RECONCILING EZEKIEL’S CHRONOLOGY

THE DILEMMA OF EZEKIEL 40:1

The dilemma of Ezekiel 40:1 comes from the fact that the twenty-fifth year of the captivity and the
fourteenth year after the city was smitten, seemingly place the smiting of the city in the twelfth year of
the captivity, while all of the biblical testimony places the destruction of Jerusalem in the eleventh year.
That is, the simple understanding of ordinal counting creates difficultly in understanding exactly
when Jerusalem was destroyed. There are two basic solutions; one is to understand the dates in Ezekiel
as representing a spring-to-spring calendar aligned with a spring-to-spring reckoning of Zedekiah’s
reign, while the second solution presupposes a fall-to-fall calendar based upon a fall-to-fall reign of
Zedekiah.
Our solution is unique. We recognise that Ezekiel is using both reckonings. We will demonstrate
this, working systematically through the passages.

YEARS OF THE CAPTIVITY

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the
tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the
selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither. (Ezekiel 40:1)

If the years of the captivity in Ezekiel 40:1 are counted the same way as the fourteenth year since
the city was smitten, it would place the smiting of the city in the twelfth year of the captivity. This is
simple ordinal math. In ordinal math, there is no zero. Twenty-five minus fourteen equals eleven plus
one to make twelve. We illustrate this below.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

THE DATING OF THE SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

The Bible clearly marks the smiting of the city in the eleventh year, with a siege that began in the
ninth year.

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the
tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host,
against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. And
the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. (2 Kings 25:1-2)

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 they besieged it.
And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the
month, the city was broken up. (Jeremiah 39:1-2)

Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the
word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day,
even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same
day. (Ezekiel 24:1-2)

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the [fifth] month, that
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said
against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto

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 me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: (Ezekiel 26:1-2)

2 Kings, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all agree with the date that the city was besieged and
the date it was broken. This means that, in this instance, they are all using the same
calendar to mark these events. We illustrate this below.

A fall-to-fall calendar produces a siege that is two and an half years in length, while a spring-to-
spring calendar produces a siege that is one and an half years in length.

RECONCILING THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR WITH THE ELEVENTH YEAR

The most common, though incorrect, solution is to use simple math to derive the eleventh year by
subtracting fourteen from twenty-five. You cannot use cardinal math (math that contains a zero) in
calculating ordinal numbers. If we are more particular, we must recognise that two different modes of
reckoning are being used in this passage. The fourteenth year from which the city was smitten would be
counted spring-to-spring, while the years of the captivity are counted fall-to-fall. This is also only true if
the beginning of the year mentioned is the tenth day of the seventh month. Since the Hebrew in this
passage for “the beginning of the year” is “Rosh Hashanah” (literally head of the year), this is supported
by the text itself. Simply put, while the twenty-fifth year of the captivity had just commenced in the fall,
it was still the fourteenth year since the city was smitten, spring-to-spring.

FURTHER PROBLEMS
The problem then arises in how to count the years of the captivity. Why would Ezekiel be using
two different reckonings? Further, can we place these dates with absolute certainty? What year then did
Jerusalem fall? Can this insight help us?
To answer these questions, let us go Ezekiel 1:1-2.

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of
the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were
opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth
year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel
the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand
of the LORD was there upon him. (Ezekiel 1:1-3)

When is the fifth year of the captivity? If this is fall-to-fall, from where would we begin our count?
We do know the exact date that the captivity of Jehoiachin (and thus that of Ezekiel) began. This is
recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.

In the seventh year [598/597], the month of Kislîmu [ninth month], the king of
Akkad [Nebuchadnezzar] mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land [Palestine],
and besieged the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Addaru [March 16,

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 597.] he seized the city and captured the king. [Jehoiachin; cf. Jeremiah 52.28-30; 2 Kings
24.8-17.] He appointed there a king of his own choice, ["Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah
became king of Judah and changed his name to Zedekiah": 2 Kings 24.17.] received its
heavy tribute and sent to Babylon.” Babylonian Chronicle (ABC 5)

This terse account of the events in the spring of 597 BC gives sufficient information to establish
beyond a reasonable doubt that Jehoiachin surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar on March 16, 597 BC. The
ninth month mentioned spanned from December 18, 598 to January 15, 597 BC. Since the Bible tells us
that Jehoiachin “reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 36:9), counting back
from March 16, 597 brings us to about December 6 or 7, 598. This means, that Nebuchadnezzar left
Babylon shortly after the death of Jehoiakim and the accession of Jehoiachin. It is unlikely that he would
have known of Jehoiakim’s death prior to his departure from Babylon.
The Bible adds more details regarding the events surrounding the spring of 597 BC.

