This major work explores the message and meaning of Ezekiel, one of the longest and most difficult of the prophetic books.

An introduction explains what is involved in reading a prophetic book, and how the Book of Ezekiel was put together and structured.

Joseph Blenkinsopp finds important insights for contemporary faith in Ezekiel, but only after pointing out a danger: the risk of seeking timeless truth in a prophetic message clearly located in time.

Tackling one of the longest and most difficult prophetic writings, Blenkinsopp explains what is involved in reading a prophetic work and how the Book of Ezekiel was put together and structured. Recognising the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple as the pivotal point in Ezekiel, he points out the recurrent theme it portrays, of the experience of God's presence, the loss of that presence, and the promise of its return. He looks at forms of speech used in Ezekiel and discusses 'authorship' of a 'book' which was 'written' in a time before present-day experience of print dependence.

Both the prophet and those who transmitted, edited, and enlarged upon what he had to say have provided perceptions from their own experience that are pertinent today. With them we certainly share the moral challenge, Blenkinsopp says, to live faithfully in a time that has proven much of what we regard as reality to be insubstantial at best.