Ezekiel was carried by the Spirit of the LORD into a valley filled with bones. There were a lot of them, scattered across the valley, and they were completely dry.
God led Ezekiel around among them and then asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
Ezekiel answered, “Lord GOD, You Yourself know.”
Ezekiel was looking at bones that had been dead long enough to be dry. Nothing he could see suggested that life was possible.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones.
As Ezekiel spoke, there was a rattling sound. The bones came together, tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them. They looked like bodies again, but there was still no breath in them.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy again, this time to the breath. Breath entered them, they came to life, and they stood on their feet as an enormous army.
Then God explained what Ezekiel had seen. The bones represented Israel. The people were saying, “Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.” God promised that He would restore them and bring them back to their land.
When God asked Ezekiel whether those bones could live, all the facts as a human sees it said “no”.
God was the only way life could be restored to dry bones, and Ezekiel knew it.
Ezekiel 37:1–14
God has more questions. See Let Me Ask You Something: When God Asks a Direct Question.