Ezekiel 39
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 585 BC – 573 BC · Exile in Babylon · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
29 verses · 847 words · ~4 min read · ~6 min listen
The Slaughter of Gogʼs Armies
1“As for you, O son of man, prophesy against Gog and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2I will turn you around, drive you along, bring you up from the far north, and send you against the mountains of Israel. 3Then I will strike the bow from your left hand and dash down the arrows from your right hand.
4On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast. 5You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
6I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord. 7So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.
9Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, kindle fires, and burn up the weapons—the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.
11And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. 12For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display My glory, declares the Lord God.
14And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. 15As they pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will set up a pillar next to it, until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. 16(Even the city will be named Hamonah.) And so they will cleanse the land.
17And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord God says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan. 19At the sacrifice I am preparing, you will eat fat until you are gorged and drink blood until you are drunk. 20And at My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and warriors of every kind,’ declares the Lord God.
Israel to Be Restored
21I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them. 22From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. 24I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid My face from them.
25Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name. 26They will forget their disgrace and all the treachery they committed against Me, when they dwell securely in their land, with no one to frighten them. 27When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, I will show My holiness in them in the sight of many nations. 28Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, when I regather them to their own land, not leaving any of them behind after their exile among the nations. 29And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
Footnotes (7)
- a v1 Or Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal
- b v11 Literally, the Sea
- c v11 Hamon-gog means multitude of Gog.
- d v13 Or and the day I display My glory will be a day of renown
- e v16 Hamonah means multitude or horde.
- f v25 Or restore the fortunes of Jacob
- g v26 A few Hebrew manuscripts; MT They will bear
Study notes on this chapter · 1
Gog of Magog
Ezekiel 38–39 describes Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, from the land of Magog, who leads a great coalition against a restored Israel 'in the latter years' and is destroyed by God. Revelation 20 speaks of 'Gog and Magog' gathered for a last battle after the thousand years. Who Gog is, and when, has been disputed for millennia.
When: Ezekiel, c. 590–570 BC; proposed fulfillments range from the ancient world to the end of time.
Ways people read this (4)
- A future invasion of Israel by a northern coalition before or at the end of the age, sometimes identified with modern powers (a common popular reading, which has produced many conflicting identifications).
- A symbolic picture of the final assault of evil on the people of God, taken up in Revelation 20 (amillennial and idealist readings).
- A prophecy of the ancient threats to postexilic Israel, such as the Scythians or the Seleucids.
- An apocalyptic image that cannot be tied to one historical event.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.