1.             Enlivener of the Dead Who sowed hope among mortals,

grant that I may give a sheaf of Your glory from Your teaching.

2.             Thunder of Life Whom the dead heard and were revived by,

may I speak in You about Your resurrection as I wonder.

3.             In the embrace of Your word, may my word give birth to songs of glory,

for it befits You to grant all petitions each day.

4.             We are too lazy to take from You – You do not hold back,

for it is very easy for You to give to those who lack.

5.             Your wealth is in You and is not depleted however much You give –

the ones who take hold back; it is not that You become lacking by giving!

6.             Behold the Giver Who rejoices to be compelled [to answer] all petitions

and loves whoever asks more for all good things!

7.             However much one seeks of Him, He can give, for He is rich,

but He hates and blames whoever neglects and does not petition Him.

8.             He has mercy for those who ask pleasing things

and He seeks [any] reason [to] scatter His treasure upon the needy.

9.             And if, though the world never asked Him, He created it in His compassion,

when it does ask of Him, how can He refuse all its petitions?

10.          People did not supplicate Him, yet they came into being when they did not exist,

and now that they have come into being, how can He neglect their life?

11.          His grace built the world from the beginning,

and at the end it will raise it from its fall.

12.          Through this mercy that fashioned Adam, the great image,

through it he will be raised – the Craftsman has not been exchanged.

13.          That Architect Who built the house the Evil One toppled

Himself will renew it, and the enemy who mocked it will be ashamed.

14.          He Who clothed His image with soil and made it a human

Himself will raise it from dirt in mercy when it is corrupted.

15.          He Who breathed spirit in his face when fashioning him

Himself will return his spirit to him at the end, and raise him.

16.          He Who commanded the dirt, which squirmed tangibly

Himself will signal to it and again it will be animated spiritually.

17.          In Him is His power and in Him is His mercy and He is not exchanged;

He created and will raise, and He is as He is in His operation.

18.          His creatorship testifies clearly about His resurrection:

He is the same, and it is said to Him: “You are as You are.”

19.          You are the Creator and Giver of Life, and Your power is one,

and because of this, You are as You are when You raised us.

20.          Mercy did not call our Lord to a different work,

but You dealt with Your own like a Mighty One.

21.          You created Adam, but his foot leaned in the fight and he fell,

and You Yourself will raise him in Your mercy, and You are as You are.

22.          Who requested that You create people, whom You then created?

And Who petitioned You also to raise them from death?

23.          Your compassion moved in You – it was not peoples’ petitions that made You lean down

to create, then, humanity, from the beginning.

24.          Your compassion again drew You toward their graves

to call and raise from destruction the heirs who fell.

25.          Hope for the dead, and for the departed, great compassion!

For the Voice of resurrection approached to come and awaken them.

26.          That Merciful One Who created them did not neglect [them]

and abandon them in the place of darkness without resurrection.

27.          The King of Life did not forsake His great image,

cast down in dirt and trampled by Death in Sheol.

28.          Do not mourn, O you dead who have crumbled away on dust,

since the time is delayed when you will rise from the fall.

29.          Henceforth the day of judgment has approached and arrived,

when the birthpangs of the end will strike Sheol so she will bring forth her children.

30.          The resurrection will be much clearer than the sun on the heights,

and peoples and worlds and regions will sense it.

31.          The prophets preached about the resurrection in their revelations

and the Lord of prophets made the resurrection dawn forth by revelation.

32.          Come, Ezekiel, and bring the scroll of your prophecy!

Let us be sweetened today by your divine revelations.

33.          Wonderous prophet, speak true things to us

and give us hope that the dead will rise with a loud voice.

34.          O preacher who depicted the resurrection by revelation,

come and console us who mourn over our dead!

35.          Today your verses have come up to make us rejoice.

Awaken your voice about the resurrection among the dead!

36.          Play your harp in prophecy spiritually,

and sing today over their graves and gladden them!

37.          Console the bones which have dried up, been aged and worn,

[which have] decayed and broken and crumbled and fallen and become dirt,

38.          and [which have] faded in Sheol and lost hope of their compositions

and have been ruined by the moth and worm, and are as if not.

39.          Rise, show us how the Voice will gather them,

and with one Signal will compose and weave and fasten them!

40.          Children of instruction, come, be sweetened by learning,

and suck from it the drink that makes the soul forget its sufferings.

41.          Pay attention to this prophet, the exile,

for he has moved himself to speak today about the resurrection.

42.          He lies in chains and bears the iniquity of his people,

and the great depth of prophecy goes about in him.

43.          He is weary and deprived of food and drink,

but he delights in the revelations of the Spirit richly.

