HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1102
EZEKIEL 6
7 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord
says: You people have behaved worse than
your neighbors and have refused to obey my
decrees and regulations. You have not even
lived up to the standards of the nations around
you. 8 Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lord,
am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly
while all the nations watch. 9 Because of your
detestable idols, I will punish you like I have
never punished anyone before or ever will
again. 10 Parents will eat their own children, and
children will eat their parents. I will punish you
and scatter to the winds the few who survive.
11 “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign
Lord, I will cut you off completely. I will show
you no pity at all because you have defiled my
Temple with your vile images and detestable
sins. 12 A third of your people will die in the city
from disease and famine. A third of them will be
slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls.
And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing
them with my sword. 13 Then at last my anger
will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when
my fury against them has subsided, all Israel
will know that I, the Lord, have spoken to them
in my jealous anger.
14 “So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery
in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to
all who pass by. 15 You will become an object of
mockery and taunting and horror. You will be
a warning to all the nations around you. They
will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says
the Lord.
• Character
E Z E K IE L 5 :1 4 -1 5
God said that he would make the city
of Jerusalem a public example to the
surrounding nations—an example of what
not to be like. How ironic that even evil
nations would see the crumbled walls
of Jerusalem and understand that the
inhabitants’ sinful actions caused their
downfall. Someone once said that a
good indication of our goals is what we
would like engraved on our tombstone.
Would you rather have visitors throughout
the generations read: “He made lots of
money” or “He was a generous person”?
Would you rather they read, “She knew
how to paint” or “She knew how to walk
with God”? What will be your legacy, your
example, for future generations? Ezekiel
warns that turning against God may make
you the kind of tragic example others do
not wish to follow.
page 732
16 “I will shower you with the deadly arrows
of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb
of food is gone. 17 And along with the famine,
wild animals will attack you and rob you of your
children. Disease and war will stalk your land,
and I will bring the sword of the enemy against
you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Judgment against Israel’s Mountains
Again a message came to me from the Lord:
2 “Son of man, turn and face the mountains
of Israel and prophesy against them. 3 Proclaim
this message from the Sovereign Lord against
the mountains of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills and
to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring
war upon you, and I will smash your pagan
shrines. 4 All your altars will be demolished, and
your places of worship will be destroyed. I will
kill your people in front of your idols.* 5 I will lay
your corpses in front of your idols and scatter
your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you
live there will be desolation, and I will destroy
your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places
of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed.
7 The place will be littered with corpses, and you
will know that I alone am the Lord.
8 “But I will let a few of my people escape
destruction, and they will be scattered among
the nations of the world. 9 Then when they are
exiled among the nations, they will remember
me. They will recognize how hurt I am by their
unfaithful hearts and lustful eyes that long for
their idols. Then at last they will hate themselves for all their detestable sins. 10 They will
know that I alone am the Lord and that I was
serious when I said I would bring this calamity
on them.
11 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Clap
your hands in horror, and stamp your feet. Cry
out because of all the detestable sins the people
of Israel have committed. Now they are going to
die from war and famine and disease. 12 Disease
will strike down those who are far away in exile.
War will destroy those who are nearby. And anyone who survives will be killed by famine. So at
last I will spend my fury on them. 13 They will
know that I am the Lord when their dead lie
scattered among their idols and altars on every
hill and mountain and under every green tree
and every great shade tree—the places where
they offered sacrifices to their idols. 14 I will
crush them and make their cities desolate from
the wilderness in the south to Riblah* in the
north. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
6
6:4 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes
to dung; also in 6:5, 6, 9, 13. 6:14 As in some Hebrew
manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts read Diblah.