Explain It Like I'm…

Ezekiel sees God's glory far from home

Ezekiel was a priest. He helped at the temple in Jerusalem. Then an enemy army took him and many Israelites far away to a land called Babylon. They were sad, and they missed the temple.

One day by a river in Babylon, Ezekiel had a vision. He saw "the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28). The Lord had not forgotten His people, even far from home.

A prophet is like a watchman

The Lord called Ezekiel to be "a watchman unto the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 3:17). Long ago, a watchman stood high on a city wall. He looked far away. If he saw danger coming, he called out to warn everyone.

Our prophet today is like a watchman. He can see dangers we cannot see, and he warns us so we stay safe.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd

A shepherd takes care of sheep. Some leaders in Israel did not take care of the people. So the Lord said, "I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (Ezekiel 34:11). He finds the lost ones, and He helps the hurt ones.

Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He knows each of us. We can help Him by being kind to the people around us.

A new heart and dry bones that live

The Lord promised, "A new heart also will I give you" (Ezekiel 36:26). When we repent, the Lord forgives us. He helps us want to do good.

Ezekiel saw a valley full of dry bones. The Lord made the bones come together and live again! This showed that the Lord can gather His people and give them new life.

Two sticks become one

Ezekiel took two sticks. One was for Judah. One was for Joseph. He held them together, and they became one in his hand (Ezekiel 37:15–23). The Bible and the Book of Mormon are like those two sticks. Together they help us come to Jesus.

A river from the temple

In another vision, water came out of the temple. It grew into a big river. It flowed into a sea so salty that nothing could live in it, and the sea was healed! "Every thing shall live whither the river cometh" (Ezekiel 47:9). The Lord blesses us and our families through His holy house.

Question to ask your child: How is our prophet like a watchman on a wall?

Setting: a prophet in exile

Ezekiel was a priest who should have been serving in the temple at Jerusalem. In 597 BC the Babylonian army took him, King Jehoiachin, and thousands of others to Babylon. He lived in a village called Tel-abib by a big irrigation canal, the river Chebar. Ezekiel "sat where they sat" (Ezekiel 3:15): stuck, far from the temple, with little hope of going home.

Then the heavens opened, and Ezekiel saw "the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28) right there in Babylon. The Lord had not stayed behind in Jerusalem. He came to His people where they were.

Watchmen: warning even when people don't listen

The Lord made Ezekiel "a watchman unto the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 3:17). Ancient watchmen stood on city walls and sounded the alarm when an army appeared. If a watchman stayed quiet and the city fell, he was held responsible. That is why the Lord told Ezekiel that their blood "will I require at thine hand" (Ezekiel 3:18).

The people often liked Ezekiel's words the way you like a good song, but "they hear thy words, but they do them not" (Ezekiel 33:32). It is easy to treat the prophet's counsel like background music. A watchman is useful only if people act on the warning, so the question for you is what you do after you hear general conference.

"How should we then live?" The Lord wants to forgive

The exiles felt crushed by their sins and asked, "How should we then live?" (Ezekiel 33:10). Maybe you have felt that way after a mistake you keep repeating. The Lord answered with an oath: "As I live… I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11).

If a person turns around, makes things right, and walks "in the statutes of life," then "none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him" (Ezekiel 33:15–16). The Lord makes the same promise today: "I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42).

He also warned against those who "trust to [their] own righteousness" (Ezekiel 33:13). Good things you did last year do not cancel what you choose today. What counts is the direction you are facing now, the way the humble publican in Jesus's parable went home justified (Luke 18:9–14).

A new heart, more than willpower

Repentance is more than trying harder. The Lord promised to change your heart: "A new heart also will I give you… I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Alma called this a "mighty change" (Alma 5:14). When you are fighting a habit or feeling like you will never change, you can pray for a new heart, because the Lord promised to give one.

Dry bones and two sticks: the gathering

Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones come together and live when the Lord's breath entered them. The Lord explained, "I will open your graves… and shall put my spirit in you" (Ezekiel 37:12–14). Nobody is too far gone for Him to bring back to life.

Then Ezekiel joined a stick for Judah and a stick for Joseph into one. Latter-day Saints understand these as the Bible and the Book of Mormon working together to gather Israel. Nephi taught the same thing (2 Nephi 29:14). President Russell M. Nelson taught that the gathering happens on both sides of the veil, through missionary work and through temple and family history work ("Hope of Israel," June 2018). You take part in it every time you share what you believe or do family history.

The river from the temple

Water flowed from the temple and healed the Dead Sea, so that "every thing shall live whither the river cometh" (Ezekiel 47:9). The trees on its banks had leaves "for medicine." The Lord offers healing in His house to you and to your family.

Scripture Mastery Moment

Ezekiel 36:26: "A new heart also will I give you." Memorize it because it promises that real change comes from the Lord, so you never have to fix your heart alone.

This week: Pick one thing you keep struggling with and pray specifically for the Lord to change your heart about it.

Ezekiel prophesied to a people who had lost their land, their temple, and almost all their hope. The Lord's message to them was that He had not abandoned them, and that what was dead could live again (Ezekiel 37:4–14).

Ezekiel's call in Babylon (Ezekiel 1–3)

Ezekiel was a priest taken to Babylon in 597 BC with King Jehoiachin. He lived among the exiles at Tel-abib, near the river Chebar, and "sat where they sat" (Ezekiel 3:15). In Jerusalem he would have served in the temple. In Babylon, he saw "the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28) among the captives.

The Lord sent him to "a rebellious nation," promising that whether they listened or not, they "shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:5). Ezekiel ate a scroll that tasted "as honey for sweetness" (Ezekiel 3:3), so that the Lord's word became part of him before he spoke it.

Watchmen and shepherds (Ezekiel 3; 33–34)

The Lord made Ezekiel "a watchman unto the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 3:17). Ancient watchmen stood on walls and sounded alarms. A letter from Lachish written about 588 BC shows watchmen looking for fire signals as Babylon advanced: "We are watching for the fire signals of Lachish… for we cannot see Azekah." A watchman who failed to warn was accountable for the lives lost (Ezekiel 3:18).

In Ezekiel 34 the Lord condemned Israel's leaders as shepherds who fed themselves and left the flock scattered. Then He promised, "I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (Ezekiel 34:11). He would set "my servant David" over them as one shepherd. Ezekiel lived four centuries after David, so this is a promise of the Messiah, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).

• 💬 Who are the "sheep" the Lord wants you to feed, in your family, your ministering assignments, or your calling?
• 💬 What is the difference between a sheep who is "lost" and one who is "driven away" (Ezekiel 34:16)? How might you help each one differently?

The Lord wants to forgive (Ezekiel 33:10–19; 36:26–27)

The news came that Jerusalem had fallen: "The city is smitten" (Ezekiel 33:21). The exiles asked, "If our … sins be upon us… how should we then live?" (Ezekiel 33:10). The Lord answered, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11).

A person who turns and walks "in the statutes of life" will find that "none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him" (Ezekiel 33:15–16; see D&C 58:42). The Lord also warned against those who "trust to [their] own righteousness" (Ezekiel 33:13), because past good works do not excuse present sin (see Luke 18:9–14).

Repentance includes the Lord's power to change us: "A new heart also will I give you… I will put my spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Alma called this a "mighty change" (Alma 5:14).

• 💬 What would you say to someone who feels the teaching in Ezekiel 33:12–19 is unfair?

Dry bones and two sticks: the gathering of Israel (Ezekiel 37)

Ezekiel prophesied over dry bones, and they lived when breath entered them. The Lord said, "I will open your graves… and shall put my spirit in you" (Ezekiel 37:12–14). The gathering of Israel brings life to people who had given up hope.

Ezekiel then joined a stick for Judah and a stick for Joseph into one. The stick of Judah can represent the Bible, written largely by Judah's descendants, and the stick of Joseph can represent the Book of Mormon, since Lehi's family descended from Joseph (see 2 Nephi 3:11–13; 29:14). President Russell M. Nelson taught that the gathering happens on both sides of the veil, through missionary work and through temple and family history work ("Hope of Israel," June 2018).

• 💬 How have the Bible and the Book of Mormon worked together to help you come to Christ?

The river from the temple (Ezekiel 47:1–12)

Water flowed from beneath the temple threshold and grew into a river too deep to cross. It healed the Dead Sea, so salty that nothing lived in it, and "every thing shall live whither the river cometh" (Ezekiel 47:9). Trees along it bore fruit every month, with leaves "for medicine." Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk "Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing" (April 2018) is a good companion for pondering how the Lord heals families through His house.

Each of these chapters points to Jesus Christ. He is the Shepherd who seeks the lost, the source of the new heart, the one King over a gathered people, and the Lord whose house brings life.

