Passage
And say vnto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Beholde, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and wil gather them on euery side, and bring them into their owne land.
Ezekiel 37:21 (GNV)
Nearby Context
Ezekiel 37:19 Thou shalt answere them, Thus sayeth the Lord God, Behold, I wil take the tree of Ioseph, which is in the hande of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellowes, and will put them with him, euen with the tree of Iudah, and make them one tree, and they shalbe one in mine hand.
Ezekiel 37:20 And the pieces of wood, whereon thou writest, shalbe in thine hand, in their sight.
Ezekiel 37:21 And say vnto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Beholde, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and wil gather them on euery side, and bring them into their owne land.
Ezekiel 37:22 And I will make them one people in the lande, vpon the mountaines of Israel, and one king shalbe king to them all: and they shalbe no more two peoples, neither bee deuided any more henceforth into two kingdomes.
Ezekiel 37:23 Neither shall they bee polluted any more with their idoles, nor with their abominations, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will saue them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they haue sinned, and will clense them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "vnto", "thus", "saith", "lord", "beholde", "take", "children", and "israel". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "vnto" and "thus", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And the pieces of wood whereon thou..." into verse 22's "And I will make them one people...", so "vnto" and "thus" 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 "vnto" and "thus" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.