Historical

The Death of Gog and His Army

39 “Human being, 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. I will send you to attack the mountains of Israel. ³ I will knock your bow out of your left hand. I will throw down your arrows from your right hand. ⁴ You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel. You, all your troops and the nations with you will fall dead. I will let you be food for every bird that eats meat and every wild animal. ⁵ You will die in the country. 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 “‘And I will make myself known among my people Israel. I will not let myself be dishonored anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord. They will know I am the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ It is coming! It will happen, says the Lord God. The day I talked about is coming.

⁹ “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out. They will make fires with the enemy’s weapons and burn them. They will burn both large and small shields. They will burn bows and arrows, war clubs and spears. They will use the weapons to burn in their fires for seven years. ¹⁰ They won’t need to take wood from the field or chop firewood from the forests. This is because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the valuable things of those who took their valuable things. They will grab the things of those who grabbed their things, says the Lord God.

¹¹ “‘On that day I will give Gog a place to be buried in Israel. It will be the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers. This is because Gog and all his army will be buried there. 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 of the land will bury them. The people of Israel will be honored on the day of my victory, says the Lord God.

¹⁴ “‘They will choose men to work through the land to make it clean. 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 They will go through the land. If one person sees a human bone, he will put a marker by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers come. They will 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 being, 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. I will prepare it for you. It is a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. Then you can eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men. You will drink the blood of the rulers of the earth. You will do it as people eat all the fat animals from Bashan: male sheep, lambs, goats and bulls. ¹⁹ You will eat and drink from my sacrifice which I have made ready for you. So you will eat fat until you are full. You will drink blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you will eat until you are full of horses and riders and all kinds of soldiers,’ says the Lord God.

²¹ “And I will show my greatness among the nations. All the nations will feel my power when I punish them. ²² From that day on the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ And the nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them. And I let their enemies defeat them. All of them died in war. ²⁴ I punished them for their uncleanness and their sins. I turned away from them.

²⁵ “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity. 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 they will forget how they rejected me. They will live in safety on their own land. No one will make them afraid. ²⁷ I will bring the people back from other lands. I will gather them from the lands of their enemies. That is how I will show that I am holy through my people. And many nations will see that I am holy. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. This is because I sent them into captivity among the nations. But then I brought them back to their own land. And I didn’t leave any behind. ²⁹ I will not turn away from them anymore. I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God.”

The New Temple

40 It was the twenty-fifth year of our captivity. It was at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month. It was in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem was defeated. On that same day I felt the power of the Lord. He brought me to Jerusalem. ² In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel. He put me on a very high mountain. On the south of the mountain there were some buildings that looked like a city. ³ The Lord took me closer to the buildings. I saw a man who looked as if he were made of bronze. He was standing in the gateway. He had a cord made of linen and a stick in his hand, both for measuring. ⁴ The man said to me, “Human being, look with your eyes and hear with your ears. And pay attention to all that I will show you. That’s why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel all that you see.”

The East Gate

⁵ I saw a wall that surrounded the Temple. The measuring stick in the man’s hand was 10½ feet long. So the man measured the wall. It was 10½ feet thick and 10½ feet high.

⁶ Then the man went to the east gate. He went up its steps and measured the opening of the gate. It was more than 10½ feet wide. ⁷ There were rooms for the guards. They were 10½ feet long and 10½ feet wide. The walls that came out between the guards’ rooms were about 9 feet thick. And there was a gate next to the porch that faced the Temple. The opening of this gate was 10½ feet wide.

⁸ Then the man measured the porch of the gate. ⁹ It was about 14 feet deep. And its doors were 3½ feet thick. The porch of the gate faced the Temple.

