Ezekiel 6:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 6:13
Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
to know (properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
slain
חַלְלֵיהֶ֗םcha.lei.Hem
H2491
pierced (especially to death) · adjective, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
among
בְּתוֹךְ֙be.toKh
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
idols
גִּלּ֣וּלֵיהֶ֔םgi.Lu.lei.Hem
H1544
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
about
סְבִיב֖וֹתse.vi.Vot
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders plural construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all th…
Hosea 4:13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof…
1 Kings 14:23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
Jeremiah 2:20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under eve…
2 Kings 16:4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Isaiah 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isaiah 57:5-7 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Ezekiel 6:4-7 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 6:11–end
The same threatenings which we had before in the foregoing chapter, and in the former part of this, are here repeated, with a direction to the prophet to lament them, that those he prophesied to might be the more affected with the foresight of them.
I. He must by his gestures in preaching express the dep sense he had both of the iniquities and of the calamities of the house of Israel (Eze 6:11): Smite with thy hand and stamp with thy foot. Thus he must make it to appear that he was in earnest in what he said to them, that he firmly believed it and laid it to heart. Thus he must signify the just displeasure he had conceived at their sins, and the just dread he was under of the judgments comin…
He that is far off--namely, from the foe; those who in a distant exile fear no evil.
he that remaineth--he that is left in the city; not carried away into captivity, nor having escaped into the country. Distinct from "he that is near," namely, those outside the city who are within reach of "the sword" of the foe, and so fall by it; not by "famine," as those left in the city.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 6:11
Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot - Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the propriety of clapping and stamping in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their lying on their left side for three hundred and ninety days, and on their right side for forty days; shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with dung, et…
(Verse 13.) And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be in the midst of your idols, round about your altars, upon every high hill, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. It is evident according to the literal sense, and needs no interpretation, that in the mountains of Israel, and in the high places, among the altars and groves, which are called thick trees, the army of Israel was slain, that they might be punished in the same places where they had sinned. According to allegory, let us follow the proposed order. When the masters of heretics, who are instructed in the knowledge of Scriptures, have been crushed and overcome by the Ecclesiastical men, we see them lying among the idols they created, and those who elevated themselves against the knowledge of God lie scattered on the mountains and hills beneath every leafy tree; those who have pompous words and the shadow of leaves, but do not have the fruits of good works; those who are under every leafy oak tree, which does not bear the fruits of men, but of pigs: where they burn fragrant incense not to God, but to their idols. And they could not say what is written about Noah: 'The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma' (Gen. VIII, 21): and that which Paul speaks: 'For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing' (II Cor. II, 15). But just as a holy person delights God with their fragrance, so sin is committed from whose person that psalm is sung: 'My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness' (Ps. XXXVII, 6), he kindles his foul incense for his idols. What we interpreted, on all the highest points of the mountains: and a little later: And under the whole leafy oak, they left seventy.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Oak Tree, The · Described as: Thick spreading — Described as: Thick spreading
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
altars
מִזְבְּחֽוֹתֵיהֶ֑םmiz.be.cho.tei.Hem
H4196
an altar · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
high
רָמָ֜הra.Mah
H7311
to be high actively · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
hill
גִּבְעָ֨הgiv.'Ah
H1389
a hillock · noun, common feminine singular absolute
tops
רָאשֵׁ֣יra.Shei
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine plural construct
mountains
הֶהָרִ֗יםhe.ha.Rim
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
green
רַֽעֲנָן֙ra.'a.Nan
H7488
verdant · adjective, masculine singular absolute
tree
עֵ֤ץ'etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
thick
עֲבֻתָּ֔ה'a.vu.Tah
H5687
intwined · adjective, feminine singular absolute
oak
אֵלָ֣ה'e.Lah
H424
an oak or other strong tree · noun, common feminine singular absolute
place
מְק֗וֹםme.Kom
H4725
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
offer
נָֽתְנוּna.te.nu-
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
sweet
נִיחֹ֔חַni.Cho.ach
H5207
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
savour
רֵ֣יחַRei.ach
H7381
odor (as if blown) · noun, common masculine singular construct
idols
גִּלּוּלֵיהֶֽםgi.lu.lei.Hem
H1544
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Then shall ye know that I am the Lord,.... Whom they had denied, by serving other gods; but now by those punishments their eyes would be opened to see, and be obliged to acknowledge, that there was no God but the Lord:
when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars; as is threatened, Ezekiel 6:5; by which it will appear that the idols whom they worshipped could not save them; since they should fall just by them, round about the altars on which they sacrificed unto them; which idols were placed, and altars for their worship built,
upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains: mountains and high hills were usual places of idolatry among the Heathens, in wh…
Ezekiel 6:13
13. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
13. Et cognoscetis quod ego Iehovah, cure vulnerati eorum [143] in medio idolorum ipsorum [144] in circuitu altarium ipsorum, super omnem collem excelsum, in omnibus capitibus [145] montium, et sub omni arbore frondosa, et sub omni quercu densa, [146] in loco ubi obtulerint suffitum bonae fragrantiae omnibus idolis suis.
Now he again announces that they shall know what they have long negle…
The general divine instructions. - Eze 3:25. And thou, son of man, lo, they will lay cords upon thee, and bind thee therewith, so that thou canst not go out into their midst. Eze 3:26. And I shall make thy tongue cleave to thy palate, that thou mayest be dumb, and mayest not serve them as a reprover: for they are a stiff-necked generation. Eze 3:27. But when I speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, that thou mayest say to them, Thus sayeth the Lord Jehovah, Let him who wishes to hear, hear, and let him who neglects, neglect (to hear): for they are a stiff necked generation. - The meaning of this general injunction depends upon the determination of the subject in נתנוּ, Eze 3:25. Most exposito…
Riblah was located on the northern border of Israel and is well known from other biblical books. At Riblah, Nebuchadnezzar set up his tribunal and executed the sons of Zedekiah and many other leading citizens of Judah (2 Kgs 25:6, 21).
Rashi on Ezekiel 6:13
terebinth Heb. אֵלָה, planzon in Old French, a branch.
branchy עֲבֻתָּה, an expression of (below 20: 28): “a branchy (עָבוֹת) tree,” i.e., whose branches are many.
