. He knows not the life of God, for he is dead in trespasses and sins. They were divided too. These Israelites were scattered abroad in every place; and perhaps you, dear friend, feel that, as Hosea says, your heart is divided, and you are found wanting. Perhaps you go further with the figure, and seem to be dried, sapless, useless, hopeless. This is a very sad description of a mans soul, and yet how many of us have had to subscribe to it for ourselves. It is just what we felt ourselves to be while we were without God, and without hope; and yet the Spirit of God was convincing us of our guilt.
2. Further, these bones could by no means raise themselves. There was no trace of moisture left upon them; they could not give themselves life or motion; it were a fools hope to look for Such a thing. Is that the dreary fact which forces itself upon you? Do not try to forget it. You are discovering the truth. In you there is no spiritual power to stir towards God until His Spirit moves towards you.
3. There seemed to be before these bones no prospect but the fire. Do you begin to feel in your own conscience the first burnings of the fire which never shall be quenched? Ah, whatever may be your gloomy apprehensions they are none too gloomy.
4. Moreover, these people felt that they were cut off from healing agencies. They say, We are cut off for our parts; that is, each bone is cut off from its fellow, and the whole thing is cut off as to its parts from every hope and comfort. Happy they who have been delivered from this wretched state; but I had almost said, happy they who are experiencing it, for those who feel their sinfulness are on the road to better things. Brother, I hope your extremity will be Gods opportunity. When your bones are dried then will God come in as the resurrection and the life and make these dry bones live.
5. It seemed to these poor people as if they were quite given over, for when bones are cast out in the field and left to be bleached by the wind and the sun, when nobody gives them burial, but there they lie, the refuse of the charnel house, then they are according to all likelihood left for destruction. Apart from Christ, we are cast off: apart from Christ, God cannot look upon us except in anger: apart from the atoning blood our sins protest against the entrance of mercy, and there we lie self-condemned and helpless, abandoned in our own judgment to condemnation swift and sure.
II. Here is an ill word in the text: Our hope is lost. It is a good thing if our false hopes are lost; but true hope is still to be had. They said of old in the Latin, Dum spiro spero, while I breathe I hope; and I turn the proverb over, and say, Dum spero spiro--while I hope I breathe. To render the sentences rather freely will suit me well: While I live I hope, and while I hope I live. Despair, which is the minds declaration that there is no hope, is not so much a sickness of the understanding as a sin of the soul. No man has a right to despair; no man can be right while he is despairing.
1. Despair is a high insult to God; it casts dishonour upon His chief attributes.
(1) It is most derogatory to the truth of God. If a man says, I cannot be saved, he contradicts the Divine voice, Look unto Me, and be ye saved.
(2) He that despairs insults Gods power. He doth in effect tell the Lord that He pretends to a power which He does not possess.
(3) But despair abundantly casts dishonour upon Gods mercy. The Lord glories in His power to save, and He has plainly declared that He will save all those who confess their sins and put their trust in Him; and do we doubt Him?
2. Mark you, while it does this, which is bad enough, despair brings out the devil and Crowns him in Christs stead. Despair says to Satan, Thou art victorious over the mercy of God; thou hast conquered Christ Himself.
3. This heinous sin of despair tramples on the blood of Christ. Christ has died and shed His blood, and we know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. We have Gods Word for it; yet here is a man who says, It cannot cleanse me from my sin.
4. Despair has something in it of sinning against the Holy Ghost; for the Holy Spirit brings you rich cordials in the promises of God, which will raise your spirits and will restore you from death; and what do you do with them? You take them and dash them against the wall; as if this almighty medicine, devised by infinite wisdom, were the deceitful nostrum of a quack, and you could not receive it.
5. When a man gives way to despair, there comes upon him usually a habit of wrangling against God and His truth. Sometimes the despairing one gets into such a nasty, ugly temper against everything that comes to him from the Bible and from the ministers of God that you begin to think that he must be half mad. So perhaps he is, but it is not a madness that saves him from responsibility; it is a madness which will be laid to his charge in the great day of account, because it is self-inflicted and wilfully persisted in.
6. Worse than this, despair makes a man ready for any sin, for there are many that say, I can never go to heaven, therefore I will take a good swing here, and get what pleasure I can while it is within reach.
