The hand of the LORD was upon Ezekiel and brought him in the Spirit to a great valley full of bones — very many bones, very dry. The LORD asked: 'Son of man, can these bones live?' Ezekiel answered: 'O Lord GOD, you know.'
The LORD commanded him to prophesy to the bones. As he spoke, there was a noise and a rattling; the bones came together, bone to its bone. Sinews appeared upon them; flesh covered them; skin closed over them. But there was no breath in them. The LORD commanded him to prophesy to the breath. He did so; the four winds came; the breath entered the slain; they stood upon their feet — an exceeding great army.
The LORD interpreted the vision: 'These bones are the whole house of Israel.' Christian tradition has read it always as the foundational prophecy of the general resurrection of the body at the end of time.