Ezekiel 17:1

Study note

Setting — The LORD addresses Ezekiel directly, delivering an oracle that immediately precedes the command to pose a riddle to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 17:2). This opening occurs at the start of a new prophetic discourse concerning political alliances and covenant faithfulness.

The words — דְבַר יְהוָה (devar Yahweh) literally means "the word of Yahweh," denoting the formal delivery of divine speech to the prophet. The verb וַיְהִי (va/y.Hi) functions as a narrative marker translating to "and it came," signaling the arrival of this specific message.

The thread — This verse establishes the prophetic pattern where God’s spoken word triggers a commanded response, a structure repeated in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:3; 3:16) and the wider prophetic tradition (Jeremiah 1:4; Hosea 1:1). It frames the subsequent allegory as a received revelation rather than a human composition.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to treat the following riddle as an authoritative divine pronouncement that demands immediate attention. The text forces a pause for reception before any symbolic explanation is given.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.