This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for Ezekiel 11, with leader’s notes for each one. It suits a small group, a Sunday class or personal study. The chapter moves from a rebuke of corrupt city leaders to a promise of restoration, so the questions are arranged to follow that same movement, from what the text says to what it means and how to live it.
Ezekiel 11 at a Glance
The Spirit carries Ezekiel to the east gate of the temple, where he sees twenty-five men, including two named leaders, plotting wicked counsel in Jerusalem. He is told to prophesy against them, and when he does, one of them, Pelatiah, dies. Ezekiel falls on his face and asks whether God will finish off the remnant of Israel.
God answers with a double word. The city that the people think is a protective pot will not shield them, and judgment will come to them even outside the walls. Yet God will gather the scattered exiles, remove their stony hearts, give them a heart of flesh, and bring them back to the land. The chapter closes with the glory of the Lord lifting from the city and Ezekiel telling the exiles what he has seen.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first to get the group reading closely and noticing details before anyone offers an interpretation. Keep the discussion to what the text says, and hold off on applying it to modern life until the group has looked carefully at the words.
Ezekiel 11:1-3
1 Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of the LORD’s house, which looks eastward. Behold, twenty-five men were at the door of the gate; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’
(WEB)
Reading this opening section aloud sets the scene at the east gate and introduces the men whose counsel will be exposed. Hearing the details slowly helps the group feel the weight of their words about the city as a cauldron.
Ezekiel 11:7
“‘Therefore thus says the Lord the LORD: “Your slain whom you have laid in the middle of it, they are the meat, and this is the cauldron; but you will be brought out of the middle of it.
(WEB)
This verse reverses the people’s picture of safety by declaring that the slain in the city are the meat and that they will be brought out. Reading it aloud allows the room to hear the surprise of the judgment.
Ezekiel 11:16-17
16 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord the LORD: “Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.”’ 17 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord the LORD: “I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”
(WEB)
These verses hold together the promise of a sanctuary in exile and the promise of gathering back to the land. Reading them together lets the group hear God’s faithfulness across both seasons.
Ezekiel 11:19-20
19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 20 that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
(WEB)
This is the heart of the chapter’s hope, the promise of one heart and a heart of flesh. Reading it aloud gives the group a chance to receive the promise as spoken directly to them.
Ezekiel 11:22-23
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them. The glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 The LORD’s glory went up from the middle of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
(WEB)
Reading the departure of the glory aloud helps the group sense the solemnity of God leaving the city. Hearing it slowly prepares them for the closing words about the exiles.
Memory Verse for Ezekiel 11
Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh…
(WEB)
This verse captures the chapter’s central promise of God giving a new heart and a new spirit. Memorizing it gives you a short, durable reminder that renewal begins with God’s own action in you.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you having read the hard words of Ezekiel 11, and we confess that we often trust in things that give us a false sense of safety. Search our hearts where we have grown hard and treat danger as if it were far off. Thank you that you promise to gather the scattered, to be a sanctuary in unfamiliar places, and to give a heart of flesh to those who belong to you. Soften what needs softening in each of us, and give us the courage to walk in your statutes. Hold those in this room who carry grief, fear or distance from you, and remind us all that you remain near. Amen.
