The Lord Will Have Great Victory Over the Nations
1A message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 2“Son of man, turn your attention to Gog. He is from the land of Magog. He is the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. Prophesy against him. 3Tell him, ‘The Lord and King says, “Gog, I am against you. You are the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. 4But I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws. I will bring you out of your land along with your whole army. Your horses will come with you. Your horsemen will be completely armed. Your huge army will carry large and small shields. All of them will be ready to use their swords. 5The men of Persia, Cush and Put will march out with them. All of them will have shields and helmets. 6Gomer and all its troops will be there too. Beth Togarmah from the far north will also come with all its troops. Many nations will help you.
7“ ‘ “Get ready. Be prepared. Take command of the huge armies gathered around you. 8After many years you will be called together to fight. Later, you will march into a land that has not had war for a while. Its people were gathered together from many nations. They came to the mountains of Israel. No one had lived in those mountains for a long time. So the people had been brought back from other nations. Now all the people live in safety. 9You, all your troops and the many nations with you will march up to attack them. All of you will advance like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering their land.”
10“ ‘The Lord and King says, “At that time some ideas will come to you. You will make evil plans. 11You will say, ‘I will march out against a land whose villages don’t have walls around them. I’ll attack those peaceful people. I’ll do this when they aren’t expecting it. None of their villages has walls or gates with metal bars on them. 12I will rob those people. I’ll steal everything they have. Then I’ll turn my attention to the destroyed houses where people are living again. They have returned there from other nations. Now they are rich. They have plenty of livestock and all kinds of goods. They are living in Israel. It is the center of the earth.’ 13The people of Sheba and Dedan will speak to you. So will the traders of Tarshish and all its villages. They will say, ‘Have you come to rob us? Have you gathered your huge army together to steal our silver and gold? Are you going to take away from us our livestock and goods? Do you plan to carry off everything we have?’ ” ’
14“Son of man, prophesy. Tell Gog, ‘The Lord and King says, “A time is coming when my people Israel will be living in safety. You will see that it is a good time to attack them. 15So you will come from your place in the far north. Many nations will join you. All their men will be riding on horses. You will have a huge and mighty army. 16They will advance against my people Israel. They will be like a cloud covering their land. Gog, in days to come I will bring you against my land. Then the nations will know me. I will use you to prove to them how holy I am.”
17“ ‘Here is what the Lord and King says to Gog. “In the past I spoke about you through my servants, the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18Here is what will happen in days to come. You will attack the land of Israel. That will stir up my burning anger,” announces the Lord and King. 19“At that time my burning anger will blaze out at you. There will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and the wild animals will tremble with fear. They will tremble with fear because of what I will do. So will every creature that moves along the ground. And so will all the people on earth. The mountains will come crashing down. The cliffs will break into pieces. Every wall will fall to the ground. 21I will punish you on all my mountains,” announces the Lord and King. “Your men will use their swords against one another. 22I will judge you. I will send a plague against you. A lot of blood will be spilled. I will send heavy rain, hailstones and burning sulfur down to the earth. They will fall on you and your troops. They will also come down on the many nations that are helping you. 23That will show how great and holy I am. I will make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’
The Lord’s great victory over the nations
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2‘Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of38:2 Or the prince of Rosh, Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him 3and say: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of38:3 Or Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshek and Tubal. 4I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army – your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5Persia, Cush38:5 That is, the upper Nile region and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops – the many nations with you.
7‘ “Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
10‘ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: on that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11You will say, ‘I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people – all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the centre of the land.38:12 The Hebrew for this phrase means the navel of the earth.’ 13Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages38:13 Or her strong lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?’ ”
14‘Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: in that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.
17‘ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: you are the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18This is what will happen in that day: when Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. 19In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulphur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
