Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Parallel Translations
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Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
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And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
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And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 6:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Chronicles 14:5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.
- Leviticus 26:30 I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.
- 1 Kings 13:2 He cried against the altar by Yahweh’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’ ”
- 2 Kings 23:14 He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
- 2 Kings 23:16-20 As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to Yahweh’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” He said, “Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Yahweh to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4-5 They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 8:1-2 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth.
- Jeremiah 43:13 He will also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’ ”
- Ezekiel 6:5-6 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars. In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
- Ezekiel 6:13 You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Hence it appears how greatly obedience pleases God, and…
Hence it appears how greatly obedience pleases God, and how true it is that it is better than sacrifices. (1 Samuel 15:22; I Kings 12.) For it is certain that the Israelites extolled their own fictions exorbitantly, as if they were worshipping God correctly In the beginning, indeed, Jeroboam cunningly devised those new rites, that he might alienate the ten tribes from the family of David, and at length the error spread, so that they thought that God approved that impious worship. But we see that God abominates them. We should always hold this principle, that although men think that they obey God when they thrust in their own fictions, yet they produce no other effect than to provoke the wrath of God against them. This vengeance, therefore, had not been taken against altars, unless God had been greatly offended with the impious mixture. Your altars, therefore, shall come to ruin and destruction, and then your idols shall be destroyed. Here some understand the idols of the sun, as the noun is taken from heat, which is afterwards repeated: but this divination seems to be too contracted Hence I do not doubt that the idols are so called on account of the mad love with which the worshippers were seized: for throughout the Prophets they are said to be like adulterers, and our Prophet also uses the same language. Idols therefore may very properly derive their name from heat, because their superstitious worshippers inflame themselves with love, and like adulterers run after harlots, as we shall again see. He afterwards uses another word, when he says, I will lay prostrate your slain before your idols: for they call idols גלולים, gelolim, on account of their foulness, nay even filth. We see then in the first place that the fury with which the Israelites were inflamed is condemned by the Prophet, since they perverted the pure and lawful worship of God: then he reproves their enormity because they willingly remained in filth and defilement. But here also we are taught how mightily God is angry with all superstitions, when he not only cites mankind to his tribunal because they profane true piety, but is angry with external instruments — as stones and wood, and, as it were, involves these instruments of idolatry with their authors. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Read 2 Kings 23:11.
Read 2 Kings 23:11.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 6:4 And your altars shall be desolate, and…
Eze 6:4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols.
Ver. 4. Your images shall be broken down.] Heb., Your sun images, whence also Jupiter Hammon had his name, which Macrobius {a} saith was the same with the sun. See 2Ch 23:5.
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And I will cast down your slain men.] Cruentatos vulneratos, vel interfectos vestros; such as when wounded, fly to their idols for safety.
Before your idols.] Heb., Your dii stercorei, dunghill deities, more loathsome than any excrements.
{a} Lib. i. Sat., cap. 23.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Your altars; God’s altar was only at Jerusalem, these…
Your altars; God’s altar was only at Jerusalem, these were their altars.
Desolate; no priest to attend, no sacrifice offered, nor a votary come to them.
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Images; statues, and perhaps the particular images made to the sun, as the Hebrew word including heat may signify. Or the open places on the tops of your houses, where you worshipped the sun, 2Ki 23:5; and Isa 27:9, mentions this piece of idolatry.
Broken; either torn down from their places to be carried captives, which was a part of heathen conquerors’ insolence, or torn in pieces in contempt, and to be destroyed.
I will cast down; my hand shall guide the pursuing enemy, who shall slay your men before the altars of those idols they worshipped formerly, and to whom, as senseless as the idols, they flee for refuge, as perhaps Sennacherib did, Isa 37:38.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And I will lay the dead carcasses of the…
And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols,.... Which is repeated for the confirmation of it:
and I will scatter your bones round about your altars: which were reckoned a pollution of them; see Kg2 23:14.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cast down - Before the altars of your idols,…
Cast down - Before the altars of your idols, which you fly to for refuge.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Your images shall be broken] Literally, your…
Verse 4. Your images shall be broken] Literally, your sun images; representations of the sun, which they worshipped. See the margin.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Images - See the margin and margin reference, and…
Images - See the margin and margin reference, and the Eze 8:16 note.
