# News of Jerusalem’s fall reaches Ezekiel Exile & Return · Draft · BSB Content revision: dda27a9fd282753a · No editorial review date recorded [Citation / readable page](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ezekiel-news-fall/) [Open interactive map](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=ezekiel-news-fall) [Markdown](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ezekiel-news-fall/index.md) [JSON](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ezekiel-news-fall/index.json) Date: Ezekiel · Twelfth year of the exile in this text A fugitive tells Ezekiel that Jerusalem has fallen. The LORD challenges the confidence of those living among Judah’s ruins and warns Ezekiel that his listeners in exile enjoy hearing him but do not put his words into practice. The passage distinguishes people still in the land from the prophet’s hearers in exile. Its twelfth-year dating counts the exile’s years, not years since the city fell. Hearing a prophet as an entertaining performer is presented as different from responding to his message. ## Primary Scripture [Ezekiel 33:21–33 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2033%3A21%E2%80%9333&version=BSB) 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!” 33:22 Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute. 33:23 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 33:24 “Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’ 33:25 Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? 33:26 You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’ 33:27 Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be devoured by wild animals, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague. 33:28 I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they have committed.’ 33:30 As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD!’ 33:31 So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain. 33:32 Indeed, you are to them like a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, who skillfully plays an instrument. They hear your words but do not put them into practice. 33:33 So when it comes to pass—and surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” ## Related Scripture [Ezekiel 1:1–3 · recollection](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%201%3A1%E2%80%933&version=BSB) The opening locates Ezekiel among the exiles by the Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans. ## Location evidence The wider book places Ezekiel among exiles in Babylonia. The illustrative region does not identify his house here or equate the Chebar setting with the northern Habor–Gozan deportation region. Event map marker: Approximate region; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[44.65, 32.25\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue. Babylonia (exilic setting): Approximate region. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[44.65, 32.25\]. Classification source: editorial. Illustrative regional extent: \[\[43.8,31.6\],\[45.6,33.3\]\]; not a measured confidence interval. [Biblical regional setting: Ezekiel 1:1–3; 3:15. Extent is editorial.](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%201%3A1-3%3B3%3A15&version=BSB) [Biblical regional setting: Ezekiel 1:1–3; 3:15. Extent is editorial.](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%201%3A1-3%3B3%3A15&version=BSB) ## For the class How can people listen attentively while still refusing the substance of a message? ## Interpretation and reuse Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review. Record source: editorial (content/authored/exile-return.json) Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0. Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas. Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm [Use this atlas with AI / data documentation](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/ai/)