God’s Destruction of Gog and His Hordes

¹ “And you, son of man,¹ prophesy against Gog, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you Gog, the head² leader of Meshech and Tubal,

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
2. Or “chief”

² and I will turn you around, and I will drag you along, and I will bring you up from the remote areas of the north, and I will bring you against the mountains of Israel,

³ and I will strike your bow from ⌞your left hand⌟,¹ and your arrows from ⌞your right hand⌟² I will cause to fall.

1. Literally “the hand of left your”
2. Literally “the hand of right your”

⁴ On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all of your troops, and the peoples who are with you, to birds¹ of prey, birds of every wing,² and animals of the field I will give you as food.

1. Hebrew “bird”
2. Or “kind”

⁵ On the surface of the field you will fall, for ⌞I myself⌟¹ have spoken,” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “I, I”
2. Literally “declaration of”

⁶ “And I will send fire against Magog and among the people inhabiting the coastlands ⌞in safety⌟,¹ and they will know that I am Yahweh.

1. Literally “with confidence/trust”

⁷ And ⌞my holy name⌟¹ I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let the name of my holiness be profaned anymore, and the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the holy one in Israel.

1. Literally “the name of my holiness”

⁸ Look! it is coming, and it will happen,” ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh. “It is the day ⌞about which I have spoken⌟.²

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Literally “which I have spoken of”

⁹ “ʻ“And the inhabitants of the towns¹ of Israel will go out, and they will set ablaze, and they will kindle a fire with a weapon² and a small shield and a shield,³ with a bow and with arrows, and with ⌞hand clubs⌟⁴ and with spears,⁵ and so they will light a fire with them, ⌞a fire lasting seven years⌟.⁶

1. Or “cities”
2. Or “weapons”
3. Or “shields and bucklers”; cf. NJPS
4. Literally “with club of hand”
5. Hebrew “spear”
6. Literally “a fire of seven years”

¹⁰ And they will not carry trees from the field, and they will not chop wood from the forests, for with the weapons¹ they will light a fire; and they will plunder those plundering them, and they will plunder those plundering them,” ’ ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh.

1. Hebrew “weapon”
2. Literally “declaration of”

¹¹ “ ‘ “⌞And then⌟¹ on that day I will give to Gog ⌞a grave there⌟² in Israel, The Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea,³ and it ⌞will block⌟⁴ the travelers and Gog and all of his hordes⁵ they will bury there, and they will call it the Valley of ⌞Hamon-Gog⌟.⁶

1. Literally “and it will happen”
2. Literally “a place there of a grave”
3. That is, the Dead Sea
4. Literally “blocking”
5. Hebrew “horde”
6. Literally “Gog’s Multitude”

¹² And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.

¹³ All of the people of the land will bury them, and it will be an honor for them on the day when I appear,” ’ ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

¹⁴ ʻ“And they will set apart ⌞men to continually⌟¹ go through the land burying the travelers,² the ones left over on the surface of the land to cleanse it; ⌞for the whole of⌟³ seven months they will explore it.

1. Literally “men of continuity/men who regularly”
2. In a negative sense = “invaders”
3. Literally “from the end of”

¹⁵ And the ones going through, they will go through within the land, and if anyone sees the bones of a person, then he will build beside it a sign to remain until the buriers have buried him in the Valley of Hamon-Gog.¹

1. Or “Gog’s multitude”

¹⁶ And furthermore the name of the city there is Hamonah,¹ and thus they will cleanse the land.” ’

1. That is, “Multitude”

¹⁷ “And you, son of man,¹ thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Say to ⌞all kinds of birds and animals of the field⌟,² “Be gathered, come be gathered ⌞from everywhere⌟³ to my sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh, and you will drink blood.

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
2. Literally “to bird of every wind and to every animal of the field”
3. Literally “all around”

¹⁸ Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, and the fattened animals of Bashan—all of them!

¹⁹ And you will eat fat ⌞until you are satiated⌟,¹ and you will drink blood ⌞until you are drunk⌟² from my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you,

1. Literally “satiation/gluttony”
2. Literally “to drunkenness”

²⁰ and you will be satisfied at my table with horse and horsemen and warriors and every man of war,” ’ ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

²¹ “And I will display my glory among the nations, and all of the nations will see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid upon them.

²² “And the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God from that day and beyond,

²³ and the nations will know that because of their guilt the house of Israel went into exile, ⌞because⌟¹ they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, and I gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them.

1. Literally “because that”

²⁴ According to their uncleanness and according to their transgression I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

²⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all of the house of Israel, and I will be jealous¹ for ⌞my holy name⌟.²

1. Or “zealous”
2. Literally “for the name of holiness my”

²⁶ And they will forget their disgrace and all of their infidelity that they displayed against me when they dwelt on their soil ⌞in safety⌟¹ ⌞with nobody making them afraid⌟.²

1. Literally “with confidence”
2. Literally “and not was somebody making afraid”

²⁷ When I restore them from the nations and I gather them from the countries of their enemies, then I will show myself holy through them before the eyes of many nations.

²⁸ And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, because of when I deported them into the nations, and I reassembled them to their soil, and ⌞I will not let any of them remain there any longer⌟.¹

1. Literally “not I will leave over/let remain again/still from them there”

²⁹ And I will not hide my face again from them when I pour out my Spirit over¹ the house of Israel,” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh.

1. Or “upon”
2. Literally “declaration of”