Ezekiel 38:11-22

38:11 You will say, “I will invade ¹  a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against ²  those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates – 38:12 to loot and plunder, to attack ³  the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center ⁴  of the earth.” 38:13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors ⁵  will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’

38:14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice ⁶  38:15 and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army. 38:16 You will advance ⁷  against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself ⁸  through you, O Gog.

38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants ⁹  the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days ¹⁰  that I would bring you against them? 38:18 On that day, when Gog invades ¹¹  the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 38:19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, ¹²  I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake ¹³  in the land of Israel. 38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake ¹⁴  at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs ¹⁵  will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 38:21 I will call for a sword to attack ¹⁶  Gog ¹⁷  on all my mountains, declares the sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. 38:22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

[38:11]  ¹ tn Heb “go up against.”

[38:11]  ² tn Heb “come (to).”

[38:12]  ³ tn Heb “to turn your hand against.”

[38:12]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term occurs elsewhere only in Judg 9:37. Perhaps it means “high point, top.”

[38:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “young lions.”

[38:14]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text is framed as a rhetorical question: “will you not take notice?”

[38:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “come up.”

[38:16]  ⁸ tn Or “reveal my holiness.”

[38:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”

[38:17]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.

[38:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “goes up against.”

[38:19]  ¹² sn The phrase “in the fire of my fury” occurs in Ezek 21:31; 22:21, 31.

[38:19]  ¹³ tn Or “shaking.”

[38:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “tremble.”

[38:20]  ¹⁵ tn The term occurs only here and in Song of Songs 2:14.

[38:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “against.”

[38:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Gog, cf. v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.