Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 33:21

"And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten." — Ezekiel 33:21 (ASV)

In the twelfth year.— Compare 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 52:12. It was now a year and five months since the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and this seems like a long time for the news to be carried to Chaldea. The news itself must have reached Babylon long ago, but Ezekiel was to receive the news, undoubtedly with full and circumstantial details, from the mouth of a fugitive, and there are reasons why this could not easily have occurred earlier. After the capture of the city, the general, Nebuzaradan, took the mass of the people and the abundant spoil to carry them to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:15–27).

He first took them to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, where a few were executed, and some time must have been spent settling the affairs of the desolated land. After this, the journey of the captives, carrying with them the weighty spoil, was a slow one, and perhaps with frequent halts. We know from Ezra 7:9 that the returning captives, not hindered in this way, took exactly four months for the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. It is not surprising, therefore, that it took four times as long from the capture of Jerusalem to the arrival of the captives in Chaldea. This prophecy was nearly two months before that recorded in Ezekiel 32:0.