Ezekiel 6

Prophecy against Israel’s Idolatry

6The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel ^qand prophesy against them. ³You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ^r4Your altars will be desolated and your incense altars smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. ⁵I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, ^syour idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. ⁷The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁸“Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword. ^t9Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive, ^uhow I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. ^vThey will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did, ^wtheir detestable practices of every kind. ¹⁰And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.

Lament over the Fall of Jerusalem

¹¹“This is what the Lord God says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, ^xand cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague. ^y12The one who is far off will die by plague; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared ^zwill die of famine. In this way I will exhaust My wrath on them. ^a13You will all know that I am Yahweh when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, ^bon every high hill, ^con all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols. ¹⁴I will stretch out My hand against them, ^dand wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. ^eThen they will know that I am Yahweh.”