Ezekiel 6:2-12

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.

8 ¹⁷“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations ¹⁸some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries,

9 then those of you who escape ¹⁹will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how ²⁰I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ²¹that go whoring after their idols. ²²And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.

10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. ²³I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them. ”

11 Thus says the Lord God: ²⁴“Clap your hands ²⁵and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, ²⁶for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

12 ²⁷He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. ²⁸Thus I will spend my fury upon them.

Ezekiel 6:2-12 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]
• 17. 6:8 ch. 12:16; 14:22
• 18. 6:8 ch. 7:16
• 19. 6:9 ch. 16:61; 20:43; 36:31; Lev. 26:39, 40
• 20. 6:9 [Jer. 23:9]
• 21. 6:9 See Ex. 34:15
• 22. 6:9 ch. 16:61; 20:43; 36:31; Lev. 26:39, 40
• 23. 6:10 [Num. 23:19]
• 24. 6:11 [ch. 21:14, 17]
• 25. 6:11 [ch. 25:6]
• 26. 6:11 See ch. 5:12
• 27. 6:12 [ch. 7:15]
• 28. 6:12 See ch. 5:13

Footnotes

• [a] 6:6 Or 'and punished'