Ezekiel was a prophet who lived at a time of great hopelessness in the history of the people of Israel. The country had been taken over by the Babylonians and many of the people had been sent against their will to live in Babylon, a country which we now know as Iraq. Amongst these exiles was Ezekiel.

Ezekiel belonged to a priestly family. But when he was thirty, the age when he should have become a priest, God called him to be a prophet to the people of Israel, living in Babylon.

God said, "Go to the captives, your people. And speak to them, whether they listen or not. Tell them, 'The Lord God says this'."

So Ezekiel went to his own people and told them messages which he had received from God. He told them why God had allowed the Babylonians to take over Israel and he predicted that their great city, Jerusalem, would be destroyed.

When Jerusalem was destroyed and the suffering of the people became even worse, God gave a new message to Ezekiel. It was a message of hope, which came in a dream.

In Ezekiel's dream, God brought him out to a valley in the wilderness, where, long before, a huge battle had been fought. Lying about everywhere in the valley were old bones.

God asked Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?"

"Only you know, God," answered Ezekiel.

Then God told Ezekiel to speak to the bones, telling them that God would make them live again. Ezekiel did as God said. He spoke to the bones and they began to move. They came together, bone to bone. Muscle, flesh and skin appeared on them. The bones became bodies.

Ezekiel heard God's voice again. "Speak to the wind, Ezekiel. Tell it that God commands it to breathe life into these dead bodies."

When Ezekiel had spoken the words of God's to the wind, the bodies stood up on their feet and, once again, were a great army of men.

"This is like the people of Israel," said God. "They say, 'In Babylon, we are like dead men. Cut off from our country, all our hope is gone.' But tell them that I will put my Spirit inside them and they will live again. Out of their graves in Babylon, they will return to their own land."

Less than seventy years after Ezekiel's dream, God's words came true. The Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persians and the Jews were sent home.