And it came to pass in the eleventh year,.... Of Zedekiah's reign, and Jehoiachin's captivity; some little time after the prophecy in Ezekiel 19:1, here the prophecies come into their order again, being interrupted by those of a much later date, at the end of the preceding chapter, and the former part of this:
in the first month, in the seventh day of the month; the month Nisan, which answers to part of March, and part of April; the seventh day must be about the twenty ninth of March; but, according to Bishop Usher m, it was on the twenty sixth of April, on the third day of the week (Tuesday), in 3416 A.M. or before Christ 588: this was given out three months and two days before Jerusalem was taken:
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; as follows:
m Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3416.