The Book of Ezekiel
Ezekiel is a book of staggering visions and pointed sign-acts, written for people who had lost almost everything. A priest deported to Babylon and settled by the Chebar canal, Ezekiel sees the heavens open and beholds the overwhelming glory of God in a place no one expected to find it. Through him God indicts a stubborn nation, watches the glory withdraw from a defiled temple, and announces judgment on Jerusalem and the surrounding nations. Yet the same book that thunders judgment also breathes resurrection: a watchman pleads with each soul to turn and live, a true Shepherd promises to gather scattered sheep, a valley of dry bones stands up as an army, God pledges to give a new heart and a new spirit, and the glory returns to a temple from which a river of life flows out to heal the world. Again and again the refrain sounds out: "Then they will know that I am Yahweh."
Marking chapters complete and saving your progress across visits will arrive with member sign-in.
Whole-Book Overview
Among the exiles in Babylon, Ezekiel sees God's glory depart a doomed Jerusalem and then return to a renewed temple, promising his people a new heart, raised-up life, and a faithful Shepherd-King.
Open overview → Chapter 1The Glory by the River
Far from the temple, by an exile's canal, the heavens open and Ezekiel sees the storm, the living creatures, the wheels, and the likeness of God enthroned in glory.
Open study → Chapter 2Sent to a Rebellious House
God raises the fallen prophet to his feet, names Israel a nation of rebels, and hands him a scroll of lamentation, mourning, and woe to speak whether they listen or not.
Open study → Chapter 3The Watchman's Charge
Ezekiel eats the scroll and finds it sweet, is sent to a hard-hearted people, and is appointed watchman, accountable to warn the wicked and the righteous alike.
Open study → Chapter 4A City Drawn in Clay
God turns Ezekiel into a living sign, sketching Jerusalem on a brick, laying siege against it, lying bound on his side, and eating measured bread to enact the coming judgment.
Open study → Chapter 5The Razor and the Hair
Ezekiel shaves his head and beard, divides the hair, and burns, strikes, and scatters it to portray the threefold judgment soon to fall on rebellious Jerusalem.
Open study → Chapter 6Against the High Places
Ezekiel prophesies to the very mountains of Israel, where idol altars stand, declaring that the high places will be ruined yet a remnant will remember and loathe their sins.
Open study → Chapter 7The End Has Come
In a relentless lament, God announces that the end has come upon the land of Israel, that the day of wrath is near, and that wealth and idols will not save anyone.
Open study → Chapter 8Abominations in the Temple
Carried in vision to Jerusalem, Ezekiel is shown chamber after chamber of secret idolatry in God's own house, even as the worshipers say the LORD does not see.
Open study → Chapter 9The Mark and the Slaughter
A man clothed in linen marks the foreheads of those who grieve over the city's sins, while executioners pass through Jerusalem beginning at the sanctuary itself.
Open study → Chapter 10The Glory Begins to Leave
The glory of the LORD rises from the cherubim to the threshold and then to the east gate, as coals of fire are scattered over the doomed city.
Open study → Chapter 11A New Heart Promised
The glory leaves the city for the eastern mountain, yet God promises the scattered exiles that he himself will be their sanctuary and give them one heart and a new spirit.
Open study → Chapter 12Baggage for Exile
Ezekiel packs an exile's bag and digs through the wall before the people's eyes, a living sign that Jerusalem will fall and that God's word will not be delayed.
Open study → Chapter 13The Whitewashed Wall
God turns against prophets who speak from their own hearts, crying peace where there is no peace and plastering a flimsy wall with whitewash.
Open study → Chapter 14Idols of the Heart
Elders come to inquire of God while clinging to idols in their hearts, and the LORD reveals that even the most righteous can save only their own souls.
Open study → Chapter 15The Useless Vine
Israel is likened to the wood of a vine, good for fruit but worthless for building, and now charred at both ends and fit only for the fire.
Open study → Chapter 16The Rescued Bride
God finds Jerusalem as an abandoned newborn, raises her into a beautiful bride, and grieves her unfaithfulness, yet vows an everlasting covenant of grace.
Open study → Chapter 17Two Eagles and a Sprig
A riddle of two great eagles and a vine exposes Judah's broken oath, and ends with God planting a tender sprig on a high mountain.
Open study → Chapter 18Turn, and Live
God overturns a fatalistic proverb to declare that each soul is responsible before him, and that he takes no pleasure in death but calls the sinner to turn and live.
Open study → Chapter 19A Lament for the Princes
Ezekiel sings a funeral dirge over Israel's royal house, a lioness whose cubs are caged and a vine uprooted and burned.
Open study → Chapter 20A History of Rebellion
When elders come to inquire, God recounts Israel's long story of rebellion, his patience for his name's sake, and his vow to gather, judge, and restore.
