Judgment Against Idolatry

The word of the Lord came to me: (A)“Son of man, (B)set your face toward (C)the mountains of Israel, and (D)prophesy against them, and say, (E)You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to (F)the mountains and (G)the hills, to (H)the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, (I)and I will destroy your high places. (J)Your altars shall become desolate, and your (K)incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. (L)And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, (M)and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you dwell, (N)the cities shall be waste and (O)the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,[a] your idols broken and destroyed, your (P)incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

(Q)“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations (R)some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, then those of you who escape (S)will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how (T)I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes (U)that go whoring after their idols. (V)And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. (W)I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

11 Thus says the Lord God: (X)“Clap your hands (Y)and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, (Z)for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 (AA)He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. (AB)Thus I will spend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, (AC)when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, (AD)on every high hill, (AE)on all the mountaintops, (AF)under every green tree, and under (AG)every leafy oak, wherever (AH)they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And (AI)I will stretch out my hand against them and (AJ)make the land desolate and waste, (AK)in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to (AL)Riblah.[b] Then (AM)they will know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 6:6 Or and punished
  2. Ezekiel 6:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts Diblah

Prophecy against Israel’s Idolatry

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel(A) and prophesy against them. You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.(B) Your altars will be desolated and your incense altars smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated,[a] your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

“Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword.(C) Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive,(D) how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols.(E) They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did,(F) their detestable practices of every kind. 10 And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.

Lament over the Fall of Jerusalem

11 “This is what the Lord God says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet,(G) and cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague.(H) 12 The one who is far off will die by plague; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared[b] will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust My wrath on them.(I) 13 You will all know that I am Yahweh when their slain lie among their idols around their altars,(J) on every high hill,(K) on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out My hand against them,(L) and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah.[c] Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 6:6 Hb obscure
  2. Ezekiel 6:12 Or besieged
  3. Ezekiel 6:14 Some Hb mss, some LXX mss read Riblah; 2Kg 23:33; Jr 39:5