And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around 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.
- BSB I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
- NASB I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
- NLT I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
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
God will scatter the Israelites' bones around their altars. The defilement shows the utter failure of idol worship.
Overview
The Lord declares He will strew the corpses and bones of the idolaters around their altars, defiling the shrines. Bones scattered at the altars render the sites permanently unclean and disgraced. The grim image declares that what was offered to idols brings death, not life, and that judgment exposes the bankruptcy of false worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- 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 Kgs 23:16As 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.
- 2 Kgs 23:14He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
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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 6:5 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.