New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Ezekiel 6
1
A message came to me from the Lord. He said,
2
"Son of man, turn your attention to the mountains of Israel. 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
Say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to the message of the Lord and King. Here is what he says to the mountains and hills. And here is what he says to the canyons and valleys. He tells them, "I will send swords to kill your people. I will destroy the high places where you worship other gods.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 26:30
4
" ' "Your altars will be torn down. Your incense altars will be smashed. And I will kill your people in front of the statues of your gods.
Reference
5
I will put the dead bodies of Israelites in front of those statues. I will scatter your bones around your altars.
6
" ' "No matter where you live, the towns will be destroyed. The high places will be torn down. So your altars will be completely destroyed. The statues of your gods will be smashed to pieces. Your incense altars will be broken down. And everything you have made will be wiped out.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 6:11
Zechariah 13:2
Ezekiel 5:14
Micah 1:7
Leviticus 26:30
Sacrifice
Ezekiel 6:4
7
Your people will fall down dead among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
8
" ' "But I will spare some of you. Some will escape from being killed with swords. You will be scattered among other lands and nations.
Reference
Parallel theme
Ezekiel 14:22
Isaiah 6:13
Jeremiah 44:14
Jeremiah 30:11
Word
Jeremiah 44:28
Ezekiel 12:16
9
You will be taken away to those nations as prisoners. Those of you who escape will remember me. You will recall how much pain your unfaithful hearts gave me. You turned away from me. Your eyes longed to see the statues of your gods. You will hate yourselves because of all of the evil things you have done. I hate those things too.
Reference
10
You will know that I am the Lord. I said I would bring trouble on you. And my warning came true." ' "
Reference
11
The Lord and King said to me, "Clap your hands. Stamp your feet. Cry out, 'How sad!' Do it because the people of Israel have done so many evil things. I hate those things. Israel will be destroyed by war, hunger and plague.
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
Those who are far away will die of the plague. Those who are near will be killed with swords. Those who are left alive and are spared will die of hunger. And my burning anger toward them will come to an end.
Reference
13
"Then they will know that I am the Lord. Their people will lie dead among the statues of their gods around their altars. Their bodies will lie on every high hill and every mountaintop. They will lie under every green tree and leafy oak tree. They used to offer sweet-smelling incense to all of their gods at those places.
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.