44.          He was made a spectacle and seated, depicting all parables,

and the mysteries of the Spirit are performed in him luminously.

45.          The People in Babylon scorned their prophets and rejected them,

and they were doubtful about returning [from exile] in their ingratitude.

46.          And the Lord willed that through this honorable prophet

He might teach the People that there would also be a resurrection for the dead.

47.          Because they were doubtful that the Lord would not return them to their land,

He showed them Himself that He would even raise the dead from the graves.

48.          When they denied Him because He did not do this small thing,

He revealed this greater thing to the prophet to reprove them.

49.          The Hebrews thought that Babylon suppressed the exiles

and devoured like a whirlpool the sons of Jacob.

50.          And the Lord demonstrated when reproving the People who erred

how He would bring up the dead with His voice from Sheol.

51.          And they were reproved for doubting about returning

by the resurrection that the son of Buzi saw openly.

52.          He revealed and showed them about the resurrection in prophecy,

and taught them that He would return them to their territories.

53.          The Enlivener of the Dead wished to use the resurrection of the dead

to teach the world that all hard things are easy for Him,

54.          and to reassure them about returning without doubt –

that He would return them like He raises the dead of Sheol.

55.          And He led a great revelation of the Spirit

toward Ezekiel, the learned man who teaches true things.

56.          And there the hand of the Lord came upon the prophet,

and the Lord made him go out in the Spirit to show him His mightiness.

57.          And he saw a valley full of very many bones –

both dry and wasted and as if nothing.

58.          By the hand of the Lord the prophet was led to see them,

and He made him pass in wonder over them and their companions.

59.          And that Knower of All brought to him [something] like a question:

“Will these bones live or not live?”

60.          The wonderous prophet was asked by God

about the resurrection. What could he say? But how could he be silent?

61.          To say “the bones will live” was a hard thing,

a thing not easy to deal with except for the Lord.

62.          And also, to say, “they would not live,” he feared

God, for by His hands their compositions were set.

63.          And the One Who asked was the Knower full of wisdom,

and the one who was asked was a human lacking knowledge.

64.          And he feared to say, “they will live” or “they will not live,”

for the two things were hard for him to say.

65.          And he also feared to say, “I do not know,”

for he was a prophet being asked about hidden things.

66.          And like a spiritual one whose word was not loose, he responded,

“You know, Lord of all lords!”

67.          He bound his word in this unpassable knowledge,

for all knowledge and wisdom are from it.

68.          The prophet fled from the question in his wisdom

and gave it to the Lord to explain it as the Knower of All.

69.          For the wise one who was asked knew

that the Lord had not asked him to learn from him.

70.          And because of this he said to Him “You know –

You have asked me – You explain to me, for I am needy.

71.          You Yourself know, You Yourself are able if You will.

Whether or not the bones will live is easy for You.

72.          Death and life are Yours, Enlivener of the Dead,

and You Yourself know if You will to give them life.”

73.          Wisely did the prophet answer when questioned

by God about the resurrection of the dried bones.

74.          He was worthy for prophecy to be spoken in him,

for he readily answered the Lord when questioned.

75.          The Lord said, “rise, prophesy to the dead bones,

and call with a voice and stir them tangibly.

76.          Speak with them in your prophecy by revelation

and tell them I Myself spoke imperatively:

77.          ‘O dried bones, hear the word of the Lord Who said,

Behold, I will compose and weave your joints.

78.          And I will adorn and crown your limbs

and bind together and complete your compositions.

79.          And I am making spirit enter into you, and you will revive from mortality,

and then you will know that I am the Raiser of the Dead.’”

80.          The prophet rose as commanded by God

and prophesied to the dried bones spiritually.

81.          He spoke with them, and because it was the word of God,

the dried [bones] stirred and pulsated to come quickly.

82.          And there was a Voice and great earthquake over the dead –

and the Thunder of Life, Who awakens the dead from their graves.

83.          And the bones began to stir and pulsate and squirm there,

and all the joints rushed to seek their siblings.

84.          Bone hurried with a stir to find bone, its companion,

and the joint was also commanded to seek its companion.

85.          The Signal went out to gather the dead – fragments of bones –

and it brought them into their places, ordering and placing them.

86.          Turning and clearing away the dirt, it takes off Adam’s dirt

and separates the worn-out body from the dust.

87.          It collects the crumbs and fragments of limbs

and gathers them like gold from the soil.

88.          It bends down, taking and shaking off the bodies’ dirt,

and without corruption raises it in the wonder of its operation.

89.          The Signal goes out to the four winds of the whole world

to bring back any missing particles to their bodies.

