Book of Ezekiel

The Book of Ezekiel (Hebrew: ספר יחזקאל, Sēfer Yekhezqēl; Greek: Βίβλος τού Ιεζεκιηλ, Biblōs tou Iezekiēl; Latin: Prophetia Ezechielis) gives little detail about Ezekiel's life. In it, he is mentioned only twice by name: 1:3 and 24:24. Ezekiel is a priest, the son of Buzi (my contempt), and his name means "God will strengthen". He was one of the Israelite exiles, who settled at a place called Tel-abib, on the banks the Chebar, "in the land of the Chaldeans." The place is thus not identical to the modern city Tel Aviv, which is, however, named after it. He was probably carried away captive with Jehoiachin (1:2; 2 Kings 24:14-16) about 597 BC.

Date of Authorship

Traditionally, the book of Ezekiel is thought to have been written in the 500s BC during the Babylonian exile of the southern Israelite kingdom, Judah. This date is confirmed to some extent in that the author of the book of Ezekiel appears to use a dating system which was only used in the 500s BC (Joseph Free, Archaeology and Bible History, Scripure Press Publications: Wheaton: IL, 1950, p. 226).