The big picture
Ezekiel 37 gives hopelessness a landscape: a valley crowded with very dry bones. Ezekiel is made to inspect them before he is commanded to speak, and the vision carefully distinguishes assembly from life. Bones join, flesh and skin return, yet the bodies remain breathless until the breath is summoned and the host stands. God then interprets the sign himself as the whole house of Israel, a people saying that their hope is lost and they are cut off. A second sign uses two labeled pieces of wood for Judah and Joseph, making reunion as important as return. The promise gathers, cleanses, and joins the divided people under one king and one shepherd, God's servant David. The chapter's destination goes beyond survival: an everlasting covenant and God's sanctuary in their midst define the restored life.
Central truth
The Lord interprets the valley’s revived bones as the whole house of Israel, promising to answer its lost hope by giving his Spirit and restoring his people to their land. The Lord uses two joined sticks to promise that divided Israel will become one cleansed people under his servant David, with an everlasting covenant of peace and his sanctuary among them.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Ezekiel 37:1: “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,”
Slow down at the turning point
Ezekiel 37:12: “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…”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, bones, Israel, stick, breath, children
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Ezekiel 37:1–14
Ezekiel 37:1-2
Set down in the valley
Begin with the hand of the LORD and the Spirit carrying Ezekiel out, as in 3:14 and 8:3. Then describe the valley in the text's own words: full of bones, very many, very dry. Make Ezekiel's walk "round about" visible; perhaps have the class walk a circle around the room. Do not use graphic images. Explain that leaving the dead unburied was a terrible disgrace in Israel (Jeremiah 8:1-2), so the scene is one of utter defeat. Teach this first because the miracle that follows only means something against the depth of this death.
Ezekiel 37:3
Thou knowest
Pause here, on one verse. Ask the class how they would answer the question. Then read Ezekiel's reply and explain its wisdom. He is a priest who knows that touching the dead defiles, a prophet who has seen God's glory, and a man who has just heard that Jerusalem has fallen. He neither denies God's power nor presumes on it. Teach this step on its own because many learners stand in Ezekiel's place, facing something dead and not knowing what God will do with it.
Ezekiel 37:4-8
Bone to his bone, but no breath
Read God's promise in 37:5-6 and then Ezekiel's obedience in 37:7, "So I prophesied as I was commanded". Explain "sinews" as the tendons that hold the body together. Describe the stages: noise, shaking, bones joining, sinews, flesh, skin. Then stop on 37:8, "but there was no breath in them." Teach this step carefully because it shows that structure and order are not life. The class should feel the strangeness of a field of bodies lying still.
Ezekiel 37:9-10
Come, O breath
Explain that one Hebrew word, ruach, lies behind breath (37:5, 37:9), wind (37:9) and spirit (37:14), so the vision plays on all three. Read 37:9 and point to the four winds: breath gathered from the whole earth. Then read 37:10 and let the image land: they live, stand, and become "an exceeding great army". Compare Genesis 2:7, where God breathes into the man's nostrils. Teach this here as the climax of the vision, and keep the focus on God's breath, not on Ezekiel's skill.
Ezekiel 37:11
Our hope is lost
Now God interprets the vision, and the first thing he does is quote the people. Read 37:11 slowly. Explain "cut off for our parts" as utterly cut off. Set this beside 33:10 and 33:21: these are exiles who have just heard that their city is destroyed. Teach this step before the promise so that the class knows exactly who the bones are and what they were saying. The vision is God's answer to a people who had given up.
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Graves opened, Spirit given, land restored
Read 37:12-14 and list the promises: open graves, bring up, bring into the land, put my spirit in you, live, place you in your own land. Explain that the graves picture exile as burial among the nations. Point to "O my people", said twice. Connect 37:14 with 36:27, "I will put my spirit within you". Then mention, for adults, that many readers see here a pattern that later Scripture fills out in the hope of bodily resurrection (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29). End with "I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it".
Ezekiel 37:15–28
Ezekiel 37:15-17
Two sticks, one hand
Start with the history. Remind the class that after Solomon the kingdom split: Judah in the south with Jerusalem, and Israel, often called Ephraim or Joseph, in the north (1 Kings 12). The north fell to Assyria in 722 BC, the south to Babylon in Ezekiel's own day. Then read 37:16-17 and act it out with two sticks or strips of paper, labelled as the verse labels them. Teach this first because the sign only makes sense against two centuries of division and two destructions.
