Ezekiel 6:2-3

6:2 “Son of man, turn toward ¹  the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them: 6:3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, ²  Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! ³  This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing ⁴  a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 19:9

19:9 They put him in a collar with hooks; ⁶ 

they brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him to prison ⁷ 

so that his voice would not be heard

any longer on the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 33:28

33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

Ezekiel 34:13-14

34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush ⁸  pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 35:12

35:12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.”

Ezekiel 36:1

Blessings on the Mountains of Israel

36:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord!

Ezekiel 36:4

36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about –

Ezekiel 36:8

36:8 “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon. ⁹ 

Ezekiel 37:22

37:22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms. ¹⁰ 

Ezekiel 38:8

38:8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ¹¹  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ¹²  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

Ezekiel 39:2

39:2 I will turn you around and drag you along; ¹³  I will lead you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 39:4

39:4 You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast.

Ezekiel 39:17

39:17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter ¹⁴  which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood.

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¹ tn Heb “set your face against.” The expression occurs at the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophetic oracles in Ezek 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.

sn Based on comparison to a similar expression in Ugaritic, the phrase may imply that Ezekiel was to actually go to these locations to deliver his message.

² tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.

sn The mountainous terrain of Israel would contrast with the exiles’ habitat in the river valley of Babylonia.

³ tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the sovereign Lord” parallels a pronouncement delivered by the herald of a king (2 Kgs 18:28).

⁴ tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.

⁵ tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.

⁶ tn Or “They put him in a neck stock with hooks.” The noun סּוּגַר (sugar), translated “collar,” occurs only here in the Bible. L. C. Allen and D. I. Block point out a Babylonian cognate that refers to a device for transporting prisoners of war that held them by their necks (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:597, n. 35; L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284). Based on the Hebrew root, the traditional rendering had been “cage” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

⁷ tc The term in the MT occurs only here and in Eccl 9:12 where it refers to a net for catching fish. The LXX translates this as “prison,” which assumes a confusion of dalet and resh took place in the MT.

⁸ tn Heb “good.”

⁹ tn Heb “they draw near to arrive.”

¹⁰ sn Jeremiah also attested to the reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms (Jer 3:12, 14; 31:2-6).

¹¹ tn Heb “from the sword.”

¹² tn Heb “it.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT. An apparent cognate in the Ethiopic language means “walk along.” For a discussion of the research on this verb, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:460.

¹⁴ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).