American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Ezekiel 6
1
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2
Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
Reference
Prophecy
Ezekiel 25:2
Ezekiel 13:17
Ezekiel 21:2
Ezekiel 36:1
Ezekiel 20:46
References Israel
Ezekiel 19:9
Ezekiel 34:14
Ezekiel 33:28
Ezekiel 37:22
Ezekiel 35:12
3
And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus said the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 26:30
4
And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Reference
5
And I will lay the dead carcasses 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 images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 6:11
Zechariah 13:2
Ezekiel 5:14
Micah 1:7
Leviticus 26:30
Sacrifice
Ezekiel 6:4
7
And the slain shall fall in the middle of you, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
8
Yet will I leave a remnant, that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries.
Reference
Parallel theme
Ezekiel 14:22
Isaiah 6:13
Jeremiah 44:14
Jeremiah 30:11
Word
Jeremiah 44:28
Ezekiel 12:16
9
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
Reference
10
And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.
Reference
11
Thus said the Lord GOD; Smite with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Reference
References God
Ezekiel 25:6
References Lord
Joel 1:15
Ezekiel 9:4
Word
Ezekiel 5:12
Jeremiah 24:10
Ezekiel 14:21
12
He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury on them.
Reference
13
Then shall you know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, on every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet smell to all their idols.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 2:20
1 Kings 14:23
Isaiah 1:29
Sacrifice
Ezekiel 20:28
Hosea 4:13
2 Kings 16:4
Summary of Ezekiel 6
Ezekiel 6 focuses intensely on Judah's idolatry and the destruction that will follow, as God directs Ezekiel to prophesy against the mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines where the people have established altars and worshiped false gods, declaring that these places will be devastated, their idols destroyed, their worshipers killed, and the land left desolate, while a surviving remnant will eventually remember God in exile and recognize that His warnings about judgment were true.
The chapter begins with Ezekiel being told to prophesy against the mountains of Israel. This is unusual because mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines are physical features of the land, yet God addresses them because they have become closely connected with the people's religious practices.
Throughout Israel and Judah, high places were often used for worship, and some became centers of idolatry and religious practices that violated the covenant with God.
The problem was therefore not simply that the people had private beliefs that differed from their neighbors.
Their idolatry had become established in the land itself.
Altars, incense stands, and other religious objects had been built throughout the countryside, turning places that should have reflected devotion to God into centers of false worship.
God therefore announces that the altars will be destroyed.
The idols will not save their worshipers.
The incense stands will be smashed.
The people who trusted these objects will fall dead around them.
This creates a powerful contrast: the idols will remain powerless while the people who worshiped them perish.
One of the recurring themes in Ezekiel is that judgment will expose the emptiness of false sources of security. The people may have believed that their religious practices, political structures, or connection to Jerusalem would protect them, but none of these things can protect them when they have rejected the God they were supposed to worship.
The destruction will not be limited to Jerusalem.
The chapter describes towns, villages, high places, and countryside locations being devastated, showing that the coming judgment will affect the entire land rather than only the capital city.
Yet the chapter contains an important movement from judgment toward recognition and repentance.
God says that some people will escape and will be scattered among the nations.
These survivors will carry something with them that the people may have previously neglected: the memory of God.
Living among foreign nations, they will begin to understand the seriousness of their rebellion. They will remember how they turned away from God, recognize how deeply they had grieved Him through their idolatry, and feel shame over what they had done.
This is one of the first glimpses in the chapter of a remnant that survives judgment and eventually comes to a deeper awareness of God.
The purpose of judgment is therefore not presented simply as destruction for its own sake.
God repeatedly says that the people will know that He is the Lord.
This expression is one of the major themes throughout Ezekiel. The people have forgotten or rejected the true identity and authority of God, and the coming events will force them to recognize that their idols cannot save them and that God's warnings were not empty threats.
Ezekiel is even instructed to strike his hands, stamp his feet, and cry out because of the sins and coming suffering of the people.
This physical response communicates the emotional seriousness of the message. Ezekiel is not announcing destruction with satisfaction; he is expressing grief over the consequences of Judah's rebellion.
The final section returns to the comprehensive nature of the coming disaster.
Some will die from disease, others from war, and others from famine. Those living in distant areas will not necessarily escape, while those close to the centers of conflict will experience the sword, and those trapped within the land will suffer from hunger.
The places where people once worshiped idols will become places where the dead are found.
