6 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them,
3 And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the river ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places [of idolatrous worship],
4 And your altars shall be made desolate and your sun-pillars shall be broken in pieces, and I will cast down your slain before your idols.(A)
5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste and the high places shall be made desolate, that your altars may bear their guilt and be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and destroyed, your sun-images may be hewn down, and your handiworks may be wiped away and blotted out.
7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall [a]know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.
8 Yet will I leave some of you alive. When you have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries,
9 Then those of you who escape shall [earnestly] remember Me among the nations to which they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken by their lewdness and have Myself broken their wanton heart which has departed from Me and blinded their eyes which turn after their idols wantonly; and they shall be loathsome in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
10 And they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would bring this evil calamity [in punishment] upon them.
11 Thus says the Lord God: Strike with your fist, stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! over all the vile abominations of the house of Israel for which [Israel] shall fall by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is preserved shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon them.
13 Then shall you know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, when their slain shall lie among their idols round about their altars upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thickly leafed oak, the places where they were accustomed to offer sweet incense to all their idols.
14 And I will stretch out My hand upon them and make the land desolate and waste, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah [a Moabite city], throughout all their dwelling places; and they shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 6:7 On the basis of the fact that God uses it more often than any other important word in the Bible, the word “Lord” becomes the most essential term in any language for the welfare of any person. It is not enough that one knows that God is God, and that He is, for only a fool would deny that (Ps. 53:1), but God demands of every person who is to be recognized by Him that he accepts Him as Lord of his life, his Sovereign Ruler, to Whom he yields implicit obedience. When Thomas was able to say of Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28), his doubts ceased to exist. Nothing short of that kind of expression of Christ’s lordship meets God’s demands. Watch for the word “Lord” in the Bible; it occurs around 5,000 times. Watch also for this phrase (“you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord”) throughout the book of Ezekiel.