Ezekiel 39:14-29

39:14 They will designate men to scout continually ¹  through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, ²  in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months. 39:15 When the scouts survey ³  the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, until those assigned to burial duty have buried it ⁴  in the valley of Hamon-Gog. 39:16 (A city by the name of Hamonah ⁵  will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.’

39:17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter ⁶  which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 39:18 You will eat the flesh of warriors ⁷  and drink the blood of the princes of the earth – the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan. 39:19 You will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, ⁸  at my slaughter ⁹  which I have made for you. 39:20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, ¹⁰  with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the sovereign Lord.

39:21 “I will display my majesty ¹¹  among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed, and the power I have exhibited ¹²  among them. 39:22 Then the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 39:23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, ¹³  for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword. 39:24 According to their uncleanness and rebellion I have dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

39:25 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore ¹⁴  the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name. 39:26 They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid. 39:27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations. 39:28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile ¹⁵  any longer. 39:29 I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, ¹⁶  declares the sovereign Lord.”

[39:14]  ¹ tn Heb “men of perpetuity.”

[39:14]  ² tn Heb “and bury the travelers and those who remain on the surface of the ground.” The reference to “travelers” seems odd and is omitted in the LXX. It is probably an accidental duplication (see v. 11).

[39:15]  ³ tn Heb “as the scouts scout.”

[39:15]  ⁴ tn That is, the aforementioned bone.

[39:16]  ⁵ tn This name appears to be a feminine form of the word “horde,” used in the name Hamon-Gog.

[39:17]  ⁶ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:18]  ⁷ sn See Rev 19:17-18.

[39:19]  ⁸ sn Eating the fat and drinking blood were God’s exclusive rights in Israelite sacrifices (Lev 3:17).

[39:19]  ⁹ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “chariots.”

[39:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “my glory.”

[39:21]  ¹² tn Heb “my hand which I have placed.”

[39:23]  ¹³ tn Or “in their punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.

[39:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cause to return.”

[39:28]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.

[39:29]  ¹⁶ sn See Ezek 11:19; 37:14.