Editing Book of Ezekiel (section)

== Composition ==
[[File:Book of Ezekiel.jpg|thumb|Manuscript in Hebrew and Latin from [[Kingdom of England|England]], early 13th century, showing part of [[Ezekiel 30]]]]

=== Life and times of Ezekiel ===
The Book of Ezekiel is described as the words of [[Ezekiel]] ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of [[Babylon]] between 593 and 571 BC. Most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book, but see in it significant additions by a school of later followers of the original prophet. According to Jewish tradition, the [[Men of the Great Assembly]] wrote the Book of Ezekiel, based on the prophet's words.<ref>[[Babylonian Talmud]], ''[[Baba Batra]]'' [http://www.come-and-hear.com/bababathra/bababathra_15.html 15a]</ref> While the book exhibits considerable unity and probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.{{sfn|Joyce|2009|p=16}}

According to the book that bears his name, Ezekiel ben-Buzi was born into a priestly family of Jerusalem c.623&nbsp;BC, during the reign of the reforming king [[Josiah]]. Prior to this time, Judah had been a vassal of the [[Assyria]]n empire, but the rapid decline of Assyria after c. 630 led Josiah to assert his independence and institute a religious reform stressing loyalty to [[Yahweh]], the God of Israel. Josiah was killed in 609 and Judah became a vassal of the new regional power, the [[Neo-Babylonian empire]]. In 597, following a rebellion against Babylon, Ezekiel was among the large group of Judeans taken into [[Babylonian captivity|captivity by the Babylonians]]. He appears to have spent the rest of his life in [[Mesopotamia]]. A further deportation of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon occurred in 586 when a second unsuccessful rebellion resulted in the destruction of the city and its Temple and the exile of the remaining elements of the royal court, including the last scribes and priests. The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic call, and 52 at the time of the last vision {{Circa|571}}.{{sfn|Drinkard|1996|pp=160–61}}

=== Textual history ===
The Jewish scriptures, mostly in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], were translated into Greek in the two centuries prior to the [[Common Era]] &mdash; a version known as the [[Septuagint]]. The Hebrew version was later formalised into the [[Masoretic Text]]. The Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel differs slightly from the Hebrew (Masoretic) version – it is about 8 verses shorter (out of 1,272)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_verses_are_in_the_the_book_of_Ezekiel|title=How many verses are in the book of Ezekiel?|website=[[Answers.com]]}}</ref> and possibly represents an earlier transmission of the book we have today (according to the Masoretic tradition) – while other ancient manuscript fragments differ from both.{{sfn|Blenkinsopp|1996|p=130}}

=== Critical history ===
During the first half of the 20th century, scholars such as [[Charles Cutler Torrey|C. C. Torrey]] (1863–1956) and [[Morton Smith]] placed its authorship and later redaction variously in the 3rd century BC and in the 8th/7th.{{cn|date=December 2024}} The pendulum swung back in the [[post-war period]], with an increasing acceptance of the book's essential unity and historical placement in the Exile.{{cn|date=December 2024}} [[Walther Zimmerli]]'s two-volume commentary appeared in German in 1969 and in English in 1979 and 1983, and traces the process by which Ezekiel's oracles were delivered orally and transformed into a written text by the prophet and his followers through a process of ongoing re-writing and re-interpretation. He isolates the oracles and speeches behind the present text, and traces Ezekiel's interaction with a mass of mythological, legendary and literary material as he developed his insights into Yahweh's purposes during the period of destruction and exile.{{sfn|Sweeney|1998|pp=165–66}}