Ezekiel 37:11

Ezekiel 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.

a. NLT: Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’

b. NIV: Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’

c. YLT: And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; lo, they are saying: Dried up have our bones, And perished hath our hope, We have been cut off by ourselves.

d. Amplified Bible Classic: 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.

e. Septuagint: And the Lord spoke to me, saying, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: and they say, Our bones are become dry, our hope has perished, we are quite spent.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: He said to me,”Son of Man, these bones—they are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried out and our hope is lost; we are doomed!”

1. “Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…”

a. Then he said [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

b. unto [me] [Strong: 413 'el ale (but only used in the shortened constructive form sel {el}); a primitive particle; properly, denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, i.e. near, with or among; often in general, to:--about, according to ,after, against, among, as for, at, because(-fore, -side), both...and, by, concerning, for, from, X hath, in(- to), near, (out) of, over, through, to(-ward), under, unto, upon, whether, with(-in).]

c. Son [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

d. of man [Strong: 121 'adam aw-dawm' from 119; ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.):--X another, + hypocrite, + common sort, X low, man (mean, of low degree), person.]

e. these [Strong: 428 'el-leh ale'-leh prolonged from 411; these or those:--an- (the) other; one sort, so, some, such, them, these (same), they, this, those, thus, which, who(-m).]

f. bones [Strong: 6106 `etsem eh'tsem from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body, bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.]

g. are the whole [Strong: 3605 kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).]

h. house [Strong: 1004 bayith bah'-yith probably from 1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.):--court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter)house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out).]

i. of Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

2. “…behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.”

a. behold [Strong: 2009 hinneh hin-nay' prolongation for 2005; lo!:--behold, lo, see.]

b. [they] say  [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

c. [Our] bones [Strong: 6106 `etsem eh'tsem from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body, bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.]

d. are dried [Strong: 3001 yabesh yaw-bashe' a primitive root; to be ashamed, confused or disappointed; also (as failing) to dry up (as water) or wither (as herbage):--be ashamed, clean, be confounded, (make) dry (up), (do) shame(-fully), X utterly, wither (away).]

e. [and our] hope [Strong: 8615 tiqvah tik-vaw' from 6960; literally, a cord (as an attachment (Compare 6961)); figuratively, expectancy:--expectation ((-ted)), hope, live, thing that I long for.]

f. is lost [Strong: 6 'abad aw-bad' a primitive root; properly, to wander away, i.e. lose oneself; by implication to perish (causative, destroy):--break, destroy(- uction), + not escape, fail, lose, (cause to, make) perish, spend, X and surely, take, be undone, X utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.]

g. we are cut off [Strong: 1504 gazar gaw-zar' a primitive root; to cut down or off; (figuratively) to destroy, divide, exclude, or decide:--cut down (off), decree, divide, snatch.]

h. for our parts [No Hebrew]

1). Some Bible scholars believe that the 1948 formation of the state of Israel is a partial fulfillment of the Ezekiel 37 prophecy. I stand in agreement 100%. There is no doubt in my heart that this is true. It is partial in the sense they are in the land, partial in the sense that only part of the land was given back to them. (The rest of their inheritance of the land given to them by God in Genesis 15 is the constant disputed geography, Jerusalem and the West Bank/ the mountains of Israel that will eventually bring the world to Armageddon and the return of Christ.) Partial in the sense they are still in rebellion against God in that they have not repented and received their Messiah, which will happen after Zechariah 12:9-14. The passages in Ezekiel 36 and Zechariah show Israel in the land but in unbelief. The two commentary quotes that follow were written long before 1948 when Israel became a nation. So even before the event some scholars were able to see it in the texts (Pulpit Commentary for Ezekiel 37:11 and David Baron for Zechariah 14), and teach it.

a). Pulpit Commentary: On the principle that "God is his own best interpreter," it should not be difficult to see that, whatever fore shadowings 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. Published 1885

b). Zechariah, Commentary On His Vision And Prophecies, David Baron: It seems from Scripture that in relation to Israel and the land there will have to be a restoration, before the Second Advent of our Lord, of very much the same state of things as existed at the time of His First Advent, when the threads of God’s dealing with them nationally were finally dropped, not to be taken up again “until the times of the gentiles shall be fulfilled….So it will be again. There will be at first, as compared with the whole nation, only a representative minority in Palestine, and a Jewish state will be probably formed, either under the suzerainty of one of the Great Powers, or under international protection.” Published 1918.