American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Ezekiel 39
1
Therefore, you son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
Reference
References God
Ezekiel 35:3
2
And I will turn you back, and leave but the sixth part of you, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring you on the mountains of Israel:
Reference
3
And I will smite your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.
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4
You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your bands, and the people that is with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
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5
You shall fall on the open field: for I have spoken it, said the Lord GOD.
6
And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Reference
Parallel theme
Amos 1:4
Ezekiel 30:16
Jeremiah 25:22
Isaiah 66:19
Psalm 72:10
Nahum 1:6
Amos 1:10
References Lord
Ezekiel 30:8
7
So will I make my holy name known in the middle of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Reference
Holy
Ezekiel 38:16
Isaiah 12:6
Ezekiel 20:39
Isaiah 55:5
Isaiah 60:9
Isaiah 43:14
Isaiah 60:14
Parallel theme
Ezekiel 20:14
References Lord
Ezekiel 38:23
Exodus 20:7
8
Behold, it is come, and it is done, said the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
Reference
References God
Ezekiel 38:17
9
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
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10
So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, said the Lord GOD.
Reference
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
📍 Locations
12
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
Reference
13
Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, said the Lord GOD.
Reference
14
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain on the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
📍 Valley of Hamon-gog
16
And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
📍 Hamonah
17
And, you son of man, thus said the Lord GOD; Speak to every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh, and drink blood.
Reference
Blood
Isaiah 34:6
Jeremiah 46:10
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 12:9
Isaiah 56:9
Isaiah 18:6
References Israel
Ezekiel 39:4
Sacrifice
Zephaniah 1:7
18
You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatted calves of Bashan.
Reference
19
And you shall eat fat till you be full, and drink blood till you be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20
Thus you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, said the Lord GOD.
Reference
21
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.
Reference
Judgment
Exodus 7:4
Parallel theme
Isaiah 37:20
Exodus 9:16
Ezekiel 38:16
Ezekiel 36:23
Ezekiel 38:23
22
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
Reference
References God
Jeremiah 24:7
Ezekiel 39:28
Ezekiel 34:30
Ezekiel 28:26
References Lord
Jeremiah 31:34
Ezekiel 39:7
23
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 1:15
Deuteronomy 32:30
Deuteronomy 32:20
References Israel
Ezekiel 39:29
Sin
Isaiah 59:2
Word
Isaiah 42:24
Leviticus 26:25
24
According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done to them, and hid my face from them.
Reference
25
Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
Reference
Grace
Jeremiah 30:18
Holy
Ezekiel 20:40
References God
Isaiah 56:8
Jeremiah 31:1
References Israel
Ezekiel 34:13
Hosea 1:11
Jeremiah 33:7
References Lord
Jeremiah 30:3
Jeremiah 30:10
26
After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelled safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
Reference
27
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Reference
Holy
Ezekiel 38:16
Isaiah 5:16
Ezekiel 39:25
Leviticus 10:3
Parallel theme
Ezekiel 38:23
Ezekiel 37:21
28
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them to their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Reference
Summary of Ezekiel 39
Ezekiel 39 completes the prophecy against Gog by describing the total destruction of his enormous invading army on the mountains of Israel, the removal and burial of the countless dead, and the cleansing of the land, while God's victory becomes a public demonstration of His holiness before the nations and leads into a renewed promise that Israel will be gathered, restored, and filled with God's Spirit.
The chapter begins with God declaring that Gog's military power will be broken completely, as his weapons are knocked from his hands and his armies fall upon the mountains of Israel.
The invading coalition that appeared overwhelming in the previous chapter is therefore transformed into a defeated multitude whose weapons become fuel and whose bodies must be buried throughout the land.
The image of seven years of burning the abandoned weapons emphasizes the enormous scale of the defeated army, while also symbolically reversing the normal outcome of warfare because Israel, which once suffered from invading armies, now possesses the resources left behind by an enemy that has been completely destroyed.
The burial of Gog's forces becomes another major feature of the chapter.
Israel will spend seven months burying the dead and searching the land for any remaining bodies or bones so that the land can be cleansed.
This detail emphasizes both the extraordinary size of the invading army and the importance of removing the evidence of death from the restored land.
The battlefield itself becomes a permanent reminder of God's victory, with the valley associated with the name Hamon-gog, meaning the multitude of Gog.
The chapter then uses striking imagery of birds and wild animals gathering for a great feast on the bodies of the defeated warriors.
Although disturbing to modern readers, this imagery communicates something important in the ancient world because honorable burial was highly significant, while exposure to animals represented humiliation and defeat.
The message is therefore that even the most powerful rulers and warriors who come against God will ultimately be unable to preserve their status or escape His judgment.
The defeat of Gog, however, is not presented merely as punishment for one hostile army.
Its larger purpose is to reveal God's glory and holiness to the nations.
The nations will see that the Lord is not a powerless deity whose people were defeated because He could not protect them.
Instead, they will understand that Israel's earlier exile occurred because Israel had sinned and God had allowed judgment to come upon His people.
This distinction is extremely important in Ezekiel.
Israel's exile did not demonstrate God's weakness.
It demonstrated His willingness to judge His own people when they rebelled.
Likewise, Gog's destruction will demonstrate God's willingness and ability to defend His restored people when hostile nations rise against them.
The chapter therefore connects two seemingly opposite actions of God: He judged Israel because of its sin, and He will restore Israel because of His mercy and faithfulness.