Key Takeaways

• The Lord came to His people in exile and did not abandon them (Ezekiel 1:28).
• Leaders are watchmen and shepherds, and Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd (Ezekiel 34:11, 23).
• The Lord wants to forgive, and He gives the repentant a new heart (Ezekiel 33:11; 36:26).
• The Bible and Book of Mormon together gather Israel to Christ (Ezekiel 37:15–23).
• Life and healing flow from the Lord's house (Ezekiel 47:9).

Historical setting: a priest without a temple

After Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 605 BC, Judah fell under Babylonian control. In 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar II took King Jehoiachin, the court, craftsmen, and priests to Babylon. Babylonian ration tablets list provisions for "Ya'u-kînu, king of the land of Yahudu," confirming Jehoiachin's captivity. Ezekiel, "the son of Buzi" (Ezekiel 1:3), dated his visions by the years of that captivity, which suggests the exiles still regarded Jehoiachin as their king.

Ezekiel settled at Tel-abib (Ezekiel 3:15). A tel is a mound of ruins, and Babylon often placed captives on abandoned sites to rebuild and farm. The river Chebar was the nāru kabari, "the great canal," near Nippur. The Al-Yahudu tablets show that Judean exiles farmed, paid taxes, and kept Hebrew names built on the Lord's name. They were settled but at risk of losing hope.

Ezekiel dates his call to "the thirtieth year" (Ezekiel 1:1), possibly his age, when priests began full service (Numbers 4:3). The year he would have entered temple service, he received a prophetic call instead. Chapters 1–3 come before Jerusalem's destruction in 586 BC; chapters 33–48 come after it.

The Lord's glory among the exiles (Ezekiel 1–3)

By the canal, Ezekiel saw "the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28). The Lord's presence, associated with the temple, appeared in Babylon. Ezekiel later learned that wickedness in Jerusalem had become so severe that God's presence was no longer there (Ezekiel 8–11). The Lord had departed from a defiled temple and come to a repentant remnant.

The Lord calls Ezekiel "son of man" more than ninety times, which keeps the focus on a mortal speaking for God. His call carried a promise about accountability: whether Israel listened or not, they "shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:5).

Watchmen and shepherds: the duty of covenant leaders (Ezekiel 3; 33–34)

The watchman image draws on real defense practice. Lachish Ostracon IV, written about 588 BC, reads: "We are watching for the fire signals of Lachish… for we cannot see Azekah." Because a negligent watchman was accountable for lost lives, the Lord tells Ezekiel that blood "will I require at thine hand" (Ezekiel 3:18). The charge is repeated in Ezekiel 33, just before a survivor reports, "The city is smitten" (Ezekiel 33:21).

Ancient Near Eastern kings called themselves shepherds of their people, so Ezekiel 34 holds Judah's rulers to their own title. They fed themselves and left the flock scattered (Ezekiel 34:2–4). The Lord responds by taking the work on Himself: "I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (Ezekiel 34:11). He promises "my servant David" as one shepherd and "a covenant of peace" (Ezekiel 34:23, 25). Four centuries after David, this promise points to the Messiah of David's line, Jesus Christ (John 10:11), who later charged Peter, "Feed my sheep" (see John 21:15–17). Elder Gerrit W. Gong's "Ministering" (May 2023) applies the chapter to modern ministering.

Repentance and the new heart (Ezekiel 33:10–19; 36:24–27)

The exiles' question, "how should we then live?" (Ezekiel 33:10), is the question of people who think their sins have finished them. The Lord answers with an oath: "As I live… I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11). The person who turns, restores what he took, and walks "in the statutes of life" has his sins no longer "mentioned unto him" (Ezekiel 33:15–16). Modern revelation says the same: "I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42).

The warning cuts the other way too. One who will "trust to his own righteousness" and then sin cannot rely on past deeds (Ezekiel 33:13). What matters is which way a person is facing now, which is why the publican went home justified and the Pharisee did not (Luke 18:9–14).

Ezekiel 36 moves the source of change from human effort to divine action: "A new heart also will I give you… I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Alma describes the same change as being born again, a "mighty change" (Alma 5:14; see Alma 7:14–16). The Lord gathers Israel "for [His] name's sake" and cleanses them, and the desolate land becomes "like the garden of Eden" (Ezekiel 36:35).

