text · B0027
Sefer Yechezkel ספר יחזקאל
The chariot vision, the valley of dry bones, the blueprint of a future temple — prophecy spoken entirely in the Babylonian exile, a generation and more before the body that the baraita says wrote it down. "The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah wrote Yechezkel": the assembly of the return reached back and committed the exile's prophet to final written form. Rashi wonders aloud why Yechezkel did not write it himself, and answers with a principle — prophecy was not given to be written outside the Land, so it waited for the returnees.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ספר יחזקאל
- Also known as
- Yechezkel, Ezekiel, Book of Ezekiel
- Era
- second-temple
II. When
- Traditional
- prophesied in Bavel around the churban; committed to writing by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, c. 3408–3450 AM, per Bava Batra 15a
- Academic
- prophecies dated 593–571 BCE; the book is among the most tightly dated in the canon
- Duration
- ≈42 years
- Precision
- approximate
IV. What
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah wrote — קנד״ג is the mnemonic — Yechezkel, the Twelve, Daniel, and Megillat Esther" (אנשי כנסת הגדולה כתבו יחזקאל ושנים עשר דניאל ומגילת אסתר) — the baraita of Bava Batra. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| The writing reaches back across the exile: Yechezkel prophesied in Bavel decades before the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah existed. Rashi explains the gap — "he prophesied in the exile, and... prophecy was not given to be written outside the Land" (שלא נתנה נבואה ליכתב בחוצה לארץ), so they wrote the books after coming to the Land.
Rashi offers this while admitting uncertainty ("ואיני יודע למה לא כתבו יחזקאל בעצמו אם לא מפני ש..."), so the mechanism is a first-rank gloss, not the Gemara's own statement.
|
tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Timeline placement c. 3408–3450 AM, the working years of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah — the writing date; the prophecies themselves belong to the exile, c. 3320–3350 AM. The span is schematic. | tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |