(6) Repent and turn.--The announcements of the previous verses form the basis for the earnest call to a true repentance. There can be no hope for Israel in any merely outward reformation; they have to do with the Searcher of hearts, and the only repentance acceptable to Him is that which has its seat in the affections of the heart.

Verse 6. - Turn yourselves, etc.; literally, turn them. But there is no sufficient ground for the margin, "Turn others," the objective suffix being the "faces" of the following clause. In Ezekiel 18:30, 32 the verb is used by itself. The prophet's call is to a direct personal repentance, not to the work of preaching that repentance to others.

14:1-11 No outward form or reformation can be acceptable to God, so long as any idol possesses the heart; yet how many prefer their own devices and their own righteousness, to the way of salvation! Men's corruptions are idols in their hearts, and are of their own setting up; God will let them take their course. Sin renders the sinner odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God; and in his own eyes also, whenever conscience is awakened. Let us seek to be cleansed from the guilt and pollution of sins, in that fountain which the Lord has opened.Therefore say unto the house of Israel,.... Deliver out the following exhortation to repentance unto them; for God's end, in all his threatenings and judgments, is to bring men to repentance:

thus saith the Lord God, repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; or, "turn, and cause to be turned from your idols" (w); turn yourselves from the worship of idols, as the Targum, and do all that in you lies to turn others from the same; particularly your wives and young men, as Kimchi: and the rather they were obliged to do this, since in all probability they had been the means of drawing them into idolatry:

and turn away your faces from all your abominations; their idols, detestable to God, and ought to have been so to them; these he would have them turn their faces from, not so much as look at them, much less worship them, that they might not be ensnared by them; this is said, in opposition to their setting of them before their face, Ezekiel 14:3.

(w) "convertimini, et facite converti", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.