Ezekiel 33:21 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 33:21
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.
tenth · preposition with the article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
fifth
בַּחֲמִשָּׁ֥הba.cha.mi.Shah
H2568
five · preposition + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
month
לַחֹ֖דֶשׁla.Cho.desh
H2320
the new moon · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
escaped
הַפָּלִ֧יטha.pa.Lit
H6412
a refugee · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jerusalem
מִירוּשָׁלִַ֛םmi.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
came
בָּאba'-
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
saying
לֵאמֹ֖רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
city
הָעִֽירha.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
smitten
הֻכְּתָ֥הhu.ke.Tah
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hophal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 1:2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
2 Kings 24:4-7 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.
2 Kings 25:4 And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (n…
2 Kings 25:10 And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
2 Chronicles 36:17-21 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no…
Jeremiah 39:1-8 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and…
Jeremiah 52:4-14 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon c…
Ezekiel 24:26-27 That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 33:21-29
Here we have,
I. The tidings brought to Ezekiel of the burning of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The city was burnt in the eleventh year of the captivity and the fifth month, Jer 52:12, Jer 52:13. Tidings hereof were brought to the prophet by one that was an eye-witness of the destruction, in the twelfth year, and the tenth month (Eze 33:21), which was a year and almost five months after the thing was done; we may well suppose that, there being a constant correspondence at this time more than ever kept up between Jerusalem and Babylon, he had heard the news long before. But this was the first time he had an account of it from a refugee, from one who escaped, who could be particular, and would b…
twelfth year . . . tenth month--a year and a half after the capture of the city (Jer 39:2; Jer 52:5-6), in the eleventh year and fourth month. The one who escaped (as foretold, Eze 24:26) may have been so long on the road through fear of entering the enemy's country [HENDERSON]; or, the singular is used for the plural in a collective sense, "the escaped remnant." Compare similar phrases, "the escaped of Moab," Isa 15:9; "He that escapeth of them," Amo 9:1. Naturally the reopening of the prophet's mouth for consolation would be deferred till the number of the escaped remnant was complete: the removal of such a large number would easily have occupied seventeen or eighteen months.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 33:21
In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month - Instead of the twelfth year, the eleventh is the reading of seven of Kennicott's MSS., one of De Rossi's, and the Syriac. My own, mentioned in the preceding chapter, reads with the present text. This was on Wednesday, Jan. 25, A.M. 3416 or 3417.
One that had escaped out of Jerusalem - After it had been taken by the Chaldeans.
Came unto me, saying, The City Is Smitten - This very message God had promised to the prophet, Eze 24:26.
John Gill on Ezekiel 33:21
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity,.... Of Jeconiah's captivity, when Ezekiel with others were carried into Babylon; see Ezekiel 1:2.
in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month; which was a year, four months, and some days, after the city of Jerusalem was taken; for that was destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and so of the captivity, and in the fifth month, and tenth day of the month. 2 Kings 25:2. It is much it was not known at Babylon before; though so it might, and yet not one that escaped came to Ezekiel sooner to give him an account of it, which he had seen with his eyes. The Syriac version reads it, in the "eleventh year"; and so makes it but a fe…
The Church Fathers
For then the mouth of the prophet is opened, when what he had previously announced, he shows by action: and he proclaims with total freedom, things that are not yet to come, but either present or already past.
(Verse 21, 22.) And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month (the Vulgate is silent on the month), on the fifth day of the month of our transmigration (or captivity), that the one who had fled (or been saved) from Jerusalem came to me, saying, 'The city has been devastated (or captured).' But the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before the one who had fled came; and He opened my mouth until the morning, and I no longer remained silent with my mouth open. In the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, in the fifth month, the city of Jerusalem was captured. This prophecy, however, in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of captivity or exile, when Jehoiachin was captured, shows that one year, four months, and twenty-five days after the capture of Jerusalem, a citizen of Jerusalem came to Babylon to announce the captured and devastated city. But one day before he came, who was to narrate this, in the evening the hand of the Lord came upon the prophet Ezekiel, who opened his mouth which had been closed for a long time, and whatever he was going to say, this happened before he could speak: nor did he remain silent any longer, seeing his prophecy fulfilled by action, and without doubt the people who were in Babylon, or those who were taken captive by prophetic prediction. For then the mouth of the prophet is opened, when what he had previously announced, he shows by action: and he proclaims with total freedom, things that are not yet to come, but either present or already past. This according to the literal sense. However, according to the anagoge, if Ezekiel is interpreted as the strength of God: but Christ is the power and wisdom of God (I Cor. I, 24), this must be understood that with the capture and overthrow of Jerusalem, whoever could escape the perfidy of the Jews, such as the apostles and the remnants that were saved, he himself declares to Christ that all the ceremonies of the Jews have been overthrown, which some people still think should be observed today, not hearing the Apostle's words: You have fallen from grace, you who are trying to be justified by the Law (Galat. V, 4). And therefore, the defenders of the synagogues in the churches of Christ, what do they proclaim? Therefore, after Jerusalem was captured and destroyed, the mouth of the Lord was opened through the apostles and the…
Dictionary and topics
Ezekiel, Book of — Consists mainly of three groups of prophecies. After an account of his call to the prophetical office (1-3:21), Ezekiel (1) utters words of denunciation against the Jews (3:22-24), warning them of…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Time · Eras from which, computed: The captivity — Eras from which, computed: The captivity
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Tidings of the Fall of Jerusalem, and the Consequences with Regard to the Prophet
Eze 33:21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth (month), on the fifth of the month after our being taken captive, there came to me a fugitive from Jerusalem, and said, The city is smitten. Eze 33:22. And the hand of Jehovah had come upon me in the evening before the arrival of the fugitive, and He opened my mouth, till he came to me in the morning; and so was my mouth opened, and I was silent no more. - In these verses the fulfilment of the promise made by God to the prophet in Eze 24:25-27, after the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, is recorded. The chronological datum, as to the pr…