Ezekiel 37:11 (DBY)

Passage

And 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!

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 37:9 And he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

Ezekiel 37:10 And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Ezekiel 37:11 And 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!

Ezekiel 37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people, and bring you into the land of Israel.

Ezekiel 37:13 And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and have caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "bones", "whole", "house", "israel", "behold", and "dried". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "bones", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "And I prophesied as he had commanded..." into verse 12's "Therefore prophesy and say unto them Thus...", so "said" and "bones" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "said" and "bones" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.