Old Testament · Prophecy

Ezekiel 6

Against the Mountains

Ezekiel faces the mountains of Israel and prophesies destruction. The high places will be demolished, the altars smashed, the incense silenced.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

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

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

3You are to say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

4Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

5I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.

6Wherever you live, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works blotted out.

7The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

8Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.

9Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.

10And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.

11This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague.

12He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent My fury upon them.

13Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy oak—the places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

14I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Understand This

Ezekiel 6, explained

What Ezekiel 6 is saying

Ezekiel prophesies against the mountains of Israel, declaring that the high places (bamot) and their idolatrous altars will be destroyed. The slain will fall among their idols, though God promises to preserve a remnant scattered among the nations.

The background behind it

The bamot (high places) were hilltop shrines used for syncretistic worship blending Yahwism with Canaanite practices. Despite repeated reform efforts by kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, the high places persisted throughout Judah's history.

Themes running underneath

Judgment falls specifically on the sites and instruments of idolatry, demonstrating God's intolerance of divided worship. The remnant theology emerges here—even in judgment, God preserves a faithful core who will remember Him in exile.

Why it still matters

The remnant concept assures believers that divine judgment is always disciplinary, never annihilating. God's goal is restoration through a purified people who have learned from their unfaithfulness.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.