Ezekiel

Ezekiel is the twenty-sixth book of the Bible and the third of the major prophets. It is traditionally attributed to the prophet Ezekiel, a priest taken to Babylon in an early wave of exile in 597 BC. He prophesied from there to his fellow exiles for the next twenty years or so. The book is dated by specific years, making its timeline unusually clear.

Ezekiel is known for its vivid and strange imagery. The opening chapter describes a vision of four living creatures, wheels within wheels covered in eyes, and a throne high above them. Throughout the book, Ezekiel performs symbolic actions, including eating a scroll, lying on his side for months, and shaving his head and burning the hair, that act out his messages physically.

The first part of the book contains warnings of judgment against Jerusalem. Ezekiel sees God's glory leaving the temple in stages and announces that the city will fall. When word reaches the exiles that Jerusalem has been destroyed, the tone shifts.

The middle section contains oracles against the nations surrounding Israel, including Egypt, Tyre, Edom, and others, promising that they too will be judged.

The closing chapters turn to restoration. The famous vision of the valley of dry bones, with bones coming together, gaining flesh, and standing as a great army, is in this section. The book ends with a long, detailed vision of a new temple, a new division of the land, and God's glory returning. The final words are the new name for the city: "The Lord Is There."