90.          It dives into the sea to search out the living things in the depth

to bring up anything there that was from a human body.

91.          It sends the [particles] out of lions’ teeth

and frees them from laboring wombs.

92.          It goes down, draws out, and raises them from the sea,

and from the heights it searches out, gathers, and brings them down.

93.          Those who died in battles and became manure in the fields,

whom birds ate and hurled away on cliffs – 

94.          those drowned by the sea, who became food for all the beasts,

and all who were consumed by fire and by flood –

95.          it brings all, finds all, in the twinkling of an eye,

and His Signal calls to raise them without corruption.

96.          He made a great search for the small particle

so as not to lose even a speck of the colors of His image.

97.          He compelled the dirt to fashion and send out Adam’s dirt

so that not even the human body’s scent would remain in corruption.

98.          The pearls of the great image had fallen into corruption,

and He earnestly searches for them to gather them.

99.          He gathered the dirt like that woman of the ten coins

until finding the coin of His image which had been lost.

100.      He shakes out the depths and nooks and pits and caves of the earth

so that wherever there is a dead person’s bone, He might bring it to its place.

101.      The dirt of Adam is choice gold, and He gathers it,

and without corruption He raises it in His image, as it had been.

102.      And through this eye of prophecy, Ezekiel saw

the entire process which will happen to bones at the end:

103.      “I saw that bones approached, a bone toward its joint,

as it also happens that He arranges them in their places.

104.      If [parts] from one body have been scattered through all the ends [of the world],

and if there is part of it on every mountain and in every valley,

105.      at once when that command signals to the bones to come,

in the twinkling of an eye all their joints will gather.

106.      From all sides their compositions will come and assemble,

and without corruption all their limbs will rise.”

107.      The prophet saw that bone approached bone, its companion,

and the hidden Signal strung it and fit it with the joint.

108.      And whether it was near or far, it put it in its place,

for to God, near and far are the same.

109.      It cannot be said that something is far from God,

for everything subsists in Him and from Him and because of Him and through Him.

110.      To us a far place is far, not to God –

and it is not with toiling that He gathers something to one place.

111.      All the earth is in the palm of His hand, and if something is scattered

in His hand, He closes His hand and it is gathered.

112.      He truly signals and gathers bodies in their compositions,

and without corruption the joints grasp their siblings.

113.      From Ezekiel, you can learn if you wish

the whole resurrection and course of bones and their compositions:

114.      how they will rush, assemble, and come toward their companions,

and how joints will weave together with their tendons;

115.      and how worn-out flesh will grow out of its decay,

and bodies rise with the whole arrangement of their limbs.

116.      Ezekiel saw that bone approached bone, its companion,

and the Voice composed and fixed every joint in its place,

117.      and [that] all bodies were perfected in their compositions,

and lacked of life only spirit.

118.      And the commandment moved on the prophet from God

so he would prophesy about the spirit with a loud voice:

119.      “Come, you spirit, from the four corners of the world,

and breathe in the slain, and the dead will revive from destruction.”

120.      The honorable prophet prophesied and called the spirit,

and the dead woke up at the Voice in great wonder.

121.      Death fled and life reigned among the dead,

and there was suddenly hope for the dried bones.

122.      The Voice kicked Sheol the Devourer who enclosed all the dead,

and she threw them up alive.

123.      Death’s crown fell off his head and he became a laughingstock,

and the Voice of resurrection abolished his authority so he would not reign again.

124.      Resurrection dawned among the mortals luminously,

and from the resurrection, hope increased for the hopeless.

125.      Grief fled, and consolation entered and gladdened

the people of the mystery of the faith of the house of God.

126.      The prophet saw the resurrection of the dead and reproved

his people who were doubtful about returning.

127.      An image was depicted in that divine revelation

for that resurrection which would happen at the end for the dried bones.

128.      The resurrection was depicted in a type mysteriously

so that no one would despair of the dead who wasted away in ruin.

129.      The Lord showed that viewer of true things

how He would act when He resurrects humanity.

130.      He gave encouragement to all those mourning over the dead,

that there is hope that the dead will undoubtedly rise.

131.      He opened a mouth for prophecy so it would proclaim on earth

the resurrection of the dead among mortals with a loud voice.

132.      The way of life was revealed luminously

so the whole human race would trust in the resurrection.

133.      The captive prophet trusted [enough] to console

his people that they would return to their territories.

134.      The wise one saw that there was hope in the dried hopes,

and took heart that there would be a return for the captive people.

135.      And as even the Voice demanded Sheol to give up the dead,

it would demand Babylon and Assyria to give up their deposits.

