1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, 3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 The slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 8 Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. 9 Those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10 They shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them. 11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them. 13 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
In this chapter, which forms a distinct section, the prophet denounces the judgments of God against the Jews for their idolatry, Ezekiel 6:1-7; but tells them that a remnant shall be saved, and brought to a sense of their sins by their severe afflictions, Ezekiel 6:8-14.
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 Ezekiel 6:1; 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, Ezekiel 6:3; the desolation is described, and the cause of it suggested, the idolatry of the people, Ezekiel 6:4; 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 Ezekiel 6:8; 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 Ezekiel 6:11; a particular enumeration of these judgments follows, and of the places where they should be executed, Ezekiel 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, Ezekiel 6:13; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring this desolation on them, Ezekiel 6:14.
(Ezekiel 6:1-7) The Divine judgments for idolatry.
(Ezekiel 6:8-10) A remnant shall be saved.
(Ezekiel 6:11-14) The calamities are to be lamented.
The Judgment upon the Idolatrous Places, and on the Idol-Worshippers
To God's address in Ezekiel 5:5-17, explaining the signs in Ezekiel 4:1-5, are appended in Ezekiel 6:1-14 and 7 two additional oracles, which present a further development of the contents of these signs, the judgment portrayed by them in its extent and greatness. In Ezekiel 6:1-14 there is announced, in the first section, to the idolatrous places, and on their account to the land, desolation, and to the idolaters, destruction (Ezekiel 6:3-7); and to this is added the prospect of a remnant of the people, who are dispersed among the heathen, coming to be converted to the Lord (Ezekiel 6:8-10). In the second section the necessity and terrible character of the impending judgment is repeatedly described at length as an appendix to Ezekiel 6:12, Ezekiel 6:14 (Ezekiel 6:11-14).
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