Ezekiel 6:3-13

3 and say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: "Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and 1I will destroy your high places.
4 "So your 2altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.
5 "I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your 3bones around your altars.
6 "In all your dwellings, 4cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your 5idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.
7 "The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
8 "However, I will leave a 6remnant, for you will have those who 7escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries.
9 "Then those of you who escape will 8remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have 9been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will 10loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.
10 "Then they will know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them."'
11 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Clap your hand, 11stamp your foot and say, "12Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by 13sword, famine and plague!
12 "He who is 14far off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I 15spend My wrath on them.
13 "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their 16slain are among their idols around their altars, on 17every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree and under every leafy oak -the places where * they offered soothing aroma to all their idols.

Ezekiel 6:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 6

This chapter contains a prophecy of the desolation of the whole land of Israel, and a promise that a remnant should escape, with a lamentation for the sad destruction, signified by some gestures of the prophet. The order to the prophet to deliver out the prophecy is in Eze 6:1,2; the several parts of the land of Israel or Judea, to which the prophecy is directed, are signified by mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys, on which the sword should be brought, Eze 6:3; the desolation is described, and the cause of it suggested, the idolatry of the people, Eze 6:4-7; the promise of a remnant that should escape, who should remember the Lord, loath themselves for their sins, acknowledge him, and that his word was not in vain, is in Eze 6:8-10; the lamentation, signified by the prophet's smiting with his hand, and stamping with his foot, for the sins of the people, and the judgments that should come upon them, is in Eze 6:11; a particular enumeration of these judgments follows, and of the places where they should be executed, Eze 6:12; the end of them was to bring them to the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord, against whom they had sinned and offended by their idolatry, as the places where their slain fell would show, Eze 6:13; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring this desolation on them, Eze 6:14.

Cross References 17

  • 1. Leviticus 26:30
  • 2. Leviticus 26:30; 2 Chronicles 14:5; Isaiah 27:9; Ezekiel 6:6
  • 3. 2 Kin 23:14, 16, 20; Jeremiah 8:1, 2
  • 4. Leviticus 26:31; Isaiah 6:11; Ezekiel 5:14
  • 5. Ezekiel 6:4; Micah 1:7; Zechariah 13:2
  • 6. Isaiah 6:13; Jeremiah 30:11
  • 7. Jeremiah 44:14, 28; Ezekiel 7:16; Ezekiel 14:22
  • 8. Deuteronomy 4:29; Deuteronomy 30:2; Jeremiah 51:50
  • 9. Psalms 78:40; Isaiah 7:13; Isaiah 43:24; Hosea 11:8
  • 10. Job 42:6; Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31
  • 11. Ezekiel 25:6
  • 12. Ezekiel 9:4
  • 13. Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 7:15
  • 14. Daniel 9:7
  • 15. Lamentations 4:11, 22; Ezekiel 5:13
  • 16. Ezekiel 6:4-7
  • 17. 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 16:4; Isaiah 57:5-7; Ezekiel 20:28; Hosea 4:13

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
  • [b]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
  • [c]. So some ancient versions; Heb "bear their guilt"
  • [d]. Lit "been broken," or, "broken for Myself their"
  • [e]. Lit "to do this evil to"
  • [f]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
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