Ezekiel 38

The word of the LORD came to me. He said:

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Note"The LORD" in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters (YHWH) that Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; translators since 1611 have marked it this way rather than spelling it out.

2"Son of man, turn and face Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. Speak against him as my prophet.

2Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

Note"Son of man" is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book, roughly "mortal" or "human being," marking the distance between the speaker and the man he is speaking to. It is a title of address, not a name. "Turn and face" someone was a formal gesture: the prophet physically faced the direction of the target and delivered the oracle at it, the way one squares up to an opponent. Gog is a person; Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are places or peoples. Meshech and Tubal were real Anatolian kingdoms in what is now central and eastern Turkey, known to Ezekiel's world as distant traders in slaves and bronze (see chapter 27). Magog is otherwise unknown and may simply mean "the land of Gog." No historical king named Gog has been identified. "Chief ruler" translates a Hebrew phrase that can be read two ways: as "chief prince" (a title) or as "prince of Rosh" (naming a third people alongside Meshech and Tubal). Ancient translators split on this and modern ones still do.

3Say to him: This is what the Lord GOD says. Look, I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal.

3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

Note"The Lord GOD" is not a repetition. The Hebrew has two different words, a title meaning "my master," followed by the divine name; English prints the second one as GOD in capitals here to avoid writing "Lord LORD."

4I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws and drag you out with your whole army: horses, riders in full armor, and a huge crowd carrying shields large and small, every one of them holding a sword.

4And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

NotePutting hooks in the jaws is the image of handling a captured beast or a prisoner. Assyrian kings had themselves pictured leading defeated rulers on a cord fastened through the lip or nose. The point of the picture is that Gog is not marching of his own accord; he is being hauled.

5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya will be with them, all of them with shield and helmet.

5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

NoteThese are the far edges of the known world in three directions. Persia lay east, in modern Iran. "Ethiopia" translates Cush, the kingdom south of Egypt in modern Sudan, not the modern country of Ethiopia. "Libya" translates Put, a region of North Africa west of Egypt. Together with the northern peoples in the next verse, the list means troops drawn from everywhere at once.

6Gomer will come with all its troops, and the people of Togarmah from the far north with all their troops. Many nations will be with you.

6Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

NoteGomer and Togarmah were peoples of Anatolia and Armenia, north of Israel, Gomer is usually identified with the Cimmerians, horse-riding raiders who swept through the region in the seventh century BC. "The far north" was the direction invasions had always come from, since armies could not cross the desert to the east.

7Get ready. Prepare yourself, you and all the forces gathered around you, and take charge of them as their guard.

7Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

NoteThe orders here are a muster: the commands a general gives before a campaign. God is telling the invader to arm and organize, the sarcasm of ordering an enemy to prepare thoroughly for a battle he will lose.

8After a long time you will be called up for action. In the later years you will enter a land that has recovered from war. Its people were gathered from many nations onto the mountains of Israel, which had lain in ruins for a long time. They were brought out from the nations, and now they all live in safety.

8After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

Note"Called up for action" translates a verb usually meaning "visited" or "mustered" (the word used for a commander reviewing troops and assigning duty. Ezekiel wrote for people deported to Babylon. "A land that has recovered from war," resettled by people "gathered from many nations," describes the return home that earlier chapters promise. The invasion of this chapter is imagined as happening after that, to a population that thinks the danger has passed. "The mountains of Israel" is Ezekiel's standard phrase for the country itself) the central hill country where most Israelite towns sat.

9You will go up, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops and the many nations with you.

9Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

10This is what the Lord GOD says: At that time thoughts will come into your mind, and you will work out an evil plan.

10Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

11You will say, 'I will attack a land of villages that have no walls. I will go after people who are at peace and living in safety, all of them living with no walls, no bars, and no gates.

11And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

NoteA town without walls, bars, and gates was a town that had made no preparation to be attacked. Defended settlements had a wall, gates that closed at night, and heavy timber bars dropped across them. The detail is what makes the target attractive: it is not a description of poverty but of a people so secure they have stopped fortifying.