¹⁰ There were three little rooms on each side of the last gate. These three rooms measured the same on each side. The walls between each room were the same thickness. ¹¹ The man measured the width of the entrance to the gateway. It was 17½ feet wide. The length of the gate was about 23 feet. ¹² And there was a low wall about 21 inches high in front of each room. The rooms were 10½ feet on each side. ¹³ The man measured the gateway from the roof of one room to the roof of the opposite room. It was about 44 feet from one door to the opposite door. ¹⁴ The man also measured the porch. It was about 35 feet wide. The courtyard was around the porch. ¹⁵ From the front of the outer side of the gate to the front of the porch of the inner side of the gate was 87½ feet. ¹⁶ The rooms and porch had small windows on all sides. The windows were narrower on the side facing the gateway. Carvings of palm trees were on each inner wall of the rooms.

The Outer Courtyard

¹⁷ Then the man brought me into the outer courtyard. I saw rooms and a pavement of stones. Thirty rooms were along the edge of the paved walkway. ¹⁸ The pavement ran alongside the gates. It was as long as the gates were wide. This was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then the man measured from the outer wall to the inner wall. The outer court between these two walls was 175 feet on the east and on the north.

The North Gate

²⁰ The man measured the length and width of the gate leading to the outer courtyard. It faced north. ²¹ It had three rooms on each side. Its inner walls and its porch measured the same as the first gate. It was 87½ feet long. And it was 44 feet wide. ²² Its windows, porch and carvings of palm trees measured the same as the east gate. Seven steps went up to the gate. And the gate’s porch was opposite them. ²³ The inner courtyard had a gate across from the northern gate like the one on the east. The man measured it and found it was 175 feet from inner gate to outer gate.

The South Gate

²⁴ Then the man led me south. I saw a gate facing south. He measured its inner walls and its porch. They measured the same as the other gates. ²⁵ The gate and its porch had windows all around like the other gates. It was 87½ feet long and 44 feet wide. ²⁶ Seven steps went up to this gate. Its porch was in front of them. It had carvings of palm trees on its inner walls. ²⁷ A gate was on the south side of the inner courtyard. The man measured from gate to gate on the south side. It was 175 feet.

The Inner Courtyard

²⁸ Then the man brought me through the south gate to the inner courtyard. The inner south gate measured the same as the gates in the outer wall. ²⁹ The inner south gate’s rooms, inner walls and porch measured the same as the gates in the outer wall. There were windows all around the gate and its porch. The gate was 87½ feet long and 44 feet wide. ³⁰ Each porch of each inner gate was about 44 feet long and about 9 feet wide. ³¹ The inner south gate’s porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inside walls. Its stairway had eight steps.

³² The man brought me into the inner courtyard on the east side. He measured the inner east gate. It measured the same as the other gates. ³³ The inner east gate’s rooms, inside walls and porch measured the same as the other gates. Windows were all around the gate and its porch. The inner east gate was 87½ feet long and 44 feet wide. ³⁴ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inner walls on each side. Its stairway had eight steps.

³⁵ Then the man brought me to the inner north gate. He measured it. It measured the same as the other gates. ³⁶ Its rooms, inner walls and porch measured the same as the other gates. Windows were all around the gate. It was 87½ feet long and 44 feet wide. ³⁷ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inner walls on each side. And its stairway had eight steps.

Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices

³⁸ There was a room with a door that opened onto the porch of the inner north gate. In this room the priests washed animals for the burnt offerings. ³⁹ There were two tables on each side of the room. Animals for burnt offerings, sin offerings and penalty offerings were killed on these tables. ⁴⁰ On each side of the porch, outside the door to the room, were two tables. ⁴¹ So four tables were on one side of the gate. And four tables were on the other side of the gate. In all there were eight tables on which the priests killed animals for sacrifices. ⁴² There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering. These tables were about 3 feet long and 3 feet wide. And they were about 2 feet high. On these tables the priests put their tools. They used the tools to kill animals for burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. ⁴³ Double hooks 3 inches long were put up on all the walls. The flesh for the offering was put on the tables.

