The interpretation timeline

Ezek 37:5

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Ezek 37:5 · Douay-Rheims

“Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.”

Patristic before A.D. 750

379

A.D.

Basil of Caesarea Patristic

c. A.D. 330–379

“There should … be certain bones of the inner person in which the bond of union and harmony of spiritual powers is collected. Just as the bones by their own firmness protect the tenderness of the flesh, so also in the church there are some who through their own constancy are able to carry the infirmities of the weak. And as the bones are joined to each other through articulations by sinews and fastenings that have grown on them, so also would be the bond of charity and peace, which achieves a certain natural junction and union of the spiritual bones in the church of God.”

Source

420

A.D.

Jerome Patristic

c. A.D. 347–420

“This is the resurrection of the dead, the Spirit breathing in, giving life that has entered the human bodies, and immediately they live and stand on their feet, which means the resurrection of the dead.”

Source

Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.