Ezekiel 37:18-20
What meanest thou by these
Read 37:18 and notice that the people ask, as they did in 12:9 and 24:19. Prophetic signs invite questions. Then read 37:19 and point to the shift from "thine hand" (37:17) to "mine hand". Explain that the sign is held "before their eyes" (37:20) so the exiles can see what God will do. Teach this step to show the relation between the prophet's act and God's work: Ezekiel's hand pictures, God's hand performs.
Ezekiel 37:21-22
One nation, one king
Read 37:21-22 and list the elements: gathered, brought into the land, one nation, on the mountains of Israel, one king, no more two. Explain that this was hard to imagine; the northern tribes had been scattered for over a century. Note that the promise concerns the people of Israel and their land, and Christians read it in different ways in light of the gospel. Teach this step plainly and do not map it onto modern states or movements, which the text does not name.
Ezekiel 37:23
Cleansed from their idols
Read 37:23 slowly. Explain "detestable things" as idols and the objects of their worship. Point out that the division of the kingdom began with Jeroboam's golden calves. So reunion is not a merger of two sinful nations; it is God saving them "out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned" and cleansing them. End with the covenant formula, "so shall they be my people, and I will be their God". Teach this step here because unity without cleansing would only join two failures.
Ezekiel 37:24-25
David my servant
Read 37:24-25 beside 34:23-24. Explain that David is named as king, shepherd and prince, and that all of these are servant titles under God. Christians read this with Luke 1:32-33, where the angel promises Jesus "the throne of his father David", and John 10:16, "one fold, and one shepherd". Others read it as a Davidic king, or David himself restored. Set the readings out. Notice the repeated "for ever" in 37:25: a dynasty that will not fail, and a people that will not be uprooted.
Ezekiel 37:26-28
My sanctuary in the midst
End with the sanctuary. Read 37:26-28 and count "for evermore" twice. Explain "tabernacle" as God's dwelling place, recalling the tent in the wilderness. The goal of the whole sign is that God will live among his people, and that the nations will see it. Point ahead: chapters 40-48 describe this sanctuary in detail. Teach this last because the joined sticks are not the end of the promise; God's presence is. Note that Revelation 21:3 echoes 37:27.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Ezekiel 37:1–14
"This vision promises that God will revive anything dead in my life, like my business or my church."
God interprets the vision himself: "these bones are the whole house of Israel" (37:11), a people who said "our hope is lost". The promise is the restoration of his people by his Spirit (37:12-14). The passage can rightly encourage anyone who feels without hope that God gives life where there is none, but it does not promise that every failed project or institution will revive. Be careful with learners grieving a real loss; do not promise them outcomes the text does not.
"Ezekiel had the power to bring the bones to life."
Twice Ezekiel says he prophesied "as I was commanded" (37:7) and "as he commanded me" (37:10). God promised what would happen before Ezekiel spoke (37:5-6). The life comes from the breath, and 37:14 identifies it: "And shall put my spirit in you". Ezekiel's part was obedience, speaking God's word to the bones and the wind. Teachers today can take heart from that, but no one should claim that their words have life-giving power of their own.
"The dry bones are only about the resurrection of the dead at the end of time."
In its own setting the vision concerns exiled Israel: "these bones are the whole house of Israel" and "bring you into the land of Israel" (37:11-12). That is the first meaning to teach. Many Jewish and Christian readers have also heard in it a pointer to bodily resurrection, which later Scripture teaches plainly (Daniel 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15). Others read it mainly as spiritual renewal. Let the explicit meaning lead, and present the further readings as readings.
"If something looks put together, it must be alive."
Verse 8 is the answer: "the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them." The bodies were complete and still dead. Order, structure and appearance are not life. The breath had to come from God (37:9-10). This can speak to any community or person that looks healthy but lacks the Spirit. Apply it gently, and never to name a particular church or person in the room.
Ezekiel 37:15–28
"The two sticks represent two churches or denominations that will unite."
