Ezekiel 6:1-7

Judgment Against Idolatry

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

2 ¹“Son of man, ²set your face toward ³the mountains of Israel, and ⁴prophesy against them,

3 and say, ⁵You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to ⁶the mountains and ⁷the hills, to ⁸the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, ⁹and I will destroy your high places.

4 ¹⁰Your altars shall become desolate, and your ¹¹incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

5 ¹²And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, ¹³and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

6 Wherever you dwell, ¹⁴the cities shall be waste and ¹⁵the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, ^[a] your idols broken and destroyed, your ¹⁶incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out.

7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 6:1-7 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

• 1. 6:2 See ch. 2:1
• 2. 6:2 ch. 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2; [Luke 9:51]
• 3. 6:2 ch. 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17
• 4. 6:2 ch. 37:4, 9; 38:2
• 5. 6:3 ch. 36:1, 4
• 6. 6:3 ch. 36:4, 6
• 7. 6:3 [ver. 13]
• 8. 6:3 [ch. 31:12; Isa. 57:5, 6]
• 9. 6:3 Lev. 26:30
• 10. 6:4 [See ver. 3 above]
• 11. 6:4 See 2 Chr. 14:5
• 12. 6:5 [See ver. 3 above]
• 13. 6:5 [2 Kgs. 23:14, 16]
• 14. 6:6 ch. 12:20; [Isa. 27:10]
• 15. 6:6 [ver. 3, 4]
• 16. 6:6 [See ver. 4 above]

Footnotes

• [a] 6:6 Or 'and punished'