Ezekiel

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel spoke to Jews already deported to Babylon, using strange and vivid visions, from God's throne on wheels to a valley of dry bones coming back to life. He explains that Jerusalem fell because the people's hearts had turned away, yet God's glory is not chained to one city. Then the book pivots to hope: a new heart, God's own Spirit within His people, and a restored temple. In the big story, Ezekiel shows that exile is not the end, because God Himself will remake His people from the inside out.

Written by

The book presents the visions of Ezekiel, a priest turned prophet among the exiles in Babylon, and most scholars accept that its core goes back to him.

When

Ezekiel's carefully dated messages run from about 593 to 571 BC, during the Babylonian exile.

Themes

• God's glory everywhere
• A new heart and new spirit
• Death to resurrection
• God as the true shepherd
• Restored worship

Key verses

• Ezekiel 36:26-27I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
• Ezekiel 37:4-5And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life.