Prophecy against Israel’s Idolatry
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, face the mountains of Israel a and prophesy against them. 3 You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. b 4 Your altars will be desolated and your shrines L smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, M your idols smashed and obliterated, your shrines cut down, and what you have made wiped out. 7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
8 “Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword. c 9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are taken captive, d how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. e They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did, f their detestable actions of every kind. 10 And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.
Lament over the Fall of Jerusalem
11 “This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, g and cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague. h 12 The one who is far off will die by plague; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared N will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust my wrath on them. i 13 You will all know that I am the LORD when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, j on every high hill, k on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand against them, l and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. O Then they will know that I am the LORD.”