God explicitly explains that Israel was scattered among the nations because of its uncleanness and rebellion.
He hid His face from them and allowed their enemies to defeat them.
But the story does not end with judgment.
God promises to restore Jacob, have mercy upon Israel, and become jealous for His holy name.
The people who had experienced shame and exile will again live securely in their own land.
God will gather them from the nations and bring them home, demonstrating before the nations that He remains their God.
The final verse provides one of the chapter's most important conclusions.
God says that He will no longer hide His face from Israel and will pour out His Spirit upon them.
This connects Ezekiel 39 directly with the restoration promises of the surrounding chapters.
The ultimate goal is not simply military security or territorial restoration.
The deeper goal is renewed fellowship with God through His Spirit.
The central message is that Ezekiel 39 completes the prophecy of Gog's invasion by declaring that the enormous coalition attacking restored Israel will be decisively destroyed by God, with the invading armies falling on the mountains, their weapons providing fuel for seven years, their countless dead requiring seven months of burial and cleansing, and the battlefield becoming a lasting testimony to the Lord's victory, while the dramatic imagery of birds and wild animals consuming the defeated warriors emphasizes that even the greatest military powers are powerless when they oppose God's purposes, and the wider purpose of this judgment is to reveal God's holiness and glory before the nations, showing that Israel's earlier exile was caused by its own rebellion rather than God's weakness and that its future restoration will come through God's mercy, faithfulness, and sovereign power, culminating in the promise that God will gather His scattered people, restore them to their land, remove the shame of their former disobedience, and pour out His Spirit upon them so that the restored nation will once again know the Lord as its God and live under His enduring presence.
The chapter begins with God declaring that Gog's military power will be broken completely, as his weapons are knocked from his hands and his armies fall upon the mountains of Israel.
The invading coalition that appeared overwhelming in the previous chapter is therefore transformed into a defeated multitude whose weapons become fuel and whose bodies must be buried throughout the land.
The image of seven years of burning the abandoned weapons emphasizes the enormous scale of the defeated army, while also symbolically reversing the normal outcome of warfare because Israel, which once suffered from invading armies, now possesses the resources left behind by an enemy that has been completely destroyed.
The burial of Gog's forces becomes another major feature of the chapter.
Israel will spend seven months burying the dead and searching the land for any remaining bodies or bones so that the land can be cleansed.
This detail emphasizes both the extraordinary size of the invading army and the importance of removing the evidence of death from the restored land.
The battlefield itself becomes a permanent reminder of God's victory, with the valley associated with the name Hamon-gog, meaning the multitude of Gog.
The chapter then uses striking imagery of birds and wild animals gathering for a great feast on the bodies of the defeated warriors.
Although disturbing to modern readers, this imagery communicates something important in the ancient world because honorable burial was highly significant, while exposure to animals represented humiliation and defeat.
The message is therefore that even the most powerful rulers and warriors who come against God will ultimately be unable to preserve their status or escape His judgment.
The defeat of Gog, however, is not presented merely as punishment for one hostile army.
Its larger purpose is to reveal God's glory and holiness to the nations.
The nations will see that the Lord is not a powerless deity whose people were defeated because He could not protect them.
Instead, they will understand that Israel's earlier exile occurred because Israel had sinned and God had allowed judgment to come upon His people.
This distinction is extremely important in Ezekiel.
Israel's exile did not demonstrate God's weakness.
It demonstrated His willingness to judge His own people when they rebelled.
Likewise, Gog's destruction will demonstrate God's willingness and ability to defend His restored people when hostile nations rise against them.
The chapter therefore connects two seemingly opposite actions of God: He judged Israel because of its sin, and He will restore Israel because of His mercy and faithfulness.
God explicitly explains that Israel was scattered among the nations because of its uncleanness and rebellion.
He hid His face from them and allowed their enemies to defeat them.
But the story does not end with judgment.
God promises to restore Jacob, have mercy upon Israel, and become jealous for His holy name.
The people who had experienced shame and exile will again live securely in their own land.
God will gather them from the nations and bring them home, demonstrating before the nations that He remains their God.
The final verse provides one of the chapter's most important conclusions.
God says that He will no longer hide His face from Israel and will pour out His Spirit upon them.
This connects Ezekiel 39 directly with the restoration promises of the surrounding chapters.
The ultimate goal is not simply military security or territorial restoration.
The deeper goal is renewed fellowship with God through His Spirit.
The central message is that Ezekiel 39 completes the prophecy of Gog's invasion by declaring that the enormous coalition attacking restored Israel will be decisively destroyed by God, with the invading armies falling on the mountains, their weapons providing fuel for seven years, their countless dead requiring seven months of burial and cleansing, and the battlefield becoming a lasting testimony to the Lord's victory, while the dramatic imagery of birds and wild animals consuming the defeated warriors emphasizes that even the greatest military powers are powerless when they oppose God's purposes, and the wider purpose of this judgment is to reveal God's holiness and glory before the nations, showing that Israel's earlier exile was caused by its own rebellion rather than God's weakness and that its future restoration will come through God's mercy, faithfulness, and sovereign power, culminating in the promise that God will gather His scattered people, restore them to their land, remove the shame of their former disobedience, and pour out His Spirit upon them so that the restored nation will once again know the Lord as its God and live under His enduring presence.