12I will seize their goods and carry off plunder. I will turn my hand against the ruined places where people live again, and against a people gathered out of the nations, who now own livestock and property and live at the center of the land.'

12To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

Note"The center of the land" translates a rare Hebrew word meaning something like "navel." It may mean the geographical middle, or high ground, or the land's most prized point; the ancient translators disagreed and the sense is genuinely uncertain.

13Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish, with all their young lions, will say to you, 'Have you come to seize goods? Have you gathered your army to carry off plunder, to haul away silver and gold, to take livestock and property, to grab a great load of spoil?'

13Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

NoteSheba and Dedan were trading kingdoms of Arabia; Tarshish was a far-off port in the west, probably in Spain, and stood for the farthest reach of sea trade. These are merchants, not soldiers, and their questions are a trader's questions: they want to know what is being carried off and, by implication, whether they can buy it. "Young lions" renders the Hebrew literally. The same consonants can be read as "villages" or "trading posts," which is how many translators take it; others keep "young lions" as a figure for the merchants' fighting men or rulers. The text is ambiguous.

14So, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: This is what the Lord GOD says. On that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not know it?

14Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

Note"Will you not know it?" follows the Hebrew as written. A slightly different reading of the same consonants, followed by the ancient Greek translation, gives "will you not rouse yourself?", that is, stir into action. Both readings are old.

15You will come from your own place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding horses, a huge crowd and a mighty army.

15And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

16You will come up against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. This will happen in the latter days. I will bring you against my land, Gog, so that the nations may know me when I show my holiness through you, right before their eyes.

16And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Note"The latter days" is a set Hebrew phrase meaning "in days to come" or "at the end of the days." It points to a distant future without fixing a date. "Show my holiness" translates a verb meaning to be shown set apart, in a class of one, to be publicly demonstrated as what one claims to be. The idea is a reputation established in front of witnesses, not an inner quality.

17This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one I spoke about long ago through my servants the prophets of Israel? For years in those days they said that I would bring you against them.

17Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?

NoteEarlier prophets, Jeremiah especially, had warned repeatedly of an unnamed destroyer coming from the north. The question here asks whether Gog is that long-predicted figure. The Hebrew can be punctuated either as a question expecting yes, or as a flat statement ("you are the one of whom I spoke") and translations differ.

18On that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord GOD, my fury will rise up and show on my face.

18And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.

NoteThe Hebrew idiom is that fury "comes up in the nose" or face, anger seen in the flare of the nostrils and the set of the features. It describes visible rage, not a private feeling.

19In my jealous anger and in the heat of my rage I have said this: On that day there will be a great shaking, an earthquake, in the land of Israel.

19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

Note"Jealous" here translates a word closer to fierce protectiveness or zeal, the passion of someone defending what is his own. It is the word used of a husband's response to a broken marriage, not of petty envy.

20The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the wild animals, every creature that crawls on the ground, and every person on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

20So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

21I will call for a sword against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord GOD. Every man's sword will turn against his own brother.

21And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

NoteAn army turning its swords on itself was a recognized battlefield outcome: in panic and darkness, allied contingents speaking different languages mistake each other for the enemy. Other Old Testament battles are described the same way.

22I will bring my judgment against him with disease and bloodshed. I will pour down flooding rain, huge hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur on him, on his troops, and on the many nations with him.

22And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Note"Bring my judgment against him" uses a courtroom word, to bring suit, to press a legal case. The penalties that follow are imposed as a verdict rather than as random destruction. Rain, hail, fire, and sulfur are the standard furniture of a divine storm in this literature; sulfur (the King James "brimstone") is the yellow mineral that burns with a choking smell, found around the Dead Sea, and is what falls on Sodom in Genesis.

23In this way I will show how great I am and how holy I am, and I will make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

23Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.