Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel

38 And the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, set your face toward ^(A)Gog of the land of ^(B)Magog, the ^[a]prince of ^(C)Rosh, ^(D)Meshech and ^(E)Tubal, and prophesy against him ³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[b]God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, ^[c]prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will ^(F)bring you out, and all your army, ^(G)horses and horsemen, all of them ^[d]splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; ^5 (H)Persia, ^[e](I)Ethiopia and ^(J)Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ^6 (K)Gomer with all its troops; ^(L)Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.

⁷ “^(M)Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ^8 (N)After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been ^(O)gathered from many ^[f]nations to the ^(P)mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but ^[g]its people were brought out from the ^[h]nations, and they are ^(Q)living securely, all of them. ⁹ You will go up, you will come ^(R)like a storm; you will be like a ^(S)cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰ ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It will come about on that day, that ^[i]thoughts will come into your mind and you will ^(T)devise an evil plan, ¹¹ and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of ^[j](U)unwalled villages. I will go against those who are ^(V)at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, ¹² to ^(W)capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the ^[k]center of the world.’ ^13 (X)Sheba and ^(Y)Dedan and the merchants of ^(Z)Tarshish with all its ^[l]villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great ^(AA)spoil?’”’

¹⁴ “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel are ^(AB)living securely, will you not know it? ^15 (AC)You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; ¹⁶ and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may ^(AD)know Me when I am ^(AE)sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”

¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who ^(AF)prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸ It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “that My fury will mount up in My ^(AG)anger. ¹⁹ In My ^(AH)zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great ^[m](AI)earthquake in the land of Israel. ^20 (AJ)The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the ^(AK)mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will ^[n]collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will call for a ^(AL)sword against ^[o]him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord God. “^(AM)Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² With pestilence and with blood I will enter into ^(AN)judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, ^[p]a torrential rain, with ^(AO)hailstones, fire and brimstone. ²³ I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and ^(AP)make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.”’

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Paul before the Council

23 Paul, looking intently at ^(A)the ^[a]Council, said, “^(B)Brethren, ^(C)I have ^[b]lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” ² The high priest ^(D)Ananias commanded those standing beside him ^(E)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^(F)you whitewashed wall! Do you ^(G)sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” ⁴ But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^(H)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But perceiving that one group were ^(I)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^(J)the ^[c]Council, “^(K)Brethren, ^(L)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^(M)the hope and resurrection of the dead!” ⁷ As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For ^(N)the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ And there occurred a great uproar; and some of ^(O)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^(P)We find nothing wrong with this man; ^(Q)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And as a great dissension was developing, the ^[d]commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^(R)the barracks.

¹¹ But on ^(S)the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^(T)Take courage; for ^(U)as you have ^(V)solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

A Conspiracy to Kill Paul

¹² When it was day, ^(W)the Jews formed a ^[e]conspiracy and ^(X)bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who formed this plot. ¹⁴ They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have ^(Y)bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now therefore, you ^[f]and ^(Z)the ^[g]Council notify the ^[h]commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶ But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, ^[i]and he came and entered ^(AA)the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the ^[j]commander, for he has something to report to him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and led him to the ^[k]commander and *said, “Paul ^(AB)the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.” ¹⁹ The ^[l]commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?” ²⁰ And he said, “^(AC)The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to ^(AD)the ^[m]Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. ²¹ So do not ^[n]listen to them, for more than forty of them are ^(AE)lying in wait for him who have ^(AF)bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.” ²² So the ^[o]commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

Paul Moved to Caesarea

²³ And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by ^[p]the third hour of the night to proceed to ^(AG)Caesarea, ^[q]with seventy horsemen and two hundred ^[r]spearmen.” ²⁴ They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to ^(AH)Felix the governor. ²⁵ And he wrote a letter having this form:

³¹ So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² But the next day, leaving ^(AU)the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to ^(AV)the barracks. ³³ When these had come to ^(AW)Caesarea and delivered the letter to ^(AX)the governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴ When he had read it, he asked from what ^(AY)province he was, and when he learned that ^(AZ)he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing after your ^(BA)accusers arrive also,” giving orders for him to be ^(BB)kept in Herod’s ^[w]Praetorium.