A Message About Gog

38 A message came to me from the Lord. He said, 2“Son of man, turn your attention to Gog. He is from the land of Magog. He is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him.

3“Tell him, ‘The Lord and King says, “Gog, I am against you. You are the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4But I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws. I will bring you out of your land along with your whole army. Your horses will come with you. Your horsemen will be completely armed. Your huge army will carry large and small shields. All of them will be ready to use their swords.

5“ ‘ “The men of Persia, Cush and Put will march out with them. All of them will have shields and helmets. 6Gomer and all of its troops will be there too. Beth Togarmah from the far north will also come with all of its troops. Many nations will help you.

7“ ‘ “Get ready. Be prepared. Take command of the huge armies that are gathered around you. 8After many years you will be called together to fight. Later, you will march into a land that has not had war for a while. Its people were gathered together from many nations. They came to the mountains of Israel. No one had lived in those mountains for a long time. So the people had been brought back from other nations. Now all of the people live in safety. 9You, all of your troops and the many nations with you will march up to attack them. All of you will advance like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering their land.”

10“ ‘The Lord and King says, “At that time some ideas will come to you. You will make evil plans. 11You will say, ‘I will march out against a land whose villages don’t have walls around them. I’ll attack those peaceful people. I’ll do it when they aren’t expecting it. None of their villages has walls or gates with heavy metal bars on them.

12“ ‘ “ ‘I will rob those people. I’ll steal everything they have. Then I’ll turn my attention to the destroyed houses where people are living again. They have returned there from other nations. Now they are rich. They have plenty of livestock and all kinds of goods. They are living in Israel. It is the center of the earth.’

13“ ‘ “The people of Sheba and Dedan will speak to you. So will the traders of Tarshish and all of its villages. They will say, ‘Have you come to rob us? Have you gathered your huge army together to steal our silver and gold? Are you going to take our livestock and goods away from us? Do you plan to carry off everything we have?’ ” ’

14“Son of man, prophesy. Tell Gog, ‘The Lord and King says, “A time is coming when my people Israel will be living in safety. You will see that it is a good time to attack them. 15So you will come from your place in the far north. Many nations will join you. All of their men will be riding on horses. You will have a huge and mighty army. 16They will advance against my people Israel. They will be like a cloud covering their land. Gog, in days to come I will bring you against my land. Then the nations will know me. I will use you to show them how holy I am.”

17“ ‘The Lord and King says to Gog, “In the past I spoke about you through my servants, the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18Here is what will happen in days to come. You will attack the land of Israel. That will stir up my hot anger,” announces the Lord and King.

19“ ‘ “At that time my burning anger will blaze out at you. There will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20The fish in the sea, the birds of the air and the wild animals will tremble with fear because of what I will do. So will every creature that moves along the ground. And so will all of the people on earth. The mountains will come crashing down. The cliffs will break into pieces. Every wall will fall to the ground.

21“ ‘ “I will punish you on all of my mountains,” announces the Lord and King. “Your men will use their swords against one another. 22I will judge you. I will send a plague against you. A lot of blood will be spilled. I will send heavy rain, hailstones and burning sulfur down to the earth. They will fall on you and your troops. They will also come down on the many nations that are helping you. 23That will show how great and holy I am. I will make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’