Bible Strands
Ezekiel 40:1
In 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel addresses the exiled community during the twenty-fifth year of their captivity, specifically on the tenth day of the new year, fourteen years after Jerusalem's destruction. He records that on that exact day, the Lord's hand seized him to transport him to a visionary location.
The words — The Hebrew phrase בְּ/עֶשְׂרִ֣ים וְ/חָמֵ֣שׁ שָׁנָה (be./'es.Rim ve./cha.Mesh sha.Nah) literally renders "in twenty and five year," marking the precise chronological anchor for the vision. The term לְ֠/גָלוּתֵ/נוּ (Le./ga.lu.te./nu) translates to "of exile our," identifying the community's displaced status.
The thread — This dating formula echoes Ezekiel 1:2, which anchors the prophet's initial call in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile, and aligns with the timeline in Ezekiel 33:21 where a fugitive reports Jerusalem's fall in the twelfth year. The motif of divine transport appears in Ezekiel 3:14, where the Spirit lifts the prophet away in bitterness.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that prophetic revelation occurs within concrete historical time rather than abstract myth. It requires the reader to accept that divine intervention actively interrupts human displacement to establish authority over judgment and restoration.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In the five and twentieth 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 smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”
- Ezekiel 1:2 On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—
- Ezekiel 3:14 So 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.
- Ezekiel 3:22 And 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.”
- Ezekiel 32:1 In the twelfth year, on the first day of the twelfth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 32:17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 37:1 The 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.
- Exodus 12:41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
- 2 Kings 25:1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
- Jeremiah 39:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.