Ezekiel 38-39

New Century Version

Prophecy Against Gog

38 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying, ² “Human, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him ³ and say, ‘The Lord God says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws. And I will bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of whom will be dressed in beautiful uniforms. They will be a large army with large and small shields and all having swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush, and Put will be with them, all of them having shields and helmets. ⁶ There will also be Gomer with all its troops and the nation of Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—many nations with you.

⁷ “‘Be prepared. Be prepared, you and all the armies that have come together to make you their commander. ⁸ After a long time you will be called for service. After those years you will come into a land that has been rebuilt from war. The people in the land will have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which were empty for a long time. These people were brought out from the nations, and they will all be living in safety. ⁹ You will come like a storm. You, all your troops, and the many nations with you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰ “‘This is what the Lord God says: At that time ideas will come into your mind, and you will think up an evil plan. ¹¹ You will say, “I will march against a land of towns without walls. I will attack those who are at rest and live in safety. All of them live without city walls or gate bars or gates. ¹² I will capture treasures and take loot. I will turn my power against the rebuilt ruins that now have people living in them. I will attack these people who have been gathered from the nations, who have become rich with farm animals and property, who live at the center of the world.” ¹³ Sheba, Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, “Did you come to capture treasure? Did you bring your troops together to take loot? Did you bring them to carry away silver and gold and to take away farm animals and property?”’

¹⁴ “So prophesy, human, and say to Gog, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Now that my people Israel are living in safety, you will know about it. ¹⁵ You will come with many people from your place in the far north. You will have a large group with you, a mighty army, all riding on horses. ¹⁶ You will attack my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. This will happen in the days to come when I bring you against my land. Gog, then the nations will know me when they see me prove how holy I am in what I do through you.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Lord God says: You are the one about whom I spoke in past days. I spoke through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ This is what will happen: On the day Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will become very angry, says the Lord God. ¹⁹ With jealousy and great anger I tell you that at that time there will surely be a great earthquake in Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild animals, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the people on the earth will shake with fear before me. Also the mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ Then I will call for a war against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Everyone’s sword will attack the soldier next to him. ²² I will punish Gog with disease and death. I will send a heavy rain with hailstones and burning sulfur on Gog, his army, and the many nations with him. ²³ Then I will show how great I am. I will show my holiness, and I will make myself known to the many nations that watch. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

The Death of Gog and His Army

39 “Human, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ² I will turn you around and lead you. I will bring you from the far north and send you to attack the mountains of Israel. ³ I will knock your bow out of your left hand and throw down your arrows from your right hand. ⁴ You, all your troops, and the nations with you will fall dead on the mountains of Israel. I will let you be food for every bird that eats meat and for every wild animal. ⁵ You will lie fallen on the ground, because I have spoken, says the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and those who live in safety on the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “‘I will make myself known among my people Israel, and I will not let myself be dishonored anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ It is coming! It will happen, says the Lord God. The time I talked about is coming.

⁹ “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will come out and make fires with the enemy’s weapons. They will burn them, both large and small shields, bows and arrows, war clubs, and spears. They will use the weapons to burn in their fires for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not need to take wood from the field or chop firewood from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. In this way they will take the treasures of those who took their treasures; they will take the loot of those who took their loot, says the Lord God.

¹¹ “‘At that time I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers. Gog and all his army will be buried there, so people will call it The Valley of Gog’s Army.

¹² “‘The people of Israel will be burying them for seven months to make the land clean again. ¹³ All the people in the land will bury them, and they will be honored on the day of my victory, says the Lord God.

¹⁴ “‘The people of Israel will choose men to work through the land to make it clean. Along with others, they will bury Gog’s soldiers still lying dead on the ground. After the seven months are finished, they will still search. ¹⁵ As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone is to put a marker by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers bury the bone in The Valley of Gog’s Army. ¹⁶ A city will be there named Hamonah. So they will make the land clean again.’

¹⁷ “Human, this is what the Lord God says: Speak to every kind of bird and wild animal: ‘Come together, come! Come together from all around to my sacrifice, a great sacrifice which I will prepare for you on the mountains of Israel. Eat flesh and drink blood! ¹⁸ You are to eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth as if they were fat animals from Bashan: male sheep, lambs, goats, and bulls. ¹⁹ You are to eat and drink from my sacrifice which I have prepared for you, eating fat until you are full and drinking blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you are to eat until you are full of horses and riders, mighty men and all kinds of soldiers,’ says the Lord God.

²¹ “I will show my glory among the nations. All the nations will see my power when I punish them. ²² From that time onward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ The nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them and handed them over to their enemies until all of them died in war. ²⁴ Because of their uncleanness and their sins, I punished them and turned away from them.

²⁵ “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity, and I will have mercy on the whole nation of Israel. I will not let them dishonor me. ²⁶ The people will forget their shame and how they rejected me when they live again in safety on their own land with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ I will bring the people back from other lands and gather them from the lands of their enemies. So I will use my people to show many nations that I am holy. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into captivity among the nations, but then I brought them back to their own land, leaving no one behind. ²⁹ I will not turn away from them anymore, because I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God.”