In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the Lord Yahweh’s hand fell there on me.
- KJV And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
- NKJV And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
- NASB Now it came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
- NLT Then on September 17, during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign Lord took hold of me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
About a year after his first vision, Ezekiel is again seized by God's hand while sitting with Judah's exiled elders. It introduces a major vision exposing Jerusalem's secret idolatry.
Overview
The careful date (the sixth year of exile) and the setting among the elders show God still speaks to His people even in Babylon. "The hand of the Lord" falling on Ezekiel marks divine empowerment for prophecy and vision. This opens chapters 8-11, where God transports the prophet in vision to show why His glory must depart from a defiled temple. God's willingness to reveal and warn anticipates the patient grace that culminates in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ezek 20:1In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.
- Ezek 1:2–3On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—
- Ezek 14:1Then some of the elders of Israel came and sat down before me.
- Ezek 33:31So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.
- Ezek 14:4Therefore speak to them and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to his great idolatry,
- Ezek 3:12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: ‘Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His dwelling place!’
- Ezek 29:1In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezek 31:1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezek 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
- Ezek 37:1The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.
- Ezek 40:1In 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 Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.
- Ezek 24:1In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Mal 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Acts 20:33I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
- Ezek 26:1In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezek 29:17In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezek 3:22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
- Ezek 32:17In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 8:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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