In the twelfth year, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month: The final prophecy against Egypt begins with another date formula (compare 29.1, 17; 30.20; 31.1; 32.1). According to Revised Standard Version, Ezekiel received this prophecy from God just over eleven years after the Babylonians had taken him and many other Israelites as prisoners (made explicit by Good News Translation, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version). But, as the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, in the first month is missing from the Hebrew text (compare 26.1 for another date in which one element is missing). The Hebrew actually says “in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month” (so New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This reading leaves it unclear which month is meant (compare the uncertainty expressed in New International Reader’s Version, which says “It was the 15th day of a month near the end of the 12th year”). Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint by specifying in the first month (also New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt), but that means that this prophecy came before the previous one (see Ezek 32.1). This is unlikely since this prophecy describes how the great nation of Egypt will finally go down into the world of the dead. It is possible that a scribe who copied the text at some time accidentally omitted the number “twelve” after the twelfth year. Some translations believe this is what happened and choose to make this omitted number explicit; for example, English Standard Version renders the date as “In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the fifteenth day of the month.” This would mean that this prophecy came two weeks after the previous one in this chapter. This is the most likely solution, and translators should feel free to make sense of the passage in this way, although, if they do, it is important to include a footnote to show that the Hebrew is different. Contemporary English Version follows this reading by saying “On the fifteenth day of that same month.” Another possible model is “Eleven years after the Babylonians took Israel [or, us] into captivity, on the fifteenth day of the twelfth 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 March 17, 585 B.C.

This prophecy against Egypt also begins with the traditional formula the word of the LORD came to me, which Good News Translation renders “the LORD spoke to me” (see Ezek 32.1).

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 .