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.’ ”

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”