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Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Ezekiel 6:4 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
  • BSB Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.
  • NKJV Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
  • NASB So your altars will become deserted and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.
  • NLT All your altars will be demolished, and your places of worship will be destroyed. I will kill your people in front of your 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

Altars will be ruined, incense altars broken, and the slain cast before their idols. The objects of false worship are exposed as powerless to save.

Overview

God promises to demolish the idolatrous altars and lay the dead before the very idols they trusted. The scene proves the impotence of false gods, which cannot protect their worshipers. By judging idolatry so pointedly, God presses His people to abandon lifeless images and return to the living God who alone gives life.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • 2 Chr 14:5Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.
  • Lev 26:30I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.
  • 2 Kgs 23:16–20As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to Yahweh’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
  • Jer 43:13He shall also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and he shall burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’”
  • Jer 8:1–2“At that time,” says Yahweh, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;
  • 2 Chr 34:4–5They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
  • Ezek 6:13You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.
  • 1 Kgs 13:2He cried against the altar by Yahweh’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’”
  • Ezek 6:5–6I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
  • 2 Kgs 23:14He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 6:4YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 6:4 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.