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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
- 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, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before me.
- Ezek 1:2–3In the fifth of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
- Ezek 14:1Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.
- Ezek 33:31They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
- Ezek 14:4Therefore speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
- Ezek 3:12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be Yahweh’s glory from his place.”
- Ezek 29:1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Ezek 31:1In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Ezek 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.
- Ezek 37:1Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s 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 captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me there.
- Ezek 24:1Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Mal 2:7For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
- Acts 20:33I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.
- Ezek 26:1In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Ezek 29:17It came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Ezek 3:22Yahweh’s hand was there on me; and he said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there.”
- Ezek 32:17Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word 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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