This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh
year three thousand Jews and three and twenty: (Jeremiah 52:28)

Here Jeremiah concurs with the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, as recorded in the Babylonian
Chronicle. The following passage shows that Jehoiachin was not carried away until the eighth year of
Nebuchadnezzar. That is, Nebuchadnezzar took some time in spoiling Jerusalem and then setting up a
puppet king in the place of Jehoiachin. This was Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, also called Zedekiah.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in
Jerusalem three months… At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin the king
of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and
his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of
his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the
treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king
of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away
all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand
captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the
people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's
mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried
he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven
thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war,
even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon
made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to
Zedekiah. (2 Kings 24:8, 10-17)

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign [in the fall of 607 BC he was
anointed by Jehoiakim], and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and
he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. And when the year was expired
[teshuvoth hashaneh, referring to the return of the year in the spring], king
Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house
of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.(2
Chronicles 36:9-10)

2 Chronicles 36:10 helps establish that this captivity occurred in the spring, in the change from the
seventh to the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. How do we then establish the count for the years of the

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 captivity?
If we simply take the fall-to-fall year and count that year as the first, this would make the Hebrew
civil fall-to-fall year 597 BC the first year of the captivity. The first year of the captivity would then
begin in the fall of 598 BC. The twenty-fifth year of the captivity would then begin in the fall of 574 BC.
We illustrate this below and see that this makes the eleventh year 587 BC, of the fall of Jerusalem.

The main problem here is that we are using the years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign to start this
count. According to Jeremiah and 2 Kings, the eleventh year is the same as Nebuchadnezzar’s
nineteenth year.

Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth
year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,
which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, And burned the house of the LORD,
and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great
men, burned he with fire: And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain
of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. (Jeremiah 52:12-14)

And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth
year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the
guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: (2 Kings 25:8)

We illustrate this below.

As you can see, this would make the nineteenth year align with the second year after Jerusalem
was smitten and not the first year. The solution for some is to see Jeremiah’s references to
Nebuchadnezzar’s reign counted differently than Nebuchadnezzar would count his reign. That is, it is
one year off. The argument is that the fall of Jerusalem would have occurred in the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar. However, this argument is inconsistent with Jeremiah 52:28 and placing the captivity
of Jehoiachin with the transition from Nebuchadnezzar’s seventh and eighth years. That is, if Jeremiah
refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s regal years one year earlier, there must have occurred a captivity in the
sixth year of Nebuchadnezzar (spring of 599 to spring of 598) that is not mentioned in the Babylonian
Chronicle. For that year, Nebuchadnezzar did excursions in the dessert in eastern Palestine but none in
Judah.

ANOTHER SOLUTION
Another solution, which seems to have evaded every biblical commentator, is the idea of counting
the years of the captivity as if Jehoiachin was still reigning. While this idea is unique, it provides a
logical solution that creates no contradictions in the biblical text. The only objection can be its
uniqueness. In this solution, we still maintain a fall-to-fall count for Jehoiachin’s captivity. However, the
“first” year is his accession year. That is, we move all of the dates for the captivity one year later. Of

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 course, this does not affect every date in Ezekiel. It only affects half of the year. Also, since Zedekiah is
placed upon the throne after the 1D 1M in 597, his count is one year later than most commentators
place it.1
There are some odd things about this solution. First, there are two kings’ reigns being counted –
Zedekiah, spring-to-spring, and Jehoiachin, fall-to-fall. As well, Zedekiah has a very long accession year,
it being nearly a whole year. The nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar is the eleventh year of Zedekiah.
While the kings of Judah had fall-to-fall reigns since the time of king Ahaz, Zedekiah’s reign is back to
the spring-to-spring reckoning of the earlier periods of Judah, thanks to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar
chose to align Zedekiah’s reginal years with his own.