136.      And as bone approached bone at the Voice of resurrection,

tribe would cleave to tribe there in that return,

137.      and it would gather the generations scattered among the exiles

like the joints with their compositions.

138.      And by prophesying twice about the resurrection,

[God] wished to show His second stroke to the discerning one,

139.      for with one Voice the dried bones were gathered,

and again with another, spirit entered and clothed them.

140.      And with His second stroke He openly demonstrated about the return

which would happen from Babylon for the children of Jacob.

141.      And for this reason, He revealed the resurrection in all the earth,

that it might perceive how all Sheol’s dead will rise.

142.      Also the resurrection is His second stroke of operation

for it will again raise people from dirt as in the beginning.

143.      The Lord created Adam from dirt when he did not exist,

and from dirt, too, He will again raise him in great power.

144.      In that first thing He showed the wonder of His operation,

and in the last He will show the mercy of His Godhead.

145.      He created him and he fell, and the Lord performed His second stroke,

and at the resurrection He will refresh and enliven and raise them.

146.      The spirit of His mouth will breathe over them creatively

and pour over them life and hope to be resurrected.

147.      He will raise the buried, and the ages will wonder at His mightiness.

Blessed is He Who resurrects Adam’s children who had worn out in Sheol!

܀܀܀܀܀ 

[1] A) This homily is about Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, found in Ezekiel 37:1-14. B) I have translated it from Akhrass and Syrany’s edition, and used their section breaks. See Homily 46 in: Roger-Youssef Akhrass and Imad Syryany, eds., 160 Unpublished Homilies of Jacob of Serugh: Volume I (Homilies 1-72) (Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate, 2017), 1:397-403.

[2] Here, “Your resurrection” likely is a subjective genitive – that is, Jacob is speaking about the resurrection which Christ enacts for the dead, not Christ’s own resurrection.

[3] Lit. “It is tedious for us to take from You.” ܠܰܢ ܡܰܐܺܝܢܳܐ ܕܢܶܣܰܒ ܡܶܢܳܟ ܠܳܐ ܟܳܠܶܐ ܐܰܢ̱ܬ

[4] Lit. “It is not that You lack from the gift.” ܕܫܳܩܠܺܝܢ ܟܳܠܶܝܢ ܠܰܘ ܐܰܢ̱ܬ ܚܰܣܺܝܪ ܡܶܢ ܡܰܘܗܰܒܬܳܐ

[5] Lit. “And He seeks a reason and has scattered His treasure upon the needy.” ܘܒܳܥܶܐ ܥܶܠܬܳܐ ܘܰܕܪܳܝܗ̱ܝ ܓܰܙܶܗ ܥܰܠ ܚܰܣܺܝܪ̈ܶܐ

[6] Genesis 2:7.

[7] “tangibly”: ܪܳܓܽܘܫܳܐܺܝܬ. See also line 75.

[8] “operation”: ܒܥܳܒܽܘܕܽܘܬܶܗ. I have translated this word as “operation” throughout the homily. It is difficult for me to exactly understand the syntax of the second line, but the point is clear: Christ both creates and brings to life, and these are both the acts of the same God.

ܒܪܳܐ ܘܰܡܢܰܚܶܡ ܘܰܐܝܟ ܕܺܐܝܬܰܘܗ̱ܝ ܗ̱ܘܳܐ ܒܥܳܒܽܘܕܽܘܬܶܗ.

[9] Psalm 102:7. The Peshitta version says, “…They will pass away, and You remain, and they all like a garment will wear out and like a cloak will be changed. But You are as You are (ܘܰܐܢ̱ܬ ܐܰܝܟ ܕܺܐܝܬܰܝܟ ܐܰܢ̱ܬ ܘܰܫܢܰܝ̈ܟ ܠܳܐ ܓܳܡܖ̈ܳܢ), and Your years will never be finished.”

[10] “whom You then created”: lit. “…and You [then] created them.”

[11] “Voice of resurrection”: I have translated the word qolo throughout this homily as “voice,” though the Syriac word can also mean “sound” or “song” or even “word.” I have done this to make more clear the connection Jacob ties between Christ’s voice (at various points in Scripture) and the “voice/sound (qolo)” that initiates the resurrection of the bones in Ezekiel’s vision. Jacob uses several titles of Christ that emphasize His voice as the agent of resurrection, such as: “Thunder of Life” (line 2), and “Voice of resurrection.” There are multiple scriptural referents implied by these titles. In this homily, they are especially Christ’s dying cry, which raises the dead (Matthew 27:50-53), and Christ’s voice which will raise the dead as promised in John 5:25-29.

