1 Again the worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 2 Sonne of man, Set thy face towardes the mountaines of Israel, and prophecie against them, 3 And say, Ye mountaines of Israel, heare the worde of the Lord God: thus sayth the Lord God to the mountaines and to the hilles, to the riuers and to the valleis, Beholde, I, euen I will bring a sworde vpon you, and I will destroy your hie places: 4 And your altars shalbe desolate, and your images of the sunne shalbe broken: and I will cast downe your slaine men before your idoles. 5 And I will lay the dead carkeises of the children of Israel before their idoles, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. 6 In all your dwelling places the cities shalbe desolate, and the hie places shalbe laide waste, so that your altars shalbe made waste and desolate, and your idoles shalbe broken, and cease, and your images of the sunne shalbe cut in pieces, and your workes shalbe abolished. 7 And the slaine shall fall in the middes of you, and ye shall knowe that I am the Lord. 8 Yet will I leaue a remnant, that you may haue some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shalbe scattred through the countreyes. 9 And they that escape of you, shall remember me among the nations, where they shalbe in captiuitie, because I am grieued for their whorish hearts, which haue departed from mee, and for their eyes, which haue gone a whoring after their idoles, and they shalbe displeased in them selues for the euils, which they haue committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall knowe that I am the Lord, and that I haue not saide in vaine, that I woulde doe this euill vnto them. 11 Thus saith the Lord God, Smite with thine hand, and stretch forth with thy foote, and say, Alas, for all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel: for they shall fall by the sworde, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He that is farre off, shall dye of the pestilence, and he that is neere, shall fall by the sword, and hee that remaineth and is besieged, shall dye by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath vpon them. 13 Then ye shall knowe, that I am ye Lord, when their slaine men shalbe among their idoles round about their altars, vpon euerie hie hill in al the toppes of the mountaines, and vnder euery greene tree, and vnder euerie thicke oke, which is the place where they did offer sweete sauour to all their idoles. 14 So will I stretch mine hand vpon them, and make the lande waste, and desolate from the wildernes vnto Diblath in all their habitations, and they shall know, that I am the Lord.
The Lord Condemns Idolatry
1 The Lord spoke to me. 2 “Mortal man,” he said, “look toward the mountains of Israel and give them my message. 3 Tell the mountains of Israel to hear the Sovereign Lord's word—to hear what I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling the mountains, the hills, the gorges, and the valleys: I will send a sword to destroy the places where people worship idols. 4 The altars will be torn down and the incense altars broken. All the people there will be killed in front of their idols. 5 I will scatter the corpses of the people of Israel; I will scatter their bones all around the altars. 6 All the cities of Israel will be destroyed, so that all their altars and their idols will be smashed to pieces, their incense altars will be shattered, and everything they made will disappear. 7 People will be killed everywhere, and those who survive will acknowledge that I am the Lord.
8 “I will let some escape the slaughter and be scattered among the nations, 9 where they will live in exile. There they will remember me and know that I have punished them and disgraced them, because their faithless hearts deserted me and they preferred idols to me. And they will be disgusted with themselves because of the evil and degrading things they have done. 10 They will know that I am the Lord and that my warnings were not empty threats.”
11 The Sovereign Lord said, “Wring your hands! Stamp your feet! Cry in sorrow because of all the evil, disgusting things the Israelites have done. They are going to die in war or of starvation or disease. 12 Those far away will get sick and die; those nearby will be killed in war; those who survive will starve to death. They will feel all the force of my anger. 13 Corpses will be scattered among the idols and around the altars, scattered on every high hill, on the top of every mountain, under every green tree and every large oak, in every place where they burned sacrifices to their idols. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. 14 Yes, I will reach out and destroy their country. I will make it a wasteland from the southern desert to the city of Riblah in the north, not sparing any place where the Israelites live. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”