The text labels them itself: "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions" and "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions" (37:16). God explains that he will make them "one nation" with "one king" (37:22). The sticks stand for the two kingdoms of Israel. Christian unity is a real biblical concern (John 17:21), and the passage can illustrate it, but that is an application, not the meaning. Do not let a modern division replace the one the verse names.
"The two sticks are two books of scripture."
Some modern groups have read the sticks as two written records joined together. The passage does not support this. The writing on the sticks is a label, not a book: "For Judah" and "For Joseph" (37:16). God's own interpretation is about people: "I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen" and "make them one nation" (37:21-22). Hold to the text's explanation and treat the alternative respectfully but clearly.
"Unity means everyone just gets along, whatever they believe or do."
The unity of 37:22 comes with cleansing: "Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols" (37:23), and with obedience: "they shall also walk in my judgments" (37:24). It has a centre: one shepherd and God's sanctuary among them (37:24-27). The passage does not picture a peace that ignores sin. Use this to help learners think about reconciliation that includes truth and repair, using fictional examples rather than live disputes in the room.
Learning objectives
- Identify the condition of the bones before Ezekiel speaks.
- Distinguish the two stages of the vision’s movement toward life.
- Trace Ezekiel’s obedience to the words he is commanded to speak.
- Identify the bones through the interpretation given in 37:11.
- Connect breath in the vision with the promised Spirit in its explanation.
- Distinguish the passage’s restoration promise from unsupported predictions about individual outcomes.
- Identify the two inscriptions Ezekiel is commanded to write.
- Explain the movement from two sticks to one people in God’s hand.
- Describe the gathering and political reunification promised in the interpretation.
- Connect cleansing and obedience with the promised unity.
- Identify the roles given to David as king, shepherd, and prince.
- Trace how the closing sanctuary promise makes restoration known among the nations.
Teacher preparation
- Read 36:26–28 before 37:1–14; connect the promised Spirit and land with the valley’s renewal.
- Prepare four stages: scattered bones, assembled bodies, breathing people, interpreted promise; avoid graphic anatomical images.
- Mark the repeated “as I was commanded” in 37:7 and 10; keep Ezekiel’s obedience distinct from independent power over life.
- Explain “sinews” as connecting tissues and read “cut off for our parts” in 37:11 beside the people’s declaration that hope is lost.
- Prepare wider resurrection connections while allowing 37:11 to identify the vision’s immediate subject.
- Read 1 Kings 12:16–24; recall the divided kingdom and Joseph’s association with Ephraim.
- Prepare two sticks or paper strips labeled from 37:16; do not substitute modern denominations.
- Mark “thine hand” in 37:17 and “mine hand” in verse 19; prepare to distinguish the sign from its divine fulfillment.
- Read 34:23–24 and Luke 1:32–33 before addressing the promised David; separate explicit titles from interpretive identification.
- Mark the enduring promises in 37:25–28; leave time for the sanctuary after joining the sticks.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate the very dry bones in 37:2, the absence of breath in verse 8, and the explicit identification as the whole house of Israel in verse 11. Locate the inscriptions in 37:16, the promise of one nation and king in verse 22, and the everlasting covenant and sanctuary in verses 26–28.
Scripture-supported
Read Ezekiel 36:27–28 alongside 37:14: both promise God’s Spirit and life in the land; this connection is stated within the neighboring passages. Compare 34:23–25 with 37:24–26: both join the Lord’s servant David, one shepherd, and a covenant of peace.
Strong inference
Infer that assembled structure is not yet the completed restoration: 37:8 pauses over bodies without breath before 37:10 announces that they live. Infer that the promised unity is more than administrative merger: 37:23–24 includes cleansing from idols and walking in the Lord’s judgments.
Possible or traditional reading
Acknowledge readings that see a pattern of bodily resurrection or spiritual renewal; test them alongside the explicit national restoration explanation in 37:11–14. Present the messianic reading of David with Luke 1:32–33; note that some read the name as David himself restored, a question the stick demonstration does not settle.
Limit
Do not promise the recovery of every dying person, failed project, or institution from this vision; 37:11–14 identifies the people and promise under discussion. Do not identify the sticks as two modern churches or two later books of scripture; 37:16 and 19–22 explicitly identify the divided people represented.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why does the passage make Ezekiel walk around bones described as very dry?