Open study → Chapter 21The Sword of the LORD
God draws his polished sword against Jerusalem and her king, until the crown is removed and the kingdom waits for the one whose right it is.
Open study → Chapter 22The City of Bloodshed
God indicts Jerusalem as a bloody, idolatrous city, finds no one to stand in the gap, and pours out his refining and consuming wrath.
Open study → Chapter 23Two Unfaithful Sisters
God exposes Samaria and Jerusalem as two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, who chased foreign lovers and must drink the cup of their betrayal.
Open study → Chapter 24The Boiling Pot and the Sign
On the day Babylon besieges Jerusalem, God gives the parable of the rusted pot and takes the prophet's wife as a wordless sign of coming loss.
Open study → Chapter 25The Gloating Neighbors
Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia rejoiced over Judah's fall, and the Lord answers each with judgment so that all will know he is Yahweh.
Open study → Chapter 26The Fall of a Great City
Tyre rejoiced at Jerusalem's ruin as a business opportunity, so the Lord declares the proud sea-city will be scraped bare like the top of a rock.
Open study → Chapter 27The Shipwreck of Splendor
In a haunting lament, Tyre is pictured as a magnificent merchant ship that sinks in the heart of the seas, taking all her glory down with her.
Open study → Chapter 28The Pride of a Fallen King
The prince of Tyre claims to be a god, and in a lament over the king the Lord exposes the deep root of pride that casts the anointed cherub down.
Open study → Chapter 29The Monster of the Nile
Pharaoh boasts that the Nile is his own creation, so the Lord, who made the river, declares he will draw the great monster out and humble proud Egypt.
Open study → Chapter 30The Day of Egypt
The Lord announces a day of clouds against Egypt and her allies, breaking Pharaoh's arms so that the sword falls from his hand.
Open study → Chapter 31The Cedar That Fell
Egypt is warned by the parable of Assyria, a towering cedar whose height lifted up its heart, until God cut it down to the pit.
Open study → Chapter 32Down to the Pit
In a final lament, Pharaoh the sea-monster is netted, the heavens darken over him, and Egypt is laid in the grave among the fallen nations.
Open study → Chapter 33Watchman, Sound the Trumpet
Recommissioned as Israel's watchman, Ezekiel hears God's heart: he takes no pleasure in death but pleads, “Turn back, why will you die?”
Open study → Chapter 34The Shepherd Who Seeks His Sheep
Against shepherds who fed only themselves, the Lord vows to seek his scattered flock himself and to set over them one shepherd, his servant David.
Open study → Chapter 35The Mountain of Vengeance
Mount Seir, that is Edom, nursed perpetual hatred against Israel and coveted its land, so the Lord turns its violence back upon itself.
Open study → Chapter 36A New Heart and a New Spirit
The Lord will restore the mountains of Israel and renew his people from within, cleansing them and giving a new heart and his own Spirit.
Open study → Chapter 37Dry Bones and One King
In a valley of dead bones God breathes resurrection life into Israel and joins two divided sticks under one shepherd-king forever.
Open study → Chapter 38The Coming of Gog
God summons Gog of Magog and his vast army against a peaceful Israel, only to magnify himself and make his holiness known to the nations.
Open study → Chapter 39The Fall of Gog
God strikes down the great northern army on the mountains of Israel, cleanses the land, and pours out his Spirit so all will know the Holy One.
Open study → Chapter 40The Temple Measured
Carried in a vision to a high mountain, Ezekiel watches a shining man measure the gates and courts of a glorious new temple.
Open study → Chapter 41The Most Holy Place
The guide measures the temple itself, its sanctuary and inner room, adorned with cherubim and palm trees, where God will dwell.
Open study → Chapter 42Holy and Common Apart
The guide measures the priests' chambers and walls all around the temple, separating the holy from the common on every side.
Open study → Chapter 43The Glory Returns
The glory of the LORD comes from the east and fills the temple, and God declares this the place of his throne where he will dwell forever.
Open study → Chapter 44The Shut Gate and the Priests
The east gate is shut because the LORD entered by it, and God gives charge for the prince, the faithful priests, and holy service.
Open study → Chapter 45The Holy Portion and the Prince
God sets apart a holy portion of land for sanctuary, priests, and city, and calls the prince to justice, just weights, and faithful offerings.
Open study → Chapter 46Worship at the Open Gate
God appoints the prince's offerings and the people's worship at the Sabbath and new moon, with continual offerings and rules for inheritance.
Open study → Chapter 47The River of Life
A river flows from the temple, deepening as it goes, healing the dead sea and giving life and fruit wherever it runs, and the land is bounded.
Open study → Chapter 48The LORD Is There
The tribes receive their portions around the holy offering, and the city is given its everlasting name: “Yahweh is there.”
Open study →Study together
Gather a group, work through a chapter at a time, and journey through Ezekiel together. Invite a friend to join you.