< Ezekiel 6 >

1 A message from the Lord came to me that said,
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 “Son of man, face towards of Israel's mountains and prophesy against them.
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 Tell them: Mountains of Israel, listen to the message from the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the gorges and the valleys: I'm going to attack you and destroy your high places.
And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith 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 upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
4 Your pagan altars will be torn down, and your incense altars will be smashed to pieces. I will kill your idol worshipers right in front of their idols.
And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols.
5 I will put the dead bodies of you Israelites in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
6 Everywhere you live, the towns will be turned into rubble and the high places torn down. Your altars will be demolished and defiled. Your idols will be smashed and completely destroyed. Your incense altars will be knocked down, and all that you made will be ruined.
In all your dwellingplaces 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.
7 People will be killed all throughout your country. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.
8 However, I will let some of you survive and scatter you among the different nations and countries.
Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have [some] that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
9 Once they are they are there as prisoners in the nations, then the survivors will remember me. They will realize how sad they made me by their spiritual adultery as they deserted me with their eyes full of lust as they worshiped idols. They will hate themselves for the evil things they did, for all their disgusting sins.
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
10 Then they will know that I am the Lord, and that I was not pretending when I warned them about bringing this disaster upon them.
And they shall know that I [am] the LORD, [and that] I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
11 This is what the Lord God says: Hit yourself with your hands, stomp your feet, and shout out ‘Oh no!’ Do this because of all the terrible wickedness of the people of Israel. They are going to die by the sword and famine and disease.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy 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.
12 Those living far away will die from of disease, those who are close by will be killed by the sword, and those who are left will die of starvation. This is how I will express my anger towards them.
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 fury upon them.
13 Then you will know that I am the Lord—when the idol worshipers lie dead among their idols and altars on the top of every hill and mountain, and under every green tree and large oak. These were the pagan shrines where they offered sweet-smelling incense to all their idols.
Then shall ye know that I [am] the LORD, when their slain [men] shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon 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 savour to all their idols.
14 I'm going to lift up my hand to punish them. In every place they live I will make their country a wasteland, all the way from the desert in the south to Diblah in the north. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

< Ezekiel 6 >