Gathering in three movements (Ezekiel 36–37)

The gathering in these chapters has three parts. Israel is cleansed and given the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–27). Israel is raised from death, as in the valley of dry bones: "I will open your graves… and shall put my spirit in you" (Ezekiel 37:12–14). Israel becomes "one nation" under one king, with the Lord's sanctuary "in the midst of them for evermore" (Ezekiel 37:22, 26).

The two sticks, which many scholars interpret as hinged wooden writing boards, belong to that third movement. Latter-day Saints read the stick of Judah as the Bible and the stick of Joseph as the Book of Mormon. Lehi's descendant Joseph prophesied of these records growing together (2 Nephi 3:11–13), and Nephi taught that the Lord's word would be gathered in one as His people are gathered (2 Nephi 29:14). President Russell M. Nelson taught that the gathering happens on both sides of the veil, through missionary work and through temple and family history work ("Hope of Israel," June 2018).

Healing from the house of the Lord (Ezekiel 47)

The book closes with a restored temple. Water flows from its threshold, deepens into an uncrossable river, and heals the Dead Sea: "every thing shall live whither the river cometh" (Ezekiel 47:9). John saw the same river in Revelation 22:1. The Lord also gives the strangers among Israel an inheritance, and the final name of the city is "The Lord is there" (Ezekiel 48:35). Elder Dale G. Renlund's "Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing" (April 2018) connects this healing to the temple work of our day.

For study this week: Trace one theme (shepherding, the new heart, or the gathering) from Ezekiel into the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, and note how the Lord is fulfilling it now.

Historical frame: priesthood displaced and the chronology of the oracles

Ezekiel's ministry spans roughly 593 to 571 BC. He was among the 597 BC deportees taken with Jehoiachin after Nebuchadnezzar II's siege, a deportation that followed Babylon's victory at Carchemish in 605 BC. Babylonian ration tablets naming "Ya'u-kînu, king of the land of Yahudu" and his sons corroborate the biblical account and show the Davidic line surviving in captivity. Ezekiel's dating by Jehoiachin's exile (Ezekiel 1:2) indicates that the community regarded him as the legitimate king.

The book divides around the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Chapters 1–3 precede it; chapters 33–48 follow the report, "The city is smitten" (Ezekiel 33:21). The shift from warning to restoration tracks that event: once judgment has fallen, the prophetic task becomes the revival of hope.

The social setting is well attested. Tel-abib (Ezekiel 3:15) sat on a ruin mound near the nāru kabari, the "great canal" named in the Murashu archive from Nippur. The Al-Yahudu corpus, more than 200 cuneiform tablets, records Judean exiles farming crown land, paying taxes, and preserving Yahwistic names. Ezekiel's audience was economically settled and spiritually at risk, a condition that explains both their complacency (Ezekiel 33:32) and their despair (Ezekiel 33:10).

The relocation of divine glory (Ezekiel 1; 8–11)

Ezekiel's "thirtieth year" (Ezekiel 1:1) may mark his age, the threshold of full priestly service (Numbers 4:3). At the point he would have entered the sanctuary, the sanctuary's glory came to him by a Babylonian canal: "the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:28). The fourfold distancing in that phrase reflects priestly reverence before the divine presence.

Ezekiel 8–11 supplies the counterpart: the glory departs a temple defiled by Jerusalem's wickedness. Read together, the two movements teach that the Lord's presence attaches to covenant faithfulness, not to geography. The book's closing name for the restored city, "The Lord is there" (Ezekiel 48:35), resolves the arc that began with His absence from Jerusalem.

The recurring address "son of man," used more than ninety times, keeps the prophet's mortality in view against the overwhelming theophany. His commission rests on a principle of witness: whether Israel heeds or refuses, "they … shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:5).

Watchman and shepherd: the accountability of covenant office (Ezekiel 3; 33–34)

The watchman metaphor draws on actual military practice. Lachish Ostracon IV (ca. 588 BC) preserves a watchman's report during the Babylonian advance: "We are watching for the fire signals of Lachish… for we cannot see Azekah." Since a negligent watchman bore responsibility for lives lost, the Lord's warning that blood "will I require at thine hand" (Ezekiel 3:18) uses an established standard of liability. Ezekiel's ingestion of the scroll, sweet "as honey for sweetness" (Ezekiel 3:3), shows that the message is internalized before it is proclaimed. The scroll's content is lamentation, yet receiving the word of God is sweet.

