Books of the Bible

The Book of Ezekiel

Old Testament · Major Prophets · Genre: Prophecy · Author: The prophet Ezekiel, a priest in exile · Chapters: 48

Ezekiel is a book of dramatic visions given to a priest among the exiles in Babylon. Through strange sign-acts and soaring imagery it declares the glory of God, warns of judgment, and promises that God will give his people a new heart and breathe his own life into dry bones.

Start reading: Ezekiel chapter 1

A key verse

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.Ezekiel 36:26 (KJV)

The setting and background of Ezekiel

Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets, the record of a priest called to be a prophet among the exiles in Babylon in the early sixth century before Christ. Carried off before the final fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel prophesied by the river Chebar to fellow captives who wondered whether God had abandoned them. His book is among the most vivid and strange in Scripture, full of visions, symbols, and dramatic sign-acts.

The book has a clear shape organized around the fall of Jerusalem. Its first half, before the city falls, is dominated by visions of God's glory and by warnings and sign-acts announcing judgment, culminating in the sorrowful departure of God's glory from the temple. Its second half, after the fall, turns to hope, with promises of a new heart, a true shepherd, resurrected dry bones, and the return of God's glory to a restored sanctuary.

Ezekiel was written to interpret the exile from within it, assuring the captives that God reigns even in Babylon and that he has not finished with his people. Its promises of a new heart and a new spirit are among the richest in the Old Testament. In the sweep of Scripture, its good shepherd, its breath of life over dry bones, and its river of life flow directly into the Gospels and into the closing visions of Revelation.

The story and structure of Ezekiel

Ezekiel was a priest carried off to Babylon with an early wave of exiles, and it was there, by the river Chebar, that God called him to be a prophet to his fellow captives. His ministry opens with an overwhelming vision of God's glory, a throne of sapphire borne on wheels within wheels and living creatures, revealing that God is not confined to the fallen temple in Jerusalem but reigns over all the earth, even in exile.

God appoints Ezekiel a watchman for the house of Israel, responsible to sound the warning he is given. Much of the first half of the book announces that Jerusalem will fall because of its sin, and Ezekiel dramatizes the message through vivid and often costly sign-acts, lying on his side, shaving his head, and enduring the death of his wife without mourning, so that his own life becomes a sermon.

In one of the book's most sobering visions, Ezekiel watches the glory of God rise up and depart from the temple, leaving the house God had filled. The message is clear and terrible: the sin of the people has driven away the very presence that made them God's own, and the city that trusted in the temple will fall.

Ezekiel insists that each person stands responsible before God, that the soul that sins shall die and the one who turns shall live, and he declares that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but desires that they turn and live. Judgment is real, but so is the open door of repentance held out to every heart.

After the city falls, the tone turns to hope. God promises to gather his scattered people, to give them a new heart and a new spirit, to be their shepherd himself, and, in the unforgettable vision of the valley of dry bones, to breathe life into the dead. The book ends with the glory of God returning and a river of life flowing out from his presence to heal the land.

The great themes of Ezekiel

Key passages in Ezekiel

Ezekiel in the sweep of Scripture

Ezekiel interprets the exile from within it, assuring the captives that God has not been defeated and that his glory reaches even to Babylon. Its promises of a new heart, a new spirit, a true shepherd, and resurrected bones are among the richest hopes of the Old Testament, and its imagery echoes through the New Testament and into the visions of Revelation, where the river of life and the presence of God fill the new creation.

Where Christ is in Ezekiel

Ezekiel's promise of a new heart and God's Spirit within his people is fulfilled in Jesus, who gives the Spirit and makes his people new from the inside. His vision of the Lord as the true shepherd who seeks the lost is fulfilled in Christ, the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, and his vision of life breathed into dry bones points to the resurrection that Jesus secures for all who are his.

How to read Ezekiel well

Read Ezekiel for its vision of God's glory and its promise of renewal, letting the sight of God enthroned even in exile assure you that he is never defeated by our circumstances. When you feel spiritually dead or beyond hope, return to the valley of dry bones and to the promise of a new heart, remembering that God can bring life where all seems lost. Let the good shepherd who seeks his scattered flock draw you home, and let the river of life stir your longing for the new creation.

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