CHAPTER 6

1 The word also of Jehovah came to me, saying,

2 Son of man! set thy face towards the mountain of Israel, And prophesy against them, and say,

3 You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and the inns, To the rivers and the valleys: Behold! I will bring the sword against you, and destroy your high places;

4 And your altars shall be desolate, Your idols shall be broken; And I will cast down your slain before your idols.

5 Then I will place the carcass of the sons of Israel Before your idols; I will scatter them before the idols. I will sprinkle your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your habitations cities shall be desolate, ³⁰⁷³⁰⁷     Explained by Calvin, vol. 1, p. 224, note. And high places shall be reduced to devastation, That your altars may be wasted and desolated, And your idols may be broken up and abolished, And your images cut. down, and your works blotted out.

7 Then the slain shall fall in the midst of you, And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

8 Still, I will leave a remnant, that you may have some Who shall escape the sword among the nations, When you shall be scattered through the countries.

9 And the remnant shall remember me among the nations, Among which they shall become captives, Because I am. broken down with their adulterous heart, Which has departed from me, and with their eyes, Which are full of lust after their idols; And they shall loathe themselves for all the evils Which they have committed in all their abominations.

10 Then they shall know that I Jehovah said not in vain, I will cause them to suffer this evil. ³⁰⁸³⁰⁸     For Calvin’s sense of “evil,” see vol. 1, p. 232, note.

11 Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Strike with thy hand, and stamp with thy feet, And say, Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, For they shall fall by the sword, and famine, and pestilence.

12 He who shall be afar off shall die by the pestilence; He who shall be near shall fall by the sword; ³⁰⁹³⁰⁹     For another rendering, see vol. 1, p. 235, note. He who shall remain and be besieged shall die through hunger; And I will fulfill my indignation upon them.

13 And you shall know that I am Jehovah, When their wounded shall be among their idols round about their altars, Upon every high hill, in, on all the heads of the mountains, Under every green tree and every thick oak, In the place where they offered the incense of sweet fragrance to all their idols.

14 So I will stretch out my hand upon them, And I will make the land desert and desolate — More than the desert of Diblathah, in all their dwellings; And they shall know that I am Jehovah.