38And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^a ²“Son of man,^b set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the head^c leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. ³And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Gog, the head^d leader of Meshach and Tubal, ⁴and I will turn you around, and I will place^e hooks in your cheeks, and I will bring you out and all of your horses and horsemen fully armed,^f all of them, a great crowd, holding a shield,^g and small shield, and holding^h swords, all of them. ⁵Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them, with a small shield and helmet. ⁶Gomer and all of its troops, Beth Togarmah, the remote areas of the north, and with all of its troops and many peoples with them. ⁷Be ready, and prepare yourselves,ⁱ you and all of your assembly,^j the assembling^k around you, and you must be^l for them as a guard. ⁸After many days you will be mustered; in the last years^m you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruinsⁿ but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety,^o all of them. ⁹And you will advance like a storm; you will come, and you will be like a cloud covering^p the land, and all of your troops and many nations along with you.”

¹⁰“ ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And then^q on that day, things^r will come up on^s your mind, and you will devise evil plans. ¹¹And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come^t to the people being at rest in safety,^u all of them dwelling without a wall^v and crossbars^w and without doors,^x ¹²to^y loot loot,^z and to plunder^a plunder, to assail^b inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world. ¹³Sheba and Dedan and traders of Tarshish and all its strong lions,^c they will ask you, ‘To^d loot loot^e are you coming? To plunder^f plunder have you summoned your assembly, to take away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, to loot great amounts^g of loot?” ’

¹⁴“Therefore prophesy, son of man,^h and you must say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will you not realizeⁱ on that day when my people Israel are dwelling in safety,^j ¹⁵and so you will come from your place, from the remote areas of the north, you and many people with you, horsemen^k all of them, a great crowd and a vast army, ¹⁶and you will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering^l the land; it will be^m in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations know me, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog!” ’

¹⁷“Thus says the Lord Yahweh, ‘Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel who were prophesying in those days for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸And so then in that day, on the day of the coming of God against the land of Israel,’ declaresⁿ the Lord Yahweh, ‘my rage will come up in my anger. ¹⁹And in my passion, in the fire of my wrath, I spoke^o that certainly^p on that day a great earthquake will be on the land of Israel. ²⁰And the fish of the sea and the birds^q of the heaven^r and the animals^s of the field and all of the creeping things that creep on the earth and all of the humans^t who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence;^u and the mountains will be demolished, and the steep mountain sides will fall, and every wall on^v the earth will fall. ²¹And I will call against him^w in all of my mountains a sword,’ declares^x the Lord Yahweh, ‘And the sword of each person will be against his brother. ²²And I will execute justice with^y him with a plague and with blood and torrents of rain,^z and hailstones; fire and sulfur I will cause to fall on him and on his troops and on many peoples who are with him. ²³And so I will exalt myself, and I will show myself holy, and I will make myself known before the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

God’s Destruction of Gog and His Hordes

39“And you, son of man,^a prophesy against Gog, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you Gog, the head^b leader of Meshech and Tubal, ²and I will turn you around, and I will drag you along, and I will bring you up from the remote areas of the north, and I will bring you against the mountains of Israel, ³and I will strike your bow from your left hand,^c and your arrows from your right hand^d I will cause to fall. ⁴On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all of your troops, and the peoples who are with you, to birds^e of prey, birds of every wing,^f and animals of the field I will give you as food. ⁵On the surface of the field you will fall, for I myself^g have spoken,” declares^h the Lord Yahweh. ⁶“And I will send fire against Magog and among the people inhabiting the coastlands in safety,ⁱ and they will know that I am Yahweh. ⁷And my holy name^j I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let the name of my holiness be profaned anymore, and the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the holy one in Israel. ⁸Look! it is coming, and it will happen,” declares^k the Lord Yahweh. “It is the day about which I have spoken.^l

⁹“‘“And the inhabitants of the towns^m of Israel will go out, and they will set ablaze, and they will kindle a fire with a weaponⁿ and a small shield and a shield,^o with a bow and with arrows, and with hand clubs^p and with spears,^q and so they will light a fire with them, a fire lasting seven years.^r ¹⁰And they will not carry trees from the field, and they will not chop wood from the forests, for with the weapons^s they will light a fire; and they will plunder those plundering them, and they will plunder those plundering them,” ’ declares^t the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹“ ‘ “And then^u on that day I will give to Gog a grave there^v in Israel, The Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea,^w and it will block^x the travelers and Gog and all of his hordes^y they will bury there, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-Gog.^z ¹²And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land. ¹³All of the people of the land will bury them, and it will be an honor for them on the day when I appear,” ’ declares^a the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁴‘“And they will set apart men to continually^b go through the land burying the travelers,^c the ones left over on the surface of the land to cleanse it; for the whole of^d seven months they will explore it. ¹⁵And the ones going through, they will go through within the land, and if anyone sees the bones of a person, then he will build beside it a sign to remain until the buriers have buried him in the Valley of Hamon-Gog.^e ¹⁶And furthermore the name of the city there is Hamonah,^f and thus they will cleanse the land.” ’

