In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month: The second prophecy against Egypt begins with another date formula (compare verse 1). Ezekiel received this prophecy from God twenty-six years after the Babylonians had taken him and many other Israelites as prisoners (made explicit by Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version). In the twenty-seventh year means that it was at least twenty-six years but not yet twenty-seven. Contemporary English Version says “Twenty-seven years after,” which is incorrect. A good model for the whole date is “More than twenty-six years after the Babylonians took Israel [or, us] into captivity, on the first day of the first month.” When translating the date, translators should follow the most natural order of recording dates in their own language. For those translators who include footnotes in their Bibles, it is appropriate to indicate that this date is probably April 26, 571 B.C.

For the traditional formula the word of the LORD came to me, see Ezek 29.1.

A more natural order in some languages for this verse is:

• Yahweh spoke to me more than twenty-six years after our exile began, on the first day of the first month.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .