Ezekiel 6:1-8

Doom for the Mountains of Israel

1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them
3 and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.
5 I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
6 Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out.
7 Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
8 “ ‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations.

Ezekiel 6:1-8 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 18

  • 1. S Ezekiel 4:7
  • 2. Ezekiel 18:6; Micah 6:1; Ezekiel 36:1
  • 3. ver 13
  • 4. Ezekiel 36:4
  • 5. S Leviticus 26:30
  • 6. S 2 Chronicles 14:5
  • 7. Ezekiel 9:6; Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 20:16
  • 8. S Numbers 19:16; S Psalms 53:5; Jeremiah 8:1-2
  • 9. ver 13; S Leviticus 26:30
  • 10. S Exodus 12:20
  • 11. Hosea 10:8
  • 12. Ezekiel 30:13; Micah 1:7; Zechariah 13:2
  • 13. S Leviticus 26:30
  • 14. S 1 Samuel 5:4; Isaiah 6:11; S Ezekiel 5:14
  • 15. Ezekiel 9:7
  • 16. ver 10,13,14; Ezekiel 11:10-12
  • 17. S Psalms 68:20; S Jeremiah 44:28
  • 18. S Genesis 11:4; S Psalms 44:11; Isaiah 6:13; S Jeremiah 44:14; Ezekiel 7:16; Ezekiel 12:16; Ezekiel 14:22
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