Idols - The Phoenicians were in the habit of setting up “heaps” or “pillars” of stone in honor of their gods, which renders the use of the word more appropriate.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Idols. Protestant marginal note, "sun-images," as [in] ver. 6.…
Idols. Protestant marginal note, "sun-images," as [in] ver. 6. The sun was much worshipped, chap. viii. 16. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain images--called so from a Hebrew root, "to wax hot,"…
images--called so from a Hebrew root, "to wax hot," implying the mad ardor of Israel after idolatry [CALVIN]. Others translate it, "sun images"; and so in Eze 6:6 (see Kg2 23:11; Ch2 34:4; Isa 17:8, Margin).
cast your slain men before your idols--The foolish objects of their trust in the day of evil should witness their ruin.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Images — Sun images, dedicated to Baal (2Ch_34:4).…
4. Images — Sun images, dedicated to Baal (2Ch_34:4). These were usually pillars or obelisks which were set up close to the altar or in front of the temple doors.
Idols — Rather, idol blocks or doll images, possibly dung gods. (See also Eze_6:6; Eze_6:9; Eze_6:13.) This is a favorite term with Ezekiel, and it is the most contemptuous epithet possible. The prophet had the utmost scorn of idols and satirized them without mercy. (See Isa_40:19; Isa_44:9-17.) This word for idols is used in “Ezekiel’s favorite text-books” (Lev_26:30; Deu_29:17).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. your images] As marg., sun-images, i.e. symbols of…
4. your images] As marg., sun-images, i.e. symbols of the sun-god, probably in the shape of a pyramid or obelisk. They stood beside the altars. So again Eze_6:6.
your idols] The term used is an opprobrious or contemptuous epithet, applied to idols, though its precise meaning is doubtful. Most probably it means block-gods; though others connect it with the word dung (ch. Eze_4:12) and render dung-gods, which is less probable. The term occurs in Ez. nearly 40 times, otherwise Lev_26:30; Deu_29:17; Jer_50:2; 1Ki_15:12; 1Ki_21:26; 2Ki_17:12; 2Ki_21:11; 2Ki_21:21; 2Ki_23:24. These idols were probably of Jehovah for the most part.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Your images.—The original word indicates, as is shown…
(4) Your images.—The original word indicates, as is shown in the margin, that these were images used in connection with the worship of the sun. The whole verse is taken from Lev_26:30. The same woes were there foretold by Moses in the contingency of the people’s disobedience; that contingency had now come to pass, the promised judgments had already begun, and Ezekiel declares that the fulfilment of them was close at hand.
Your slain men before your idols.—Their idols should be worshipped no longer by the living, but by the prostrate bodies of their dead worshippers. In this and the following verse a kind of poetic justice is described. There was nothing so utterly defiling under the Mosaic law as the touch of a dead body. (See Num_9:6-10; 2Ki_23:14; 2Ki_23:16.) The Israelites had defiled the land with idols, now the idols themselves should be defiled with their dead bodies.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Your images, etc. The "sun images" of the Revised…
Your images, etc. The "sun images" of the Revised Version shows why these are mentioned as distinct from the "idols." The chammanim were pillars or obelisks identified with the worship of Baal as the sun god, standing on his altars, (2Ch_34:4) coupled with the "groves," or Asherim, (Isa_17:8 Isa_27:9) and with the "high places" in 2Ch_14:5. I will cast down your slain men before your idols. As in the prophecy against Bethel, (1Ki_13:2) and in Josiah"s action, (2Ki 33:16) this was the ne plus ultra of desecration. Where throe had been the sweet savour of incense there should be the sickening odour of the carcases of the slain. The word for "idols" (gillulim), though found elsewhere, notably in Ezekiel"s favourite textbooks (Lev_26:30; Deu_29:17) is more prominent in his writings (where it occurs thirty-six times) then in any other book of the Old Testament, and means, primarily, a cairn or heap of stones, which, like the "sun images," came to be associated with Baal. Ezekiel repeats both words in ver. 6, with all the emphasis of scorn. He predicts the coming of a time when the work of destruction should be done more thoroughly than even Josiah lind done it. When that time came, the familiar formula, "Ye shall know that I am the Lord," should receive yet another fulfilment.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
These are Yahweh's words to the people of Israel.
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Then your altars will become desolate and your pillars will be destroyed
This can be translated in active form. AT: "People will no longer worship at your altars and your enemy will destroy your pillars" (See: Active or Passive)
I will throw down ... I will lay ... and scatter
Yahweh was speaking of sending soldiers (Ezekiel 6:3) to do these things. AT: "I will send soldiers to throw down ... They will lay ... and scatter" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
your dead
"your people who have died"
translationWords
altar
desolate
column
false god
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:4-7 The corpses and bones of the dead worshipers…
6:4-7 The corpses and bones of the dead worshipers scattered around an altar would defile the altar and make it unfit for use. • idols: The Hebrew term for idols (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; when used in this way, it is a term of strong derision.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.