Ezekiel 39:17-29

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 ¹  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 ²  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, ³  at my slaughter ⁴  which I have made for you. 39:20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, ⁵  with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the sovereign Lord.

39:21 “I will display my majesty ⁶  among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed, and the power I have exhibited ⁷  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, ⁸  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 ⁹  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 ¹⁰  any longer. 39:29 I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, ¹¹  declares the sovereign Lord.”

[39:17]  ¹ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:18]  ² sn See Rev 19:17-18.

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

[39:19]  ⁴ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “chariots.”

[39:21]  ⁶ tn Or “my glory.”

[39:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “my hand which I have placed.”

[39:23]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause to return.”

[39:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.

[39:29]  ¹¹ sn See Ezek 11:19; 37:14.