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Ezekiel 6

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Prophecy Against the Mountains of Israel 1–7

1
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy unto them, ​
3
and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. ​
4
And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ​
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 desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished.
7
And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ​

The Promise of a Remnant 8–10

8
Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. ​
9
And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. ​
10
And they shall know that I am Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

Prophetic Action and Comprehensive Judgment 11–14

11
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy 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 that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them. ​
13
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon 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 sweet savor to all their idols. ​
14
And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 6

Verse 2

the mountains of Israel — To 'set thy face' toward something is the sign-gesture of 4:3 and 4:7. Here the face is turned on the land's own mountains, and the word is spoken 'against them'. The same address returns in promise at Ezek 36:1–8, 'Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD'.

Verse 3

Ye mountains of Israel, hear — The address runs from 'mountains' (har) and 'hills' (gibah) to 'rivers' and 'valleys'; the mountains and hills were where the nations had served their gods (Deut 12:2). 'I will destroy your high places' (bamot) is the curse of Lev 26:30. Ezek 36:4 uses the same list of the land when it is restored.

Verse 4

your images shall be broken — 'Images' are chammanim, sun-pillars; 'idols' are gillulim, literally 'logs', Ezekiel's usual word for idols (36 of the 45 verses that carry it). 'I will cast down your slain men before your idols' follows Lev 26:30, 'cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols'. Josiah burned 'men's bones' on such altars (2 Kings 23:20).

Verse 5

the dead carcases — Peger, a lifeless body, is the word of Lev 26:30 for idols' 'carcases' and of Ezek 43:7, 9 for 'the carcases of their kings'. The dead lie 'before their idols' and the bones are scattered (zarah) 'round about your altars'. Jer 8:2 says of bones brought out, 'they shall not be gathered, nor be buried'.

Verse 7

ye shall know that I am the LORD — The sentence is found in four verses of this chapter (vv.7, 10, 13, 14). It is the purpose of the judgment: as the 'Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD' (Ex 7:5), so Israel is to know him by what he does. The slain 'shall fall in the midst of you', so the knowledge comes in the people's own country.

Verse 8

Yet will I leave a remnant — Yathar, to leave over, is the verb; the 'some that shall escape' (palit) are among the nations. Ezek 12:16 gives their purpose: 'that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come'. Ezek 14:22 speaks of 'a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters'.

Verse 9

I am broken — The LORD says that he is 'broken' (shabar) by their 'whorish heart' and by eyes that 'go a whoring' (zanah) after idols, the figure of Num 15:39, 'seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring'. The survivors 'shall remember me' and 'lothe themselves', as in Ezek 20:43.

Verse 11

Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot — The prophet's gestures accompany the cry 'Alas' (ach), a word found only here and at Ezek 21:15. In 21:14 he is told 'smite thine hands together', and the LORD says 'I will also smite mine hands together' (21:17). Ammon is rebuked for the same gestures made in joy over Israel (Ezek 25:6).

Verse 12

far off… near… remaineth — Three groups, three deaths: the far off 'of the pestilence' (deber), the near 'by the sword', the besieged 'by the famine'. They answer to the three parts of 5:2 and 5:12. 'Thus will I accomplish my fury upon them' echoes 5:13, and Lam 4:11 says, 'The LORD hath accomplished his fury'.

Verse 13

every green tree, and under every thick oak — These are the places named in the histories and the prophets: 'upon every high hill, and under every green tree' (1 Kings 14:23; Jer 2:20), and 'under oaks and poplars and elms' (Hos 4:13). 'Sweet savour' (nichoach) is the term for the offerings made to the LORD (Lev 1:9); here it is given 'to all their idols'.

Verse 14

more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath — 'Desolate' is two words, shemamah and meshammah, 'a desolation and a waste'; the second is the 'astonishment' of 5:15. Diblath (Diblah) is named nowhere else. The LORD's stretched-out hand is the figure of Isa 5:25, 'he hath stretched forth his hand against them'.