Ezekiel

Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (/ɪˈziːkiəl/; Hebrew: יְחֶזְקֵאל, romanized: Yəḥezqēl [jə.ħɛzˈqeːl]; Koine Greek: Ἰεζεκιήλ, romanized: Iezekiḗl [i.ɛ.zɛ.kiˈel]), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him.

The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied the destruction of Judah's capital city Jerusalem. In 587 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon's Temple, and sent the Judahite upper classes into the Babylonian captivity.

However, Ezekiel also prophesied the eventual restoration of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. It is believed he died around 570 BC; Ezekiel's Tomb is a Jewish religious site in Mesopotamia. Three decades later, in 539 BC, the Persian empire conquered Babylon and the Edict of Cyrus repatriated the exiles.

The name "Ezekiel" means "God is strong" or "God strengthens" in Hebrew.

The author of the Book of Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, born into a priestly (kohen) lineage. The author dates his first divine encounter to "the thirtieth year" according to Ezekiel 1:1–2. Ezekiel describes his calling to be a prophet, detailing his encounter with God and four "living creatures" with four wheels beside them.

According to Ezekiel 1:1 and 3:15, Ezekiel and his wife lived during the Babylonian captivity on the banks of the Kebar Canal in Tel Abib near Nippur with other exiles from the Kingdom of Judah. There is no mention of him having children.

In the text, the "thirtieth year" is identified as the fifth year of the exile of Jeconiah, King of Judah, by the Neo-Babylonian Empire beginning in 597 BC (though the kingdom was allowed to continue under Zedekiah); this dates Ezekiel's vision to 593 BC. The last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel dates to April 571 BC, sixteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Thus, Ezekiel's prophecies occurred over about 22 years.

The "thirtieth year" may refer to Ezekiel's age at the time of his first vision, making him fifty-two years old at his final vision. However, the Targum Jonathan on Ezekiel 1:1 and the 2nd-century rabbinic work Seder Olam Rabba (chapter 26) interpret it to mean "in the thirtieth year after Josiah was presented with a Book of the Law discovered in the Temple" in 622 BCE, the time of Josiah's reforms and Jeremiah's prophecies. These two interpretations can be reconciled if Ezekiel was born around the same time as Josiah's reforms.