Ezekiel 38

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me,

2 Son of man, let your face be turned against Gog, of the land of Magog, the ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and be a prophet against him,

“You human, turn and face Magog, the country where Gog [is the king]. He is [also] the ruler of [the nations of] Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy about [the terrible things that will happen to] him,

3 And say, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am against you, O Gog, ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

and say, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: Gog, you who rule Meshech and Tubal, I am opposed to you.

4 And turning you round, I will put hooks in your mouth and make you come out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them in full war-dress, a great force with breastplate and body-cover, all of them armed with swords:

[It will be as though] I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and bring you [to Israel]—you and all of your army, [including your] horses and men carrying weapons who ride the horses, and many other soldiers carrying large shields and small shields, all of them carrying swords.

5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them; all of them with body-cover and metal head-dress:

[Armies from] Persia, Ethiopia, and Put/Libya will also come, all of them with shields and helmets.

6 Gomer and all her forces; the people of Togarmah in the inmost parts of the north, with all his forces: a great number of peoples with you.

An army from Gomer [north of Israel] will come, and an army from Togarmah far north [of Israel] will come. Armies of many nations will accompany you.’

7 Be ready, make yourself ready, you and all the forces who are with you, and be ready for my orders.

[Tell Gog, ] ‘Get ready and be prepared to be the commander of all those groups of soldiers.

8 After a long time you will get your orders: in the last years you will come into the land which has been given back from the sword, which has been got together out of a great number of peoples, on the mountains of Israel which have ever been a waste: but it has been taken out from the peoples and they will be living, all of them, without fear of danger.

At some future time, I will command you to lead those armies to attack [Israel], a country whose [buildings] have been rebuilt after [they were destroyed in] wars. Their people will have been brought back from many nations [to live again] on the hills of Israel, which had been deserted for a long time. They had been brought back from [other] nations and will be living peacefully.

9 And you will go up, you will come like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your forces, and a great number of peoples with you.

You and all those armies from many nations will go up to Israel, advancing like [SIM] a big storm. Your army will be like a huge cloud that covers the land.

10 This is what the Lord has said: In that day it will come about that things will come into your mind, and you will have thoughts of an evil design:

But this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: On that day, you will have an idea about [DOU] doing an evil thing.

11 And you will say, I will go up to the land of small unwalled towns; I will go to those who are quiet, living, all of them, without fear of danger, without walls or locks or doors:

You will say [to yourself], “My [army] will invade a country where the villages do not have walls around them. We will attack people who are peaceful and do not suspect/think [that they will be attacked]. Their towns and villages do not have walls with gates and bars.

12 To take their property by force and go off with their goods; turning your hand against the waste places which now are peopled, and against the people who have been got together out of the nations, who have got cattle and goods for themselves, who are living in the middle of the earth.

So [it will be easy for] us to attack the people who are living again in those towns that were previously destroyed. They are people who have been gathered from many countries [where they had lived for many years], people who now live safely in their land with all their livestock and other possessions. They are living in the country that is in the middle of the most important countries (OR, [that they think is] [IRO] the most important country) in the world. Our soldiers will take away [DOU] all their valuable possessions.”

13 Sheba, and Dedan and her traders, Tarshish with all her traders, will say to you, Have you come to take our goods? have you got your armies together to take away our property by force? to take away silver and gold, cattle and goods, to go off with great wealth?

[Then people of] Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and nearby villages will come and say to you, “Are you gathering all your soldiers in order to [attack Israel and] take away all their silver and gold? [Do you plan] to take away their livestock and all their other valuable possessions [DOU]?”’

14 For this cause, son of man, be a prophet and say to Gog, These are the words of the Lord: In that day, when my people Israel are living without fear of danger, will you not be moved against them?

Therefore, you human, prophesy about Gog and say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: At that time, when my people of Israel are living safely, you will certainly think about that.

15 And you will come from your place in the inmost parts of the north, you and a great number of peoples with you, all of them on horseback, a great force and a strong army:

So you will come from your place far north [of Israel], with the armies of many [other] nations, all riding horses, a huge army.

16 And you will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land; and it will come about, in the last days, that I will make you come against my land, so that the nations may have knowledge of me when I make myself holy in you, O Gog, before their eyes.

You will march toward my Israeli people, and [your soldiers] will cover the land like a huge cloud. Gog, I will bring your army to attack the country that belongs to me, but [what I do] for you will show the people of other nations that I am holy.

17 This is what the Lord has said: You are he of whom I gave them word in earlier times by my servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those days went on saying, year after year, that I would make you come up against them.

This is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say to Gog: In past years, when I gave messages to my servants, the prophets [in Israel], there were messages [RHQ] about you. At that time, they prophesied for [many] years that I would bring your [armies] to attack my people.

18 And it will come about in that day, when Gog comes up against the land of Israel, says the Lord, that my wrath will come up, and my passion and my bitter feeling.

[So] this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say will happen: When your [army] attacks Israel, I will be very angry with you.

19 For in the fire of my wrath I have said, Truly, in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

I will be very furious, and to show that I am angry, there will be a great earthquake in Israel, [where your armies will be].

20 So that the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the beasts of the field and everything moving on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth, will be shaking before me, and the mountains will be overturned and the high places will come down, and every wall will come falling down to the earth.

The fish in the sea, the birds, the wild animals, and the animals/creatures that crawl on the ground, and all the people on the earth will tremble because of what I [am doing]. Mountains will fall down, cliffs will crumble, and walls everywhere will fall to the ground.

21 And I will send to all my mountains for a sword against him, says the Lord: every man's sword will be against his brother.

Gog, on all the mountains in the country that belongs to me I will cause your soldiers to fight against each other with their swords.

22 And I will take up my cause against him with disease and with blood; and I will send down on him and on his forces and on the peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower and great ice-drops, fire, and burning.

I will punish [MTY] you [and your soldiers] with plagues and murders [MTY]. And I will send down [from the sky], on you and your troops that have come from many nations, huge amounts of rain and hail and burning sulfur.

23 And I will make my name great and make myself holy, and I will make myself clear to a number of nations; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

By doing that, I will cause [the people of] many nations to know that I am very great and holy, and they will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do the things that I say that I will do].’”