Ezekiel 6:5
in Ezekiel 6I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
KJV
And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
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This verse in Ezekiel 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd 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 2Ki 23:14.
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.”
This site's exposition
lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols
The dead will lie before the idols they served. Matthew Henry reads the sin in the punishment itself: corpses laid before idols show why these people died. Bones scattered around the altars defile them, as Josiah did to the altars of Bethel in 2 Kings 23:14 to 16.
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 Awakening2 voices
(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.
Sennacherib was slain by his sons when he was worshipping in the house of his god. (4.) The sin might be read in this circumstance of the punishment; the slain men are cast before the idols, to show that therefore they are slain, because they worshipped those idols; see Jer. viii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Will scatter your bones round about your altars - This was literally fulfilled by the Chaldeans. According to Baruch, 2:24, 25, they opened the sepulchres of the principal people, and threw the bones about on every side.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָתַתִּ֗י | venatati | and I will put | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| פִּגְרֵי֙ | pigrei | [the] corpses of | H6297 → | 22 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לִפְנֵ֖י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| גִּלּֽוּלֵיהֶ֑ם | giluleihem | idols their | H1544 → | 48 times |
| וְזֵרִיתִי֙ | vezeriti | and I will disperse | H2219 → | 39 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַצְמ֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔ם | atzmoteikhem | bones your | H6106 → | 126 times |
| סְבִיב֖וֹת | sevivot | around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| מִזְבְּחוֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ | mizbechoteikhem | altars your | H4196 → | 401 times |
וְנָתַתִּ֗יand I will put
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
פִּגְרֵי֙[the] corpses of
pigreiH6297 →22 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לִפְנֵ֖י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
גִּלּֽוּלֵיהֶ֑םidols their
giluleihemH1544 →48 times
וְזֵרִיתִי֙and I will disperse
vezeritiH2219 →39 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עַצְמ֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔םbones your
atzmoteikhemH6106 →126 times
סְבִיב֖וֹתaround
sevivotH5439 →336 times
מִזְבְּחוֹתֵיכֶֽם׃altars your
mizbechoteikhemH4196 →401 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
2 Kings 23:16And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it,…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 13:1–2
Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 13:32
for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely…
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- 1 Kings 13:1–2
Through
2 Kings 23:14He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:5
Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
- Exodus 23:24
You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
- 2 Kings 23:16
And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it,…
- Matthew 23:27–28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Jeremiah 8:1–2
“At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people…
- Deuteronomy 7:5
About Ezekiel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
