Ezekiel 6:1-5

Judgment on the Mountains of Israel

6:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 6:2 “Son of man, turn toward ¹  the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them: 6:3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, ²  Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! ³  This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing ⁴  a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁵  6:4 Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. ⁶  6:5 I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, ⁷  and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

[6:2]  ¹ tn Heb “set your face against.” The expression occurs at the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophetic oracles in Ezek 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.

[6:3]  ² tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.

[6:3]  ³ tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the sovereign Lord” parallels a pronouncement delivered by the herald of a king (2 Kgs 18:28).

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Thirty-nine of the forty-eight biblical occurrences of this Hebrew word are found in the book of Ezekiel.

[6:5]  ⁷ tc This first sentence, which explains the meaning of the last sentence of the previous verse, does not appear in the LXX and may be an instance of a marginal explanatory note making its way into the text.