7. Let me say further, despair degrades a man, degrades him below the brute beast; for brutes do not despair. You think worse of God than your dog thinks of you. Instead of crouching to His feet, as your poor dog does to you, to try and get a gracious word, you growl at the great Lord--It is of no use for me to be humble: there is no hope.
8. Oh, this despair--avoid it, I pray you, as you would avoid death itself, for it will render all means of grace useless to you. If ye will not believe, neither shall ye be established.
9. Despair, too, is certainly vain and wicked, because it has no Scripture whatever to support it.
III. A gracious word.
1. God meets us upon our own ground, and takes us up where we are. They said, We are as dried bones. Yes, says God, and I will quicken you; but the Lord even goes beyond anything which they have felt or said, for they did not say they were buried. No, they were as bones scattered in the open valley, unburied; but the Lord knows they are worse than they think they are; and so He goes further in mercy than they thought they had gone in misery. He says, I will open your graves, and that looks as if they were finally laid in the sepulchre; but the Lord adds, and cause you to come up out of your graves. Oh, the mercy of the Lord! There is no bound to it.
2. Now, observe how the Word brings comfort by introducing another actor upon the scene. You are like a dried bone, good for nothing, and able for nothing; but the Lord comes in Himself, and He says, I will, I will. Oh, that grand I will!
3. But recollect that God comforts us here by depicting the completeness of His working.
4. Lastly, notice the feeling which is produced by it. Ah, what a feeling a man has that there is a God when God has saved him; when he begins to dance for very joy of heart because he is fully forgiven, then he knows Jehovah is God; when his heart feels restful, and full of peace, when he can say, God is mine, Christ is mine, heaven is mine, he does not need evidences of the existence of God, or arguments to prove the power of God. He carries a demonstration of the truth within his own heart, and tells of it to others with tearful eyes. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Soul resurrection
I. Soul resurrection is a matter of individual responsibility. Man has no choice in the question of his bodily resurrection. He can do nothing towards hastening or delaying it, preventing or effecting it. Not so with the soul. Its moral condition is dependent upon itself. Arise from the dead, is the voice of eternal justice as well as of redemptive mercy.
II. Soul resurrection is a good in itself. It is the prisoner leaving the dungeon and his chains, and going forth a pardoned and reformed man, in the full play of his freedom, to enjoy with a grateful heart the blessings of life, and to discharge with a right spirit the duties of his sphere. It is the diseased man, leaving the dark chamber of suffering, and going forth, with renovated health and invigorated frame, into the fields of nature, in the opening spring, to breathe that new breath from God that is quickening all nature into life.
III. Soul resurrection is the grand end of all Gods dealings with men. In every event of Providence, in every page of history, in every verse of the Bible, in every dictate of reason, in every throb of conscience, in every sorrow, and in every joy, His voice to the soul is this, Arise from the dead:--Break through thy grave of carnalities, prejudices, corrupt habits, into the life of truth and love.
IV. Soul resurrection involves the highest agency of God. The Divine power, which will be employed to call up at last the teeming myriads of the buried dead, is nothing in grandeur, compared with that Divine energy which will be put forth to wake the dead soul to life. In the former case, the mere fiat or volition will do it. God has only to will it and it is done. But far more than this is employed on His part to raise the soul. For this purpose He has to bow the heavens and come down, assume our nature, and in that nature reason out to us the arguments of His almighty love.
V. Soul resurrection is the only pledge of a glorious bodily resurrection. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the entire house of Israel
the entire house of Israel
The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house, in this case the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob over many years. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:1. (See: Metonymy)
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Behold!
The word "Behold" here adds emphasis to what follows. AT: "Indeed!"
We have been cut off
The people being destroyed and removed from their land is spoken of as if they had been cut off like a person would cut off a branch or piece of cloth. AT: "Our nation is destroyed" (See: Metaphor)
I will open your graves and lift you out from them
Yahweh restoring the people and bringing them back to their land is spoken of as if he will bring them back to life again. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
house
Israel
cut off
grave
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 37:11-14 The oracle that follows explains this vision. The…
37:11-14 The oracle that follows explains this vision. The people in exile felt that they were as dead as old, dry bones. As a result, they felt that all hope was gone, but the Lord could and would restore them to life. God would once again call them my people, and he promised that he would open their graves of exile and bring them back to the land of Israel.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.