This creates one of the chapter's strongest images: the altars that once represented false hope will stand surrounded by the consequences of trusting them.
The central message is that Ezekiel 6 confronts Judah's deeply established idolatry by announcing judgment against the mountains, hills, valleys, and countryside where false worship had flourished, declaring that the altars, idols, incense stands, towns, and religious centers will be destroyed and that their worshipers will experience death through famine, disease, and warfare, while the survivors scattered among foreign nations will eventually remember God, recognize the seriousness of their rebellion, feel shame over their unfaithfulness, and understand that the warnings they had previously ignored were true, so that the chapter presents both the devastating consequences of replacing God with false objects of trust and the possibility that judgment can awaken spiritual recognition in a surviving remnant, with the repeated declaration that the people will know that He is the Lord emphasizing that the ultimate purpose of the judgment is to reveal God's authority, expose the powerlessness of idols, and bring His people to a clearer understanding of the God they had repeatedly rejected.
The chapter begins with Ezekiel being told to prophesy against the mountains of Israel. This is unusual because mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines are physical features of the land, yet God addresses them because they have become closely connected with the people's religious practices.
Throughout Israel and Judah, high places were often used for worship, and some became centers of idolatry and religious practices that violated the covenant with God.
The problem was therefore not simply that the people had private beliefs that differed from their neighbors.
Their idolatry had become established in the land itself.
Altars, incense stands, and other religious objects had been built throughout the countryside, turning places that should have reflected devotion to God into centers of false worship.
God therefore announces that the altars will be destroyed.
The idols will not save their worshipers.
The incense stands will be smashed.
The people who trusted these objects will fall dead around them.
This creates a powerful contrast: the idols will remain powerless while the people who worshiped them perish.
One of the recurring themes in Ezekiel is that judgment will expose the emptiness of false sources of security. The people may have believed that their religious practices, political structures, or connection to Jerusalem would protect them, but none of these things can protect them when they have rejected the God they were supposed to worship.
The destruction will not be limited to Jerusalem.
The chapter describes towns, villages, high places, and countryside locations being devastated, showing that the coming judgment will affect the entire land rather than only the capital city.
Yet the chapter contains an important movement from judgment toward recognition and repentance.
God says that some people will escape and will be scattered among the nations.
These survivors will carry something with them that the people may have previously neglected: the memory of God.
Living among foreign nations, they will begin to understand the seriousness of their rebellion. They will remember how they turned away from God, recognize how deeply they had grieved Him through their idolatry, and feel shame over what they had done.
This is one of the first glimpses in the chapter of a remnant that survives judgment and eventually comes to a deeper awareness of God.
The purpose of judgment is therefore not presented simply as destruction for its own sake.
God repeatedly says that the people will know that He is the Lord.
This expression is one of the major themes throughout Ezekiel. The people have forgotten or rejected the true identity and authority of God, and the coming events will force them to recognize that their idols cannot save them and that God's warnings were not empty threats.
Ezekiel is even instructed to strike his hands, stamp his feet, and cry out because of the sins and coming suffering of the people.
This physical response communicates the emotional seriousness of the message. Ezekiel is not announcing destruction with satisfaction; he is expressing grief over the consequences of Judah's rebellion.
The final section returns to the comprehensive nature of the coming disaster.
Some will die from disease, others from war, and others from famine. Those living in distant areas will not necessarily escape, while those close to the centers of conflict will experience the sword, and those trapped within the land will suffer from hunger.
The places where people once worshiped idols will become places where the dead are found.
This creates one of the chapter's strongest images: the altars that once represented false hope will stand surrounded by the consequences of trusting them.
The central message is that Ezekiel 6 confronts Judah's deeply established idolatry by announcing judgment against the mountains, hills, valleys, and countryside where false worship had flourished, declaring that the altars, idols, incense stands, towns, and religious centers will be destroyed and that their worshipers will experience death through famine, disease, and warfare, while the survivors scattered among foreign nations will eventually remember God, recognize the seriousness of their rebellion, feel shame over their unfaithfulness, and understand that the warnings they had previously ignored were true, so that the chapter presents both the devastating consequences of replacing God with false objects of trust and the possibility that judgment can awaken spiritual recognition in a surviving remnant, with the repeated declaration that the people will know that He is the Lord emphasizing that the ultimate purpose of the judgment is to reveal God's authority, expose the powerlessness of idols, and bring His people to a clearer understanding of the God they had repeatedly rejected.