THE COMPLETE CHRONOLOGY OF EZEKIEL

Converting Ezekiel’s dates for his visions now become a relatively straightforward process. We
simply need to know what calendar he is using. If we use strictly Babylonian dates, we will find very
little difference from biblical dates, in that for the years considered, only a couple of dates would differ.
We have included a chart from Parker and Duberstein’s Babylonian Chronology: 626 B.C. to A.D. 75,
which will aid the student in checking the dates.
While Ezekiel 1:2, 33:21 and 40:1 are the only places that we are explicitly told to count the years
of the captivity, we take the position that all of the dates that lie outside of Zedekiah’s eleven year reign
should also be counted fall-to-fall. For those familiar with the author’s initial work on Ezekiel’s
chronology, this is a new feature. That is, dates in the latter part of the year will be moved one year
earlier.

CONCLUSIONS
There are many details in Ezekiel’s chronology that we will examine in future articles. The insights
into Ezekiel’s chronology are evidence of the depth and accuracy that an understanding of present truth
gives to the study of God’s Word. If we are to understand Ezekiel, we must have a correct chronology.
We believe that we have had this provided through God’s providential leading. We encourage all to
examine and check this work. I have included a list of all of Ezekiel dates, with the references.

1
Also, this creates an apparent inconsistency with Jehoiakim’s reign. The Bible says that he reign eleven years in Jerusalem. We place
the commencement of his reign in August or September 609 BC, prior to the 1D 7M. This means that he reigns from the summer of
609 to December of 598, a total of eleven years and four plus months. Zedekiah reigns from April of 597 to July of 586, a total of
eleven years and about three months. Both are given a reign of eleven years. However, technically, Jehoiakim dies in the twelfth year
of his reign. Here we have set aside another assumption. The idea that the total given in Scripture of a kings reign means that he ends
his reign in that year number must be false.

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 THE CHRONOLOGY OF EZEKIEL
Ezekiel, when referring to the captivity of Jehoiachin, counts fall to fall, as if Jehoiachin is still
reigning.2 Otherwise his dating is based upon the reign of Zedekiah spring to spring. For both reckoning
they begin in the spring of 597 BC. The “30th year” (1:1), which was the equivalent of the “5th year” of
Jehoiachin’s captivity (1:2), is the 30th year of the Jubilee cycle (the 18th year of Josiah’s reign being the
49th year of the cycle). Dates3 of Ezekiel’s visions/prophecies are as follows:

Vision by the River Chebar

1:2 5th year of the captivity 4th month 5th day – Sabbath, July 21, 592 B.C.

Vision of Jerusalem
8:1 6th year of reign 6th month 5th day – Sunday, September 8, 591 B.C.

Second meeting with elders

20:1 7th year of reign 5th month 10th day – Sabbath, August 2, 590 B.C.

Beginning of the siege

24:1 9th year of reign 10th month 10th day – Thursday, January 5, 587 B.C.

Prophecy against Tyre

26:1 11th year of reign 5th month 1st day – Thursday, August 9, 586 B.C.

Prophecy against Pharaoh

29:1 10th year of reign 10th month 12th day – Friday, January 26, 586 B.C.

Egypt=Payment to Babylon for Tyre

29:17 27th year 1st month 1st day – Sabbath, April 15, 570 B.C.

Broken arm of Pharaoh

30:20 11th year 1st month 7th day – Friday, April 20, 586 B.C.

Allegory of the cedar

31:1 11th year 3rd month 1st day – Monday, June 11, 586 B.C.

Lamentation over Pharaoh

32:1 12th year of captivity 12th month 1st day – Monday, March 3, 585 B.C.

Prophecy of the pit

32:17 12th year of captivity 12th month 15th day – Monday, March 17, 585 B.C.

Fugitive brings the news

33:21 12th year of captivity 10th month 5th day – Tuesday, January 8, 585 B.C.

Temple vision
40:1 25th year of captivity 7th month 10th day – Thursday, October 22, 573 B.C.

2
We now recognise that the two dates in Ezekiel 32:1, 17 are in the year of the captivity and thus fall to fall. The Samaritan
Pentateuch and LXX have the eleventh year, as do many other old manuscripts.
3
Since Ezekiel is so meticulous in dating his visions, even to the exact day, it is assumed that all that follows a given date belongs to
that date, until the next date is mentioned, though not all that follows specifically happens on that date.

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APPENDIX

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