Ezekiel 34 turns a royal title against the kings who claimed it. Ancient Near Eastern rulers styled themselves shepherds; Judah's shepherds fed themselves and left the flock scattered (Ezekiel 34:2–4). The divine response is emphatic: "I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (Ezekiel 34:11). The Lord distinguishes the "lost" from the "driven away" (Ezekiel 34:16), judges between fat and lean sheep, and installs "my servant David" as the one shepherd (Ezekiel 34:23; 37:24), sealing the arrangement with "a covenant of peace" (Ezekiel 34:25).

Because David had been dead four centuries, the promise is messianic. Its New Testament fulfillment is explicit in John 10:11, and the Risen Lord's threefold charge to Peter (John 21:15–17) delegates the shepherding function back to covenant leaders, now under the true Shepherd. Elder Gerrit W. Gong's "Ministering" (May 2023) extends that charge to modern ministering.

Repentance, accountability, and the gift of a new heart (Ezekiel 33; 36)

Ezekiel 33:10–19 addresses the exiles' theological crisis. Their question, "how should we then live?" (Ezekiel 33:10), assumes that accumulated guilt is fixed. The Lord answers under oath, "As I live… I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11), and makes present orientation decisive. The one who turns, restores, and walks "in the statutes of life" will have "none of his sins … mentioned unto him" (Ezekiel 33:15–16). The one who will "trust to his own righteousness" forfeits the security of past deeds (Ezekiel 33:13). Jesus's parable of the Pharisee and the publican applies the same standard (Luke 18:9–14), and modern revelation confirms the forgetting of forgiven sin: "I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42).

Ezekiel 36:24–27 places the source of transformation in God. Gathering, cleansing, a new heart in place of the "stony heart," and the Spirit that will "cause you to walk in my statutes" form one divine sequence. The Lord acts "for [His] name's sake," because Israel had profaned that name among the nations. The Book of Mormon names the same work a "mighty change" of heart, the experience of being born again (Alma 5:14; see Alma 7:14–16). Ezekiel 33 sets the human condition of turning, and Ezekiel 36 supplies the enabling grace that makes such turning lasting.

Gathering in three movements and the joining of records (Ezekiel 37)

Ezekiel 36–37 presents the gathering in three stages: cleansing and endowment with the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–27); resurrection from national death (Ezekiel 37:1–14); and reunification as "one nation" under one king, with the sanctuary "in the midst of them for evermore" (Ezekiel 37:22, 26). The vocabulary of breath and spirit in the dry-bones vision repeats the promise of Ezekiel 36:27, so the revival of the bones and the new heart are the same work of the Spirit at national and personal scale. "I will open your graves… and shall put my spirit in you" (Ezekiel 37:12–14) speaks to restoration from exile and anticipates gathering across the veil.

The sign-act of the sticks, which many scholars interpret as hinged wooden writing boards, marks the third movement. Latter-day Saints identify the stick of Judah with the Bible, largely authored by Judah's descendants, and the stick of Joseph with the Book of Mormon, the record of Lehi's family of the line of Joseph. Joseph of Egypt's prophecy that the two records would "grow together" (2 Nephi 3:11–13) and Nephi's teaching that the Lord's word would be gathered in one as His people are gathered (2 Nephi 29:14) supply the Restoration's interpretive key. Unified scripture serves unified people under one Davidic King. President Russell M. Nelson taught that this gathering takes place on both sides of the veil, through missionary work and through temple and family history work ("Hope of Israel," June 2018).

The temple river and the inheritance of the stranger (Ezekiel 47)

The restoration vision ends where the book began, with the Lord's presence in a sanctuary. Water issues "from under the threshold of the house" (Ezekiel 47:1), deepens past fording, and renders the Dead Sea's lifeless water whole: "every thing shall live whither the river cometh" (Ezekiel 47:9). Trees bear monthly fruit with leaves "for medicine," imagery John repeats in Revelation 22:1. The land is then apportioned to the tribes, and strangers living among them receive an inheritance as well, which widens the covenant's boundary. Elder Dale G. Renlund's "Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing" (April 2018) reads this healing in terms of latter-day temple work; its sacred particulars are reverent and personal, and a family or class leader can say more.

Invitation to further study

A careful student might trace the phrase "my spirit within you" from Ezekiel 36:27 through 37:14 and into Alma 5 and the Doctrine and Covenants. Doing so shows how the Lord's promise to recreate Israel's heart connects the personal work of repentance to the ongoing gathering of His people to Jesus Christ.