What a good answer contains
So that he and we feel how complete the death is. The LORD sets him down "in the midst of the valley which was full of bones" and "caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry" (37:1-2). Ezekiel is made to see the size of the field and the dryness of every bone. These are not the newly dead; there is nothing left to revive by natural means. A good answer stresses number and dryness. A weak answer starts speculating about who died there or how, which the passage does not tell us.
Show teacher guidance
Use 37:1–2 to establish their number and condition before discussing hope; accept emphasis on the extremity of death, not an invented medical diagnosis.
2. What does Ezekiel’s answer leave with God when asked whether the bones can live?
What a good answer contains
The answer itself. God asks, "Son of man, can these bones live?" and Ezekiel replies, "O Lord GOD, thou knowest" (37:3). He does not say no, which would deny God's power, and he does not say yes, which would claim knowledge he did not have. He places the question in God's hands. A good answer hears humility and openness in the reply. A weak answer calls it doubt or evasion without any evidence in the text, or treats it as a confident yes.
Show teacher guidance
Read 37:3: “thou knowest” acknowledges God’s knowledge without claiming to calculate the outcome; do not label the reply unbelief without evidence.
3. What happens after the first prophecy, and what still has not happened?
What a good answer contains
The bodies come together but they do not live: "there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone" (37:7). Then "the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them" (37:8). A good answer pauses on the last clause: there is form without life. A weak answer jumps straight to the standing army and misses that the first prophecy left the work unfinished, which is why the second is needed.
Show teacher guidance
Trace 37:7–8 through movement, assembly, sinews, flesh, and skin; require the final clause about absent breath rather than jumping straight to life.
4. What changes when the second commanded prophecy is spoken?
What a good answer contains
Breath enters and they live. God commands, "Prophesy unto the wind", saying, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (37:9), and Ezekiel says, "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army" (37:10). A good answer notices that the Hebrew word ruach means breath, wind and spirit, which ties 37:9 to 37:14. It also notices "as he commanded me": Ezekiel obeys; he does not invent a technique. A weak answer credits Ezekiel's speaking with the power.
Show teacher guidance
Use 37:9–10: breath enters, the slain live, and they stand as a great army; note Ezekiel’s obedience rather than a technique he invents.
5. Whose words explain why this vision is given?
What a good answer contains
God's own words, which quote the people's despair. "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" (37:11). The vision answers that saying. The exiles felt like dead men after Jerusalem fell (33:21). A good answer names the whole house of Israel as the subject, and their lost hope as the occasion. A weak answer substitutes some modern group, cause or project for the people God names.
Show teacher guidance
Identify the whole house of Israel in 37:11 and its words about dry bones, lost hope, and being cut off; do not substitute an unnamed modern group.
6. How do graves, Spirit, and land complete the explanation?
What a good answer contains
God opens the graves, gives his Spirit, and brings them home. "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" (37:12). He will "put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land" (37:14). The purpose: "then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it". A good answer holds all three gifts together and connects them with 36:27-28. A weak answer keeps the life and drops the land, or keeps the land and drops the Spirit.
Show teacher guidance
Read 37:12–14 together: God gives his people life, his Spirit, and their land so they know he has performed his word.
7. What is written on each stick, and why do the companions matter?
What a good answer contains
Two labels that between them cover all twelve tribes. One stick reads "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions", and the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions" (37:16). Judah led the southern kingdom; Ephraim, Joseph's son, led the northern. The companions are the other tribes gathered with each. A good answer sees that the sticks stand for two whole kingdoms, divided since the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:16-20). A weak answer reduces the sign to two men or two tribes and loses the companions.
Show teacher guidance
Read 37:16: Judah and associated Israelites stand beside Joseph, Ephraim, and associated Israelites; do not reduce the sign to two individuals.
8. What changes between the stick in Ezekiel’s hand and the stick in God’s hand?
What a good answer contains
Ezekiel shows the sign; God does the joining. In 37:17 Ezekiel is told, "join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." In 37:19 God says, "I will take the stick of Joseph", and "make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand." A good answer notices "thine hand" and "mine hand": the prophet holds a picture, the LORD will accomplish the reality. A weak answer thinks Ezekiel's action itself unites the nation, or that the sticks become one by some trick.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 37:17 and 19; Ezekiel displays the sign, while the Lord declares that he will unite the people it represents.
