strata of religious leaders such as priests and prophets were also part of the deportation. In short, Ezekiel’s primary audience was Jerusalem’s social, political, and religious elite, who now found themselves living as refugees in the land of their conqueror. The OT provides very little information about the situation of these exiles. Jehoiachin and other royal officials were apparently imprisoned but later released (2 Kgs 25:27–30). Babylonian records continue to refer to Jehoiachin as king of