The Priests’ Rooms

⁴⁴ There were two rooms in the inner courtyard. One was beside the north gate. It faced south. The other room was beside the south gate. It faced north. ⁴⁵ The man said to me, “The room which faces the south is for the priests. They serve in the Temple. ⁴⁶ And the room that faces north is for the priests who serve at the altar. These priests are descendants of Zadok. They are the only descendants of Levi who can come near the Lord to serve him.”

⁴⁷ The man measured the Temple courtyard. It was a perfect square. It was 175 feet long and 175 feet wide. The altar was in front of the Temple.

The Temple Porch

⁴⁸ The man brought me to the porch of the Temple. And he measured each wall of the porch. It was about 9 feet on each side. The gate was 24½ feet wide. The walls of the gate were about 5 feet on each side. ⁴⁹ The porch was 35 feet long and 21 feet wide. Ten steps went up to the porch. Pillars were by the walls, one on each side of the entrance.

The Holy Place of the Temple

41 The man brought me to the Holy Place. He measured its walls. They were 10½ feet wide on each side. ² The entrance was 17½ feet wide. The walls alongside the entrance were about 9 feet wide on each side. The man measured the Holy Place. It was 70 feet long and 35 feet wide.

³ Then the man went inside. And he measured the walls of the doorway. Each was 3½ feet wide. The doorway was 10½ feet wide. The walls next to it were more than 12 feet thick. ⁴ Then the man measured the room at the end of the Holy Place. It was 35 feet long and 35 feet wide. The man said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then the man measured the wall of the Temple. It was 10½ feet wide. The side rooms were 7 feet wide all around the Temple. ⁶ The side rooms were on three different stories, each above the other. There were 30 rooms on each story. The side rooms had ledges on the wall all around. The rooms rested on the ledges but were not attached to the walls. ⁷ The side rooms around the Temple were wider on each higher story. So rooms were wider on the top story. A stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story.

⁸ I also saw that the Temple had a raised base all around. It was the foundation for the side rooms and was 10½ feet thick. ⁹ The outer wall of the side rooms was about 9 feet thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the Temple ¹⁰ and the priests’ rooms. It was 35 feet wide and went all around the Temple. ¹¹ The doors of the side rooms led to a paved base around the outside of the Temple. One door faced north. And the other door faced south. The paved base was about 9 feet wide all around.

¹² There was a building facing the Temple courtyard at the west side. It was 122½ feet wide. The wall of the building was about 9 feet thick all around. It was 157½ feet long.

¹³ Then the man measured the Temple. The Temple was 175 feet long. This included the courtyard with the building and its walls. It was all 175 feet long. ¹⁴ Also the eastern front of the Temple and its courtyard was 175 feet wide.

¹⁵ The man measured the length of the building facing the courtyard on the west side, including its side rooms. Its walls from one side to the other were 175 feet.

The Holy Place, the Most Holy Place and the porch of the courtyard ¹⁶ had wood panels on the walls. By the doorway, the Temple had wood panels on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor up to the windows. The windows were covered with crossed strips of wood.

¹⁷ In the space above the entrance to the Most Holy Place there were carvings. And on the outside and all the walls around the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place were carvings. ¹⁸ The carvings were of creatures with wings and palm trees. A palm tree was between each carved creature. Every creature had two faces. ¹⁹ One was a man’s face looking toward the palm tree on one side. The other was a lion’s face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all around the Temple wall. ²⁰ This was from the floor to above the door. Palm trees and creatures with wings were carved on all the walls of the Holy Place. ²¹ The walls of the Holy Place were square. In front of the Most Holy Place was something that looked like ²² an altar of wood. It was more than 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. Its corners, base and sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is in the presence of the Lord.” ²³ Both the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place had double doors. ²⁴ Each of the doors had two pieces that would swing open. ²⁵ Palm trees and creatures with wings were also carved on the doors of the Holy Place. They were like those carved on the walls. And there was a wood roof on the front Temple porch. ²⁶ There were windows and palm trees on both side walls of the porch. The side rooms of the Temple were also covered by a roof.