9. How does the Lord explain the joining when the people ask about it?
What a good answer contains
In concrete terms. "I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land" (37:21). "I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (37:22). A good answer names the gathering, the land, one nation and one king. A weak answer says only unity, which empties the promise of its content.
Show teacher guidance
Use 37:18–22: gathering from the nations, return to their land, one nation, and one king; do not answer only with the abstract word “unity.”
10. What problems besides division must be removed?
What a good answer contains
Their sin. "Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them" (37:23). Then 37:24: "they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them." A good answer sees that the division had a cause, Jeroboam's idolatry (1 Kings 12:28-30), and that true unity needs cleansing. A weak answer treats the problem as politics only.
Show teacher guidance
Find idols, detestable things, transgressions, and defilement in 37:23; connect cleansing with obedient life in verse 24.
11. Which titles describe David, and what work accompanies them?
What a good answer contains
King, shepherd and prince. "David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd" (37:24), and "my servant David shall be their prince for ever" (37:25). Along with the titles goes a life: they walk in God's judgments (37:24) and dwell in the land "even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever" (37:25). A good answer joins the titles to rule, care and permanence. A weak answer treats them as honours only, without the shepherding that 34:23 had already described.
Show teacher guidance
Collect king and shepherd in 37:24 and prince in verse 25; relate them to rule, common care, and enduring residence rather than mere ceremonial honor.
12. Why does the passage end with the sanctuary and the watching nations?
What a good answer contains
Because God's presence is the goal. "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore" (37:26). "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (37:27). And "the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel" (37:28). A good answer sees that joined sticks lead to a dwelling God, and that this sets up chapters 40-48. A weak answer ends the lesson at the joined sticks.
Show teacher guidance
Use 37:26–28: God dwells among and sanctifies Israel, and the nations recognize his work; joining the sticks is not the final destination.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Invite learners to distinguish a fictional observer’s honest admission of limits from a confident prediction God has not given; use Ezekiel’s answer in 37:3.
Relationships and community
Ask how a community might listen responsibly to people saying hope is lost; develop a third-person response without promising outcomes beyond the passage.
Read the explanation too
Give pairs a motivational slogan based on dry bones; have them add the missing subject and promise from 37:11–14 before evaluating its application.
Unity with a center
Have pairs compare unity built around convenience with the unity described under one shepherd and God’s presence; require the passage’s specific center.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Ezekiel 37:1–14
45 minutes
The valley
Read 37:1-2 and walk the circle. Take question one.
Thou knowest
Read 37:3 and take question two.
Two prophecies
Read 37:4-10. Take questions three and four, and confusion two.
Our hope is lost
Read 37:11 with 33:21. Take question five and confusion one.
Graves and Spirit
Read 37:12-14 and take question six. Mention confusion three briefly.
Handout
Read the key verse together and give out the sheet.
90 minutes
Hopeless
Ask the group what makes people say there is no hope. Write a few answers down.
The very dry bones
Read 37:1-3. Take questions one and two.
Bone to his bone
Read 37:4-8. Take question three and confusion four.
Breath, wind, spirit
Read 37:9-10 with Genesis 2:7. Take question four and confusion two.
God names the bones
Read 37:11 and 33:10. Take question five and confusion one.
Life in the land
Read 37:12-14 with 36:26-28. Take question six and confusion three.
Application
Work the application on listening to people who say hope is lost, in the third person.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for any who feel cut off.
Ezekiel 37:15–28
45 minutes
The divided kingdom
Summarise 1 Kings 12 in two minutes. Draw the two kingdoms on the board.
Two sticks
Read 37:15-20 and act out the sign. Take questions one and two.
What it means
Read 37:21-23. Take questions three and four, and confusion three.
David and the sanctuary
Read 37:24-28. Take questions five and six.
The labels
Take confusions one and two briefly, from the text of 37:16 and 37:22.
Handout
Read the key verse together and give out the sheet.
90 minutes
What divides
Ask the group what typically keeps families or communities divided, and what real reunion requires. Keep the list.
Two kingdoms
Read 1 Kings 12:16-20 and 12:28-30. Explain the history of division.
