Ezekiel 38

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² ‘Son of man, turn towards Gog and the country of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.

³ Say, “The Lord Yahweh says this: I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.

⁴ I will turn you round, fixing hooks in your jaws, and drag you and your troops along, all the horses and well-armoured horsemen, and all that great army carrying shields and bucklers, and wielding swords.

⁵ Persia and Cush and Put are with them, all with buckler and helmet;

⁶ Gomer and all its troops, northernmost Beth-togarmah and all its troops,[*b] and many nations with you.

⁷ Be ready, be well prepared, you and all your troops and the others rallying round you, and hold yourself at my service.

⁸ Many days will pass before you are given orders; in years to come you will march against this country. Its inhabitants will have been living undisturbed, remote from all other peoples, since they escaped the sword and were gathered in from various nations, here in the long-deserted mountains of Israel.

⁹ Like a storm you will come up and onwards, and cover the land like a cloud, you, your army and many nations with you.

¹⁰ The Lord Yahweh says this: On that day, a thought is going to enter your mind and you will work out a wicked plan.

¹¹ You will say: I will attack this undefended country and march against this peaceful nation living undisturbed. They all live in towns that have no walls or bars or gates.

¹² To plunder them for loot, I am going to reach out my hand towards the ruins they live in, against this nation gathered out of other nations, these stock-breeders and tradesmen who live at the navel of the earth.[*c]

¹³ Sheba and Dedan, the traders of Tarshish and all its young lions will ask you: Have you come for plunder? Are you massing your troops with a view to looting? To make off with gold and silver, seize cattle and goods, and come away with unlimited spoil?”

¹⁴ ‘And so, son of man, say in prophