< Ezekiel 6 >
1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2 “You human, turn toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy [what will happen to] them, and say,
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 ‘You mountains and hills of Israel [APO], listen to what Yahweh the Lord says to you: “I am about to [enemy soldiers with] swords to come and destroy [the shrines on] your hilltops.
and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the water-courses and to the valleys: Behold, I, [even] I, do bring a sword upon you, and will destroy your high places.
4 They will smash all the [for worshiping idols] and the altars for burning incense. And they will [many Israeli] people in front of those idols.
And your altars shall be desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols;
5 Their corpses will lie in front of their idols, and their bones will be scattered around their altars.
and I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
6 Wherever the Israelis live, their towns will be ruined, and the shrines where they worship idols will be smashed. Their altars will be completely smashed [DOU], their idols will be completely smashed [DOU], and everything that they own will become a pile of ruins.
In all your dwelling-places 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 sun-images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 Many of their people will be killed; and then they will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do the things that I say that I will do].
And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
8 But I will allow some of the Israelis to remain alive. They will escape being killed when their enemies scatter them among many other nations.
Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some escaped from the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
9 When that happens, in those nations to which they have been forced to go, those who have escaped from being killed will think about me. They will remember that I was very grieved because of their turning away from me [IDM] with their inner beings, and because they very much desired [IDM] to worship their idols. They will (hate/be very displeased with) themselves because of the evil and detestable things that they have done.
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they have been carried captives, when I shall have broken their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols; and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed, in all their abominations.
10 [they will realize that] I, Yahweh, [have punished them. They will realize that] when I threatened to punish them, I surely intended [LIT] to do that.
And they shall know that I [am] Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
11 So this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, [to you, Ezekiel]: ‘Wring your hands and stamp your feet and cry [to show that you are distressed], and [about what will happen to] your Israeli people [MTY] because of all their wicked and detestable behavior. They will be killed [their enemies’] swords, they will die from hunger, and they will die from plagues.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the abominations of the iniquities of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
12 Those who are far [from Jerusalem] will die from plagues, those who are close [to Jerusalem] will be killed by [their enemies’] swords, and those who are still alive will die from hunger. That is how I will punish [MTY] them.
He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that is left, and is besieged, shall die by the famine: and I will accomplish my fury upon them.
13 [Some of] your people’s corpses will lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hilltop and on all the mountaintops, under every big tree [DOU]—at all the places where they burned incense [honor] their idols. Then they will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].
And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when their slain shall be among their idols, round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick terebinth, the places where they offered sweet savour to all their idols.
14 And I will stretch out my arm and cause your entire country to become an empty wasteland, from the [in the far south] to [town in the far north]. Then they will realize that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do the things that I say that I will do].’”
And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness of Diblath, in all their dwellings; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.