Ezekiel6
New International Version
1The word of the Lord came to me:
2“Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them
3and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
4Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.
5I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
6Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out.
7Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.
8“‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations.
9Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
10And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.
11“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague.
12One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them.
13And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
14And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah—wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 6.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Divine judgments for idolatry. (1-7). A remnant shall be saved. (8-10). The calamities are to be lamented. (11-14).
vv1-7
War desolates persons, places, and things esteemed most sacred. God ruins idolatries even by the hands of idolaters. It is just with God to make that a desolation, which we make an idol. The superstitions to which many trust for safety, often cause their ruin. And the day is at hand, when idols and idolatry will be as thoroughly destroyed from the professedly Christian church as they were from among the Jews.
vv8-10
A remnant of Israel should be left; at length they should remember the Lord, their obligations to him, and rebellion against him. True penitents see sin to be that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Those who truly loathe sin, loathe themselves because of sin. They give glory to God by their repentance. Whatever brings men to remember Him, and their sins against him, should be regarded as a blessing.
vv11-14
It is our duty to be affected, not only with our own sins and sufferings, but to look with compassion upon the miseries wicked people bring upon themselves. Sin is a desolating thing; therefore, stand in awe, and sin not. If we know the worth of souls, and the danger to which unbelievers are exposed, we shall deem every sinner who takes refuge in Jesus from the wrath to come, an abundant recompence for all contempt or opposition we may meet with.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
שׂוּם: to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
נָבָא: to prophesy, i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse)
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
Cross References
Ezekiel 6Direct Mosaic precursor predicting destruction of high places and casting carcasses on broken idols.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Precedent of a prophet addressing inanimate objects (mountains/altar) because the people are completely unresponsive.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Pentateuchal source warning against 'going a whoring' after one's own heart and eyes.
Supported by JFB
Fulfills Moses' prediction that survivors in exile would pine away and loathe themselves for iniquities.
Supported by JFB
Ezekiel's parallel prophecy of the future remnant loathing themselves for their abominable sins.
Supported by JFB
Parallel command to strike hands and stamp feet to symbolize unstoppable impending judgment.
Supported by JFB
Prophetic parallel describing the necessary destruction of idolatrous high places and images.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Historical reform under Josiah fulfilling this judgment by breaking images and scattering bones.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Ezekiel repeats the self-loathing motif as a mark of true repentance.
Supported by JFB
Post-exilic promise of a scattered people who will remember God in far countries.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the location of 'Diblath' or Diblathaim, confirming the wilderness geography.
Supported by JFB
God preserves a small remnant from the sword, famine, and pestilence.
Supported by JFB
Jeremiah's parallel predicting a small escaping remnant returning from captivity.
Supported by JFB
Tripartite division of judgment: sword, famine, and pestilence repeated from chapter five.
Supported by JFB