¹⁷“And you, son of man,^g thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Say to all kinds of birds and animals of the field,^h “Be gathered, come be gathered from everywhereⁱ to my sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh, and you will drink blood. ¹⁸Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, and the fattened animals of Bashan—all of them! ¹⁹And you will eat fat until you are satiated,^j and you will drink blood until you are drunk^k from my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, ²⁰and you will be satisfied at my table with horse and horsemen and warriors and every man of war,” ’ declares^l the Lord Yahweh. ²¹“And I will display my glory among the nations, and all of the nations will see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid upon them.

²²“And the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God from that day and beyond, ²³and the nations will know that because of their guilt the house of Israel went into exile, because^m they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, and I gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them. ²⁴According to their uncleanness and according to their transgression I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

²⁵Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all of the house of Israel, and I will be jealousⁿ for my holy name.^o ²⁶And they will forget their disgrace and all of their infidelity that they displayed against me when they dwelt on their soil in safety^p with nobody making them afraid.^q ²⁷When I restore them from the nations and I gather them from the countries of their enemies, then I will show myself holy through them before the eyes of many nations. ²⁸And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, because of when I deported them into the nations, and I reassembled them to their soil, and I will not let any of them remain there any longer.^r ²⁹And I will not hide my face again from them when I pour out my Spirit over^s the house of Israel,” declares^t the Lord Yahweh.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aLiterally “to say”
bOr “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
cOr “chief”
dOr “chief”
eOr “give”
fLiterally “clothed of fullness”
gOr “buckler”
hOr “wielding”
iLiterally “for you”
jOr “battalions” or “hoards”
kOr “assemblies”
lOr “serve”
mOr “final years”; literally “in the last of the years”
nLiterally “ruins continually/permanently”
oLiterally “with confidence/assurance/trust”
pLiterally “to cover”
qLiterally “and it will be”
rOr “thoughts”
sOr “in”
tOr “go”
uLiterally “with confidence”
vOr “walls”
wHebrew “crossbar”
xLiterally “and doors there are not for them”
yOr “for”
zOr “war-booty”; this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
aOr “seize”; this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
bLiterally “to bring back your hand against”; NJPS, “to turn your hand against”
cOr “all of its violent leaders”
dOr “for”
eOr “war-booty” this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
fOr “seize”; this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
gHebrew “amount”
hOr “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
iLXX reads, “stir up/rouse yourself”
jLiterally “with confidence/trust”
kLiterally “riders of horsemen”
lLiterally “to cover”
mOr “occur”
nLiterally “declaration of”
oOr “I asserted”
pLiterally “if not”
qHebrew “bird”
rOr “sky”
sHebrew “animal”
tOr “every human being”
uLiterally “from the face of me”
vOr “to”
wOr “summon against him” (cf. NJPS)
xLiterally “declaration of”
yOr “with respect to him”
zLiterally “rain flooding/pouring down”
aOr “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
bOr “chief”
cLiterally “the hand of left your”
dLiterally “the hand of right your”
eHebrew “bird”
fOr “kind”
gLiterally “I, I”
hLiterally “declaration of”
iLiterally “with confidence/trust”
jLiterally “the name of my holiness”
kLiterally “declaration of”
lLiterally “which I have spoken of”
mOr “cities”
nOr “weapons”
oOr “shields and bucklers”; cf. NJPS
pLiterally “with club of hand”
qHebrew “spear”
rLiterally “a fire of seven years”
sHebrew “weapon”
tLiterally “declaration of”
uLiterally “and it will happen”
vLiterally “a place there of a grave”
wThat is, the Dead Sea
xLiterally “blocking”
yHebrew “horde”
zLiterally “Gog’s Multitude”
aLiterally “declaration of”
bLiterally “men of continuity/men who regularly”
cIn a negative sense = “invaders”
dLiterally “from the end of”
eOr “Gog’s multitude”
fThat is, “Multitude”
gOr “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
hLiterally “to bird of every wind and to every animal of the field”
iLiterally “all around”
jLiterally “satiation/gluttony”
kLiterally “to drunkenness”
lLiterally “declaration of”
mLiterally “because that”
nOr “zealous”
oLiterally “for the name of holiness my”
pLiterally “with confidence”
qLiterally “and not was somebody making afraid”
rLiterally “not I will leave over/let remain again/still from them there”
sOr “upon”
tLiterally “declaration of”