Jezekiel 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, set your face against Gog, and the land of Magog, Rhos, prince of Mesoch and Thobel, and prophesy 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 to him, Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I am against you, Rhos prince of Mesoch and Thobel:

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

4 and I will gather you, and all your host, horses and horsemen, all wearing breastplates, with a great multitude, shields and helmets and 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 Persians, and Ethiopians, and Libyans; all with helmets and shields.

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

6 Gomer, and all belonging to him; the house of Thorgama, from the end of the north, and all belonging to him; and many nations 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 you prepared, prepare yourself, you, and all your multitude that is assembled with you, and you shall be to me for a guard.

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

8 He shall be prepared after many days, and he shall come at the end of years, and shall come to a land that is brought back from the sword, when [the people] are gathered from many nations against the land of Israel, which was entirely desolate: and he is come forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell securely.

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 shall go up as rain, and shall arrive as a cloud to cover the land, and there shall be you, and all that are about you, and many nations 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 Thus says the Lord God; It shall also come to pass in that day, that thoughts shall come up into your heart, and you shall devise evil devices.

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 shall say, I will go up to the rejected land; I will come upon them that are at ease in tranquility, and dwelling in peace, all inhabiting a land in which there is no wall, nor bars, nor have they 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 seize plunder, and to take their spoil; to turn my hands against the desolate land that is [now] inhabited, and against a nation that is gathered from many nations, that have acquired property, dwelling in the midst of the land.

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 Sabba, and Daedan, and Carthaginian merchants, and all their villages shall say to you, You are come for plunder to take a prey, and to get spoils: you have gathered your multitude to take silver and gold, to carry off property, to take spoils.

[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 Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord; Will you not arise in that day, when my people Israel are dwelling securely,

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 come out of your place from the farthest north, and many nations with you? all of them mounted on horses, a great gathering, and a large force?

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 shall come up upon my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land; it shall come to pass in the last days, that I will bring you up upon my land, that all the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in you before them.

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 Thus says the Lord God, to Gog; You are [he] concerning whom I spoke in former times, by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, in those days and years, that I would bring you 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 shall come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord God,

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

19 [that] my wrath and my jealousy shall arise, I have spoken in the fire of mine anger, verily in that day there shall 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 and the fish of the sea shall quake at the presence of the Lord, and the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the field, and all the reptiles that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth; and the mountains shall be tore, and the valleys shall fall, and every wall on the land shall fall.

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 summon against it even every fear, says the Lord: the sword of [every] man shall 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 judge him with pestilence, and blood, and sweeping rain, and hailstones; and I will rain upon him fire and brimstone, and upon all that are with him, and upon many nations with him.

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 be magnified, and sanctified, and glorified; and I will be known in the presence of many nations, and they shall know 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].’”