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,

EZEKIEL 24:1KJV
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Ezekiel 24:1 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 24:1 mean?

Ezekiel 24:1 records the exact date when the LORD gave Ezekiel a message. The date matters because the message concerns a major event unfolding at Jerusalem, while Ezekiel himself was among the exiles in Babylonia.

Ezekiel speaks in the first person: “the word of the LORD came unto me.” The sentence introduces what the LORD tells him next, including the instruction in verse 2 to write down the date.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 24:1

  • “word” — דָּבָר (davar): This word can mean a word, a message, or a matter. Here it introduces the message Ezekiel is about to receive.
  • “LORD” — יְהוָה (YHWH): This is God’s personal name in Hebrew. The KJV represents it here with capital letters as “LORD.”

Why Ezekiel 24:1 matters

  • The date anchors the message to a particular event. In verse 2, the LORD tells Ezekiel that the king of Babylon began his attack on Jerusalem that very day.
  • The “ninth year” is generally understood as the ninth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile. Ezekiel’s earlier date in Ezekiel 1:2 uses the same king’s exile as a reference point, placing this message around 588 or 587 BC.
  • The verse leads into a message about Jerusalem given to someone outside the city. Ezekiel was living among the exiles by the river Chebar, as Ezekiel 1:1–3 explains.

Where else these words appear

“tenth” Hebrew H6218 · used in 16 verses

  • Genesis 24:55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
  • Numbers 29:7 And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:
  • Psalms 144:9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

“ninth” Hebrew H8671 · used in 17 verses

  • Leviticus 25:22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.
  • 1 Chronicles 24:11 The ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,
  • Jeremiah 36:22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

“tenth” Hebrew H6224 · used in 26 verses

  • Genesis 8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
  • Deuteronomy 23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
  • Esther 2:16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.