The Daily Audio Bible

The Disposal of Gog

39 “As for you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of^[a] Meshech and Tubal.^{(A) 2} I will turn you around, drive you on,^(B) and lead you up from the remotest parts of the north. I will bring you against the mountains of Israel. ³ Then I will knock your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. ⁴ You, all your troops, and the peoples who are with you will fall on the mountains of Israel. I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and to the wild animals. ⁵ You will fall on the open field,^(C) for I have spoken. This is the declaration of the Lord God.

⁶ “‘I will send fire against Magog^(D) and those who live securely on the coasts and islands. Then they will know that I am the Lord. ⁷ So 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.^{(E) 8} Yes, it is coming, and it will happen. This is the declaration of the Lord God. This is the day I have spoken about.

⁹ “‘Then the inhabitants of Israel’s cities will go out, kindle fires, and burn the weapons—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them to make fires. ¹⁰ They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it down from the forests, for they will use the weapons to make fires. They will take the loot from those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them.^(F) This is the declaration of the Lord God.

¹¹ “‘Now on that day I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel—the Travelers’ Valley^[b] east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, for Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called Hordes of Gog^[c] Valley. ¹² The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land.^{(G) 13} All the people of the land will bury them and their fame will spread^(H) on the day I display my glory.^(I) This is the declaration of the Lord God.

¹⁴ “‘They will appoint men on a full-time basis to pass through the land and bury the invaders^[d] who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will make their search at the end of the seven months. ¹⁵ When they pass through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker next to it until the buriers have buried it in Hordes of Gog Valley. ¹⁶ There will even be a city named Hamonah^[e] there. So they will cleanse the land.’

¹⁷ “Son of man, this is what the Lord God says: Tell every kind of bird and all the wild animals, ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my sacrificial feast that I am slaughtering for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel;^(J) you will eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the earth’s princes: rams, lambs, male goats, and all the fattened bulls of Bashan. ¹⁹ You will eat fat until you are satisfied^(K) and drink blood until you are drunk, at my sacrificial feast that I have prepared for you. ²⁰ At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and all the warriors. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’

Israel’s Restoration to God

²¹ “I will display my glory among the nations,^(L) and all the nations will see the judgment I have executed and the hand I have laid on them. ²² From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile on account of their iniquity, because they dealt unfaithfully with me.^(M) Therefore, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid my face from them.

²⁵ “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob^(N) and have compassion on the whole house of Israel,^(O) and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They will feel remorse for^[f][g] their disgrace^(P) and all the unfaithfulness they committed against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to frighten them. ²⁷ When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the countries of their enemies, I will demonstrate my holiness through them in the sight of many nations.^{(Q) 28} They will know that I am the Lord their God when I regather them to their own land after having exiled them among the nations. I will leave none of them behind.^{[h] 29} I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel.”^(R) This is the declaration of the Lord God.

The New Temple

40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been captured,^(S) on that very day the Lord’s hand was on me,^(T) and he brought me there. ² In visions of God^(U) he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain.^(V) On its southern slope was a structure resembling a city. ³ He brought me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze,^(W) with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.^(X) He was standing by the city gate. ⁴ He spoke to me: “Son of man, look with your eyes, listen with your ears,^(Y) and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”^(Z)

The Wall and Outer Gates

⁵ Now there was a wall surrounding the outside of the temple.^(AA) The measuring rod in the man’s hand was six units of twenty-one inches;^[i] each unit was the standard length plus three inches.^[j] He measured the thickness of the wall structure; it was 10½ feet,^[k] and its height was the same. ⁶ Then he came to the gate that faced east and climbed its steps.^(AB) He measured the threshold of the gate; it was 10½ feet deep—one threshold was 10½ feet deep. ⁷ Each recess was 10½ feet long and 10½ feet deep, and there was a space of 8¾ feet^[l] between the recesses. The inner threshold of the gate on the temple side next to the gate’s portico was 10½ feet. ⁸ Next he measured the gate’s portico; ⁹ it^[m] was 14 feet,^[n] and its jambs were 3½ feet.^[o] The gate’s portico was on the temple side.

¹⁰ There were three recesses on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the jambs on either side also had the same measurements. ¹¹ Then he measured the width of the gate’s entrance; it was 17½ feet,^[p] while the width^[q] of the gate was 22¾ feet.^{[r] 12} There was a barrier of 21 inches^[s] in front of the recesses on both sides, and the recesses on each side were 10½ feet^[t] square. ¹³ Then he measured the gate from the roof of one recess to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was 43¾ feet.^[u] The openings of the recesses faced each other. ¹⁴ Next, he measured the porch—105 feet.^{[v][w] 15} The distance from the front of the gate at the entrance to the front of the gate’s portico on the inside was 87½ feet.^{[x] 16} The recesses and their jambs had beveled windows all around the inside of the gate.^(AC) The porticoes also had windows all around on the inside. Each jamb was decorated with palm trees.^(AD)

¹⁷ Then he brought me into the outer court,^(AE) and there were chambers and a paved surface laid out all around the court.^(AF) Thirty chambers faced the pavement, ¹⁸ which flanked the courtyard’s gates and corresponded to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then he measured the distance from the front of the lower gate to the exterior front of the inner court; it was 175 feet.^[y] This was the east; next the north is described.

²⁰ He measured the gate of the outer court facing north, both its length and width. ²¹ Its three recesses on each side, its jambs, and its portico had the same measurements as the first gate: 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide. ²² Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate that faced east. Seven steps led up to the gate, and its portico was ahead of them. ²³ The inner court had a gate facing the north gate, like the one on the east. He measured the distance from gate to gate; it was 175 feet.

²⁴ He brought me to the south side, and there was also a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and portico; they had the same measurements as the others. ²⁵ Both the gate and its portico had windows all around, like the other windows. It was 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide. ²⁶ Its stairway had seven steps, and its portico was ahead of them. It had palm trees on its jambs, one on each side. ²⁷ The inner court had a gate on the south. He measured from gate to gate on the south; it was 175 feet.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”^[a] Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.^{(A) 19} You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.^(B)

²⁰ Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,^{(C) 23} and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,^[b](D) and he was called God’s friend.^{(E) 24} You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?^{(F) 26} For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Controlling the Tongue

3 Not many should become teachers, my brothers,^[c] because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.^{(G) 2} For we all stumble in many ways.^(H) If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is mature, able also to control the whole body.^{(I) 3} Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us,^(J) we direct their whole bodies. ⁴ And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things.^(K) Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed^[d] among our members. It stains the whole body,^(L) sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷ Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.^{(M) 9} With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.^{(N) 10} Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. ¹¹ Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? ¹² Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.

The Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.^{(O) 14} But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth.^{(P) 15} Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.^{(Q) 16} For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.^{(R) 18} And the fruit of righteousness^(S) is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.

Psalm 118

Thanksgiving for Victory