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Judgment on Idolatrous Israel

The word of the Lord came to me: O mortal, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them and say: You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I, I myself, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.(A) Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense stands shall be broken, and I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.(B) I will lay the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live, your towns shall be waste and your high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,[a] your idols broken and destroyed, your incense stands cut down, and your works wiped out.(C) The slain shall fall in your midst; then you shall know that I am the Lord.(D)

But I will spare some. Some of you shall escape the sword among the nations and be scattered through the countries.(E) Your survivors shall remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I was crushed by their wanton heart that turned away from me and their wanton eyes that turned after their idols. Then they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.(F) 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this disaster upon them.

11 Thus says the Lord God: Strike your hands together and stamp your foot and say Alas! for all the vile abominations of the house of Israel. For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.(G) 12 Those far off shall die of pestilence, those nearby shall fall by the sword, and any who are left and are spared shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them.(H) 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing odor to all their idols.(I) 14 I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, throughout all their settlements, from the wilderness to Riblah.[b] Then they shall know that I am the Lord.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 6.6 Syr Vg Tg: Heb and will bear their punishment
  2. 6.14 Cn: Heb Diblah

Prophecy against Israel’s Idolatry

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, face 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 shrines[a] 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,[b] your idols smashed and obliterated, your shrines cut down, and what you have made wiped out. The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

“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 actions 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[c] will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust my wrath on them.(I) 13 You will all know that I am the Lord 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 Riblah.[d] Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

  1. 6:4 Or incense altars, also in v. 6
  2. 6:6 Hb obscure
  3. 6:12 Or besieged
  4. 6:14 Some Hb mss, some LXX mss; other Hb mss read Diblah; 2Kg 23:33; Jr 39:5