[12] Or, “That Merciful One did not neglect [them] to abandon them in the place of darkness without resurrection, for He created them.”

[13] Ezekiel 2:9-3:3.

[14] “your verses” or “your part [of Scripture]”: ܦܶܨܬܳܟ ܕܺܝܠܳܟ. Audo says ܦܨܬܐ can mean a “verse” of Scripture or of a book: ܚܘܩܐ ܕܟܬܒܐ.

[15] The voice of the last three clauses is active: “and [which have] faded in Sheol, and the hope of their compositions has been lost, / and the moth and worm have ruined them, and they are as if not.”

[16] Cf. John 5:25-29. Implicit here is also Christ’s dying cry in Matthew 27:50-53.

[17] Ezekiel 4:4-8.

[18] Ezekiel 37:1.

[19] Ezekiel 37:1-2.

[20] Ezekiel 37:3.

[21] “a thing…to deal with”: ܢܶܬܚܰܫܰܚ ܒܳܗ̇

[22] Ezekiel 37:3.

[23] I have kept a somewhat awkward-sounding phrase to preserve a double implication here. Either Ezekiel is saying that it is easy for God [to say] whether or not the bones will live – i.e., to answer His own question, or that it is easy for God to make it happen that the bones will or will not live. Both meanings are possible.

[24] Ezekiel 37:4-6.

[25] Ezekiel 37:7. I have translated “qolo” as “voice” in this line, while most translations of Ezekiel have the word “sound.” For an explanation of this choice, see footnote 11. I note that in these lines specifically Jacob connects the “voice” the dead hear in Ezekiel’s vision to Christ’s own voice, by calling this voice the “Thunder of Life,” the same title for Christ found in Line 2.

[26] Lit. “so if a particle was missing from a body, it would bring it to it.”

[27] Lit. “so if there were any [things] from human bodies there, it would bring them up.”

[28] 1 Corinthians 15:52.

[29] Luke 15:8-10.

[30] Cf. Romans 11:36.

[31] Ezekiel 37:8.

[32] Ezekiel 37:9. In these lines, “spirit” can also mean “wind” and “breath.”

[33] Ezekiel 37:10.

[34] More literally, “the captive prophet was assured to console…” ܐܶܬܬܟܶܠ ܗ̱ܘܳܐ ܠܶܗ ܢܒܺܝܳܐ ܫܰܒܝܳܐ ܢܒܰܝܰܐܐ ܐܶܢܽܘܢ

[35] Cf. Ezekiel 37:12.

[36] Jacob uses a Syriac phrase difficult to render into English (ܬܶܢܝܳܐ ܕܺܐܝܕܳܐ) – literally, “the repetition of the hand.” It essentially means that God has acted twice. I have translated it the four times it occurs as “His second stroke,” in an attempt to retain some of the hand-imagery of the Syriac, though in no case is the possessive pronoun attached. The phrase is found in Isaiah 11:11 (ܢܰܘܣܶܦ ܡܳܪܝܳܐ ܬܶܢܝܳܐ ܕܺܐܝܕܶܗ). A similar version is found in Psalm 77:10 (ܬܶܢܝܳܐ ܐܶܢܶܝܢ ܕܝܰܡܺܝܢܶܗ ܕܥܶܠܳܝܳܐ). These two Scriptural references are noted in the margin of at least two manuscripts – see note 145 in Akhrass and Syryany’s edition. Isaiah 11:11 and its following verses in particular refer to God gathering together the dispersed people of Israel. It is therefore likely purposeful that Jacob uses a phrase in this homily that recalls this verse: “And on the that day, it will happen that the Lord will act again to acquire the rest of His people who remained, from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Kush and from ‘Ilom and from So‘ir and from Hmoth and from the islands of the sea, and He will send a sign to the Peoples, and He will gather the lost of Israel and the scattered of Judah from the four edges of the earth….”

[37] I have translated this phrase according to the variant in one manuscript, in which ܬܶܢܝܳܐ ܕܺܐܝܕܳܐ is the subject (see note 146 of Akhrass and Syryany’s edition). In the main text and other manuscripts, “return” is the subject and ܬܢܝܐ ܕܐܝܕܐ is attached to it with a ܕ. (“return of the second stroke”). The variant reading seems to make much more sense, since it is clearly the return, and not the second stroke, that is referred to in the second line of the couplet.

[38] Lit. “increased the second stroke.” This is a direct quotation/adaptation of Isaiah 11:11.

[39] “creatively”: i.e., in a way that shows God’s identity as Creator. The word does not have the English connotation of “inventive” or “imaginative.”

Translated by Aimee Hannoush, October 2026.