When they return to it, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘They will come there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.
- KJV And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
- NKJV And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.
- NASB When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.
- NLT “When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The returning people will remove all the detestable idols from the land. It promises a cleansed worship after restoration.
Overview
Part of the restoration is the purging of the very abominations that had defiled the land and temple. The people God regathers will reject the idolatry that brought judgment. This moral renewal accompanies the physical return, showing restoration is more than geographic. Such cleansing of worship anticipates the heart transformation God will work, fully realized through Christ and His Spirit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ezek 5:11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.
- Ezek 37:23They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Ezek 42:7–8An outer wall in front of the chambers was fifty cubits long and ran parallel to the chambers and the outer court.
- Ezek 7:20His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.
- Mic 5:10–14“In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will remove your horses from among you and wreck your chariots.
- Isa 30:22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
- Titus 2:12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
- Hos 14:8O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
- Jer 16:18And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”
- Isa 1:25–27I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.
- Ezek 11:21But as for those whose hearts pursue detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Col 3:5–8Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 11:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.