Judgment on the Mountains for Idolatry
6 The word of the Lord came to me.
2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. 3 You shall say, “Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God.” This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and to the hills, to the streambeds and to the valleys. Without fail, 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[a] will be smashed, and I will throw down your fallen bodies in front of your filthy idols.[b] 5 I will lay out the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their filthy idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all the places where you live, the towns will be laid waste, and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and demolished, your filthy idols will be crushed and cease to exist, your incense altars will be broken in pieces, and the things you have made will be wiped out. 7 The slain will fall in your midst, and then you will know that I am the Lord.
8 Nevertheless, when you are scattered in various countries, I will preserve for you some survivors who escape the sword among the nations. 9 Then, those of you who escape will remember me in the nations where they have been carried as captives. They will remember how I was heartbroken by their lustful hearts, which turned away from me, and by their eyes, which lusted for their filthy idols. They will loathe themselves because of all the evils they have done, for all their abominations. 10 Then they will know that I, the Lord, did not speak about bringing this disaster on them without it having a result.[c]
11 This is what the Lord God says. Clap your hands,[d] stomp your feet, and say, “We are doomed,” on account of all the vile abominations of the house of Israel, for by the sword, famine, and plague they will fall. 12 Anyone who is far away will die of the plague, and anyone who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who remains under siege will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust my wrath upon them. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their fallen bodies lie among their filthy idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every green tree and under every leafy oak, in every place where they offered fragrant sacrifice to appease all their filthy idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Riblah,[e] in all the places they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 6:4 Or shrines or images of the sun god
- Ezekiel 6:4 Gillulim, one of Ezekiel’s favorite names for Israel’s idols, is a harsh word. Gillulim means idols made from round things. The round things are dung balls, hence the term could be rendered dung-ball deities or horse-apple gods, or one of the more graphic words for excrement.
- Ezekiel 6:10 Or for no reason
- Ezekiel 6:11 Several kinds of clapping, with different meanings, are referred to in Ezekiel. Here the meaning seems to be fear or despair.
- Ezekiel 6:14 A few Hebrew manuscripts read Riblah. Most Hebrew manuscripts read Diblah, but all other passages support Riblah as the name of the city in question. In Hebrew script r and d look alike.