The sign
Read 37:15-20, act it out, and take questions one and two.
Gathered and joined
Read 37:21-22 and take question three. Take confusions one and two.
Cleansed
Read 37:23 and take question four and confusion three. Return to the opening list.
One shepherd
Read 37:24-25 with 34:23-24 and Luke 1:32-33. Take question five.
God among them
Read 37:26-28 with Revelation 21:3. Take question six, and use the application on unity with a centre.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for reconciliation built on truth and God's presence.
Adapting the lesson
Ezekiel 37:1–14
Children
Act out the vision gently: children lie still like bones, then join hands as you read 37:7, then sit up when you read about the breath. Tell them God can bring life where there is none, and that he promised his sad people they would live again and go home. Avoid scary pictures of skeletons. Let them breathe in and out and thank God for breath.
Youth
Start with the feeling of being stuck or hopeless. Read 37:11 and ask whether they have ever felt "our hope is lost". Walk through the vision and the two prophecies. Talk about 37:8, things that look complete but have no life. Explain ruach as breath, wind and spirit. Be careful not to promise that every situation will turn out as they want.
Adults
Give time to the setting after Jerusalem's fall, the meaning of ruach, and the two stages of the vision. Discuss the readings of national restoration, spiritual renewal and bodily resurrection, and how later Scripture uses the image. Ask what it means to answer God, "thou knowest". Let those in hard places be honest about lost hope.
One to one
Read 37:11 and ask whether the person has ever said something like it. Then read 37:3 and talk about saying "thou knowest" to God. Read 37:12-14 and pray for God's Spirit in the dry places of their life, without promising specific outcomes. Leave room for silence.
Ezekiel 37:15–28
Children
Give each child two craft sticks. Write Judah on one and Joseph on the other, then tape them together. Explain that God's people had split into two groups that did not get along, and God promised to make them one again, with one king and with God living among them. Ask what helps friends make up after a fight. Keep the history simple.
Youth
Start with a divided group they know of, a team, a friendship circle, a family, using a fictional case. Read 37:16-22 and ask what God promises. Then read 37:23 and discuss why unity needs cleansing. Read 37:24 with John 10:16. Avoid applying the passage to political divisions in the news.
Adults
Give time to the history of division and Jeroboam's calves, and to the Davidic hope across the prophets. Discuss the readings of 37:24-25 fairly. Address the alternative interpretations of the sticks clearly and courteously. Discuss what the passage implies for reconciliation: cleansing, obedience, a shared centre in God's presence.
One to one
Ask the person whether there is a division in their life that grieves them. Read 37:17 and 37:19 and talk about what only God's hand can join. Read 37:23 and ask whether anything on their side needs cleansing. Close by reading 37:27 and praying together.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Ezekiel 37:1–14
The passage in brief
God set Ezekiel in a valley full of very dry bones and asked if they could live. Ezekiel said, "O Lord GOD, thou knowest." God told him to speak to the bones. They came together and were covered with flesh, but they had no breath. Then Ezekiel spoke to the breath, and they came alive and stood up, a great army. God explained that the bones were his people, who felt their hope was lost. He promised to open their graves, give them his Spirit, and bring them home.
A verse to keep
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
Ezekiel 37:14 · King James Version
Questions to take home
How did Ezekiel answer when God asked, "can these bones live?" (37:3)
What was still missing after the first prophecy (37:8)?
Who are the bones, and what were they saying (37:11)?
This week
Each day this week, take a slow breath and thank God that his Spirit gives life where there is none.
Ezekiel 37:15–28
The passage in brief
God told Ezekiel to take two sticks, one labelled for Judah and one for Joseph, and join them into one in his hand. The sticks stood for the two kingdoms of Israel, divided for centuries. God promised to gather his people, make them one nation with one king, and cleanse them from their idols. His servant David would be their shepherd. God would make an everlasting covenant of peace and set his sanctuary among them for ever.
A verse to keep
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel 37:26-27 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What was written on each of the two sticks (37:16)?
Whose hand makes the sticks one in 37:19?
What does God promise to set in the midst of his people (37:26-28)?
This week
Pray this week for one broken relationship you know of, asking God to bring cleansing and peace.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
