Ezekiel 6:4

4 And I shall destroy your altars, and your simulacra shall be broken; and I shall cast down your slain men before your idols. (And I shall destroy your altars, and your idols shall be broken; and I shall throw down your slain before your idols.)

Ezekiel 6:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 6:4

And your altars shall be desolate
Being pulled down; or because the priests and worshippers would now be slain, and there would be none to attend them: and your images shall be broken;
the "images of the sun" F2. The word for images has its derivation from heat; and were so called, either from the heat of the sun, to whose worship they were devoted, or from the heat of the love and affections of their worshippers: and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols;
before your dung, or your "dunghill gods" F3; for the word used has the signification of dung, ( Ezekiel 4:12 ) . The Targum renders it,

``before the carcass of your idols;''
where they committed idolatry, there they should be slain; which points at the cause of their punishment.
FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mkynmx) "simulacra vestra solis", Pagninus; "solaria vestra", Vatablus; "subdiales statuae vestrae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus.
F3 (Mkylwlg ynpl) "coram stercoreis diis vestris", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "coram stercoribus vestris", Cocceius.

Ezekiel 6:4 In-Context

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face to(ward) the hills of Israel; and thou shalt prophesy to those hills,
3 and shalt say, Hills of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord God. The Lord God saith these things to mountains, and little hills, to rocks of stone, and to valleys, Lo! I shall bring in on you a sword, and I shall lose your high things. (and shalt say, Hills of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord God. The Lord God saith these things to the mountains, and the little hills, to the rocks and stones, and to the valleys, Lo! I shall bring in a sword upon you, and I shall destroy your high places, or your hill shrines.)
4 And I shall destroy your altars, and your simulacra shall be broken; and I shall cast down your slain men before your idols. (And I shall destroy your altars, and your idols shall be broken; and I shall throw down your slain before your idols.)
5 And I shall give the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before the face of your simulacra, and I shall scatter your bones about your altars, (Yea, I shall throw down the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of your idols, and I shall scatter your bones all about your altars.)
6 in all your dwellings. Cities shall be forsaken, and high things shall be destroyed, and shall be scattered; and your altars shall perish, and shall be broken (In all your dwelling places, the cities shall be deserted, and the high places, or the hill shrines, shall be destroyed, and shall be scattered; and your altars shall perish, and shall be broken in pieces). And your idols shall cease (to exist), and your temples of idols shall be all-broken, and your works shall be done away.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.