Judgment against Idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:15–31; Deuteronomy 12:29–32)
1 UDB Yahweh gave me another message. He said, BSB BSB: And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 UDB "Son of man, turn toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy about what will happen to them, and say, BSB BSB: “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.
3 UDB 'Mountains of Israel, listen to what Yahweh the Lord says to you! He says this to the mountains and the high hills and to the streambeds and the low valleys. He says: I am about to send enemy soldiers with swords to destroy all the hilltops where you worship idols. BSB BSB: You 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.
4 UDB They will smash all your altars for worshiping idols and your pillars you use for astronomy, and they will kill many Israelite people in front of their idols. BSB BSB: Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.
5 UDB Their corpses will lie in front of their idols, and their bones will be scattered around their altars. BSB BSB: I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
6 UDB Wherever you live, your towns will be ruined and the places where idols were worshiped on the hilltops will be smashed. Your altars will be completely smashed, and everything that you own will become a pile of ruins. BSB BSB: Wherever 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.
7 UDB Many of your people will be killed right in front of you, and then you will know that I am Yahweh and I do what I say I will do. BSB BSB: The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
A Remnant to Be Blessed 8 UDB But I will allow some of you to remain alive. They will escape death when your enemies scatter you among many other nations. BSB BSB: Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.
9 UDB When that happens, in those nations to which you have been forced to go, those of you who have escaped death will think about me. You will remember that I was very grieved because you turned away from me, because you were disloyal to me, and because you desired to worship your idols. You will hate yourselves because of the evil and detestable things that you have done. BSB BSB: Then 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.
10 UDB And you will realize that I, Yahweh, have punished you. You will realize that when I threatened to punish you, I surely intended to do that. BSB BSB: And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.
11 UDB So this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you, Ezekiel: Slap your hands and stamp your feet and cry out to show that you are distressed, and groan about what will happen to the Israelite people because of all their wicked and detestable behavior. They will be killed by their enemies' swords, they will die from hunger, and they will die from plagues. BSB BSB: This 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.
12 UDB Those who are far from Jerusalem will die from plagues, those who are close to Jerusalem will be killed by their enemies' swords. Those who are still alive after that will die from hunger. That is how I will punish them. BSB BSB: He 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.
13 UDB Some of your people's corpses will lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hilltop and on all the mountaintops, under every big tree—at all the places where they burned incense to honor their idols. When this happens you will realize that I, Yahweh, have done this. BSB BSB: Then 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.
14 UDB For I will display my power and cause every area in which they live in your country to become an empty wasteland, from the desert in the far south to the town of Diblah in the far north. Then they will realize that I, Yahweh, have done this.'" BSB BSB: I 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.’”
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