יחזקאל, פרק ל״א, פסוק א׳

God delivers a prophecy to Ezekiel just two months after his previous vision, directing this message entirely at Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. The purpose is to warn the Egyptian ruler against his overwhelming pride and to alert him to his fast-approaching downfall. To make this warning clear, the prophecy uses a parable that compares Pharaoh to the mighty Assyrian empire, reminding him that even the greatest of powers can completely collapse [אברבנאל].

The exact timing of this message carries intense historical weight. It arrives in the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin's exile, which aligns with the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign. This period is dramatically significant because it is the exact year Jerusalem is destroyed [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Furthermore, the vision is received in the third month of the calendar year, known as the month of Sivan [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].