Ezekiel 6

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

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

2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and you shall prophesy against them,

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

3 and you shall say: O mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and hills and cliffs and valleys: Behold, I will lead over you the sword. And I will destroy your exalted places.

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.

4 And I will demolish your altars. And your graven images will be broken apart. And I will throw down your slain before your idols.

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.

5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before the face of your idols. And I will scatter your bones around your altars.

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.

6 In all of your habitations, the cities will be made desolate, and the exalted places will be torn down and scattered. And your altars will be broken and destroyed. And your idols will cease to exist. And your shrines will be crushed. And your works will be wiped away.

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.

7 And the slain will fall in your midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

And the dead will be falling down among you, and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

8 And I will leave among you those who will escape the sword among the Gentiles, when I will have dispersed you upon the earth.

But still, I will keep a small band safe from the sword among the nations, when you are sent wandering among the countries.

9 And your liberated shall remember me among the nations to which they were led away as captives. For I have crushed their heart, which fornicated and withdrew from me, and their eyes, which fornicated after their idols. And they will be displeased with themselves over the evils that they have done by all their abominations.

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.

10 And they shall know that I, the Lord, have not spoken in vain, that I would do this evil to them.”

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

11 Thus says the Lord God: “Strike with your hand, and stomp with your foot, and say: ‘Alas, to all the abominations of the evils of the house of Israel!’ For they will fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

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.

12 Whoever is far away will die of pestilence. But whoever is near will fall by the sword. And whoever remains and is besieged will die by famine. And I will fulfill my indignation among them.

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.

13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain will be in the midst of your idols, all around your altars, on every exalted hill, and on the summits of all the mountains, and under every dense tree, and under every leafy oak: the places where they burned sweet-smelling incense to all their idols.

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.

14 And I will extend my hand over them. And I will make the earth desolate and destitute: from the desert of Riblah to all their dwelling places. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”

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.