Ezekiel 26:1

A Prophecy Against Tyre

26:1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, ¹  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 29:17

29:17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, ²  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 30:20

30:20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, ³  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 31:1

A Cedar in Lebanon

31:1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, ⁴  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 32:17

32:17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, ⁵  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 40:1

Vision of the New Temple

40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city ⁶  was struck down, on this very day, ⁷  the hand ⁸  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. ⁹ 

Ezekiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ¹⁰  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ¹¹  at the Kebar River, ¹²  the heavens opened ¹³  and I saw a divine vision. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 29:11

29:11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years.

Ezekiel 29:13

29:13 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years ¹⁵  I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered.

Ezekiel 32:1

Lamentation over Pharaoh and Egypt

32:1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, ¹⁶  the word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 33:21

The Fall of Jerusalem

33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, ¹⁷  a refugee came to me from Jerusalem ¹⁸  saying, “The city has been defeated!” ¹⁹ 

Ezekiel 29:12

29:12 I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for forty years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries.

[26:1]  ¹ tc Date formulae typically include the month. According to D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:34, n. 27) some emend to “in the twelfth year in the eleventh month” based partially on the copy of the LXX from Alexandrinus, where Albright suggested that “eleventh month” may have dropped out due to haplography.

[29:17]  ² sn April 26, 571 b.c.

[30:20]  ³ tn April 29, 587 b.c.

[31:1]  ⁴ sn June 21, 587 b.c.

[32:17]  ⁵ tn March 17, 585 b.c. The LXX adds “first month.”

[40:1]  ⁶ sn That is, Jerusalem.

[40:1]  ⁷ tn April 19, 573 b.c.

[40:1]  ⁸ tn Or “power.”

[40:1]  ⁹ sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).

[1:1]  ⁷ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ⁸ sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2

[29:13]  ⁸ sn In Ezek 4:4-8 it was said that the house of Judah would suffer forty years.

[32:1]  ⁹ sn This would be March 3, 585 b.c.

[33:21]  ¹⁰ tn January 19, 585 b.c.

[33:21]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:21]  ¹² tn Heb “smitten.”