Ezekiel 6

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, let your face be turned to the mountains of Israel, and be a prophet to them, and say,

Son of man, set thy face against the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

3 You mountains of Israel, give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and the hills, to the waterways and the valleys: See, I, even I, am sending on you a sword for the destruction of your high places.

And thou shalt say, O mountains of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord Eternal! Thus hath said the Lord Eternal to the mountains, and to the hills, to the brooks, and to the valleys, Behold, I, even I, will bring over you the sword, and I will destroy your high-places.

4 And your altars will be made waste, and your sun-images will be broken: and I will have your dead men placed before your images.

And your altars shall be made desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken: and I will cause your slain ones to fall before your idols.

5 And I will put the dead bodies of the children of Israel in front of their images, sending your bones in all directions about your altars.

And I will lay the carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your living-places the towns will become broken walls, and the high places made waste; so that your altars may be broken down and made waste, and your images broken and ended, and so that your sun-images may be cut down and your works rubbed out.

In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid in ruins, and the high-places shall be made desolate; in order that your altars may be laid in ruins and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and annihilated, and your sun-images may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

7 And the dead will be falling down among you, and you will be certain 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 But still, I will keep a small band safe from the sword among the nations, when you are sent wandering among the countries.

Yet will I leave [some]; that ye shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered in the [various] countries.

9 And those of you who are kept safe will have me in mind among the nations where they have been taken away as prisoners, how I sent punishment on their hearts which were untrue to me, and on their eyes which were turned to their false gods: and they will be full of hate for themselves because of the evil things which they have done in all their disgusting ways.

And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations among whom they shall have been carried captive, when I shall have broken their licentious heart, which had departed from me, even with their eyes, which were gone astray after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves on account of the evil deeds which they have committed with all their abominations.

10 And they will be certain that I am the Lord: not for nothing did I say that I would do this evil to them.

And they shall know that I am the Lord: not for naught have I spoken that I would do unto them this evil.

11 This is what the Lord has said: Give blows with your hand, stamping with your foot, and say, O sorrow! because of all the evil and disgusting ways of the children of Israel: for death will overtake them by the sword and through need of food and by disease.

Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Strike thy hands together, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the dreadful abominations of the house of Israel! who will have to fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

12 He who is far away will come to his death by disease; he who is near will be put to the sword; he who is shut up will come to his death through need of food; and I will give full effect to my passion against them.

He that is afar 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 let out all my fury on them.

13 And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.

And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain ones shall lie in the midst of their idols round about their altars, on every high hill, upon all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick-branched oak, —places where they presented sweet savor to all their idols.

14 And my hand will be stretched out against them, making the land waste and unpeopled, from the waste land to Riblah, through all their living-places: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

And I will stretch out my hand over them, and I will render the land desolate and waste, more than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.