Ezekiel 6:4
in Ezekiel 6Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
KJV
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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This verse in Ezekiel 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd your altars shall be desolate,.... Being pulled down; or because the priests and worshippers would now be slain, and there would be none to attend them: and your images shall be broken; the "images of the sun" (b).
This site's exposition
Your altars will be demolished
on Ezekiel 6:4-7
The Lord will “lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols,” as Leviticus 26:30 warned. Clarke notes that the cities and high places fall together: “the cities will be laid waste.” The unit ends with the chapter’s first “you will know that I am the LORD.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 4, 5.) Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. And I will overthrow your altars, and break your images, and cast down your slain before your idols. And I will give the dead bodies of the children of Israel before the face of their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars in all your dwellingplaces.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(3.) It is just with God to make that a desolation which we make an idol of; for he is a jealous God and will not bear a rival. (4.) If men do not, as they ought, destroy idolatry, God will, first or last, find out a way to do it.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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 2Ki 23:11;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Your images shall be broken - Literally, your sun images; representations of the sun, which they worshipped. See the margin.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָשַׁ֙מּוּ֙ | venashamu | and they will be made desolate | H8074 → | 86 times |
| מִזְבְּח֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔ם | mizbechoteikhem | altars your | H4196 → | 401 times |
| וְנִשְׁבְּר֖וּ | venishberu | and they will be shattered | H7665 → | 147 times |
| חַמָּֽנֵיכֶ֑ם | chamaneikhem | incense altars your | H2553 → | |
| וְהִפַּלְתִּי֙ | vehipalti | and I will make fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| חַלְלֵיכֶ֔ם | chaleikhem | slain [ones] your | H2491 → | 94 times |
| לִפְנֵ֖י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| גִּלּוּלֵיכֶֽם׃ | giluleikhem | idols your | H1544 → | 48 times |
וְנָשַׁ֙מּוּ֙and they will be made desolate
venashamuH8074 →86 times
מִזְבְּח֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔םaltars your
mizbechoteikhemH4196 →401 times
וְנִשְׁבְּר֖וּand they will be shattered
venishberuH7665 →147 times
חַמָּֽנֵיכֶ֑םincense altars your
chamaneikhemH2553 →
וְהִפַּלְתִּי֙and I will make fall
vehipaltiH5307 →435 times
חַלְלֵיכֶ֔םslain [ones] your
chaleikhemH2491 →94 times
לִפְנֵ֖י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
גִּלּוּלֵיכֶֽם׃idols your
giluleikhemH1544 →48 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 6:13Then 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…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:28
When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up…
- Hosea 4:13
They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
- 1 Kings 14:23
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- Jeremiah 2:20
“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
- Ezekiel 20:28
Through
2 Chronicles 14:5He also removed the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom was at peace.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 34:4
Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the…
- 2 Chronicles 34:7
He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4
Through
Leviticus 26:30I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 23:20
On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 6:13
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…
- 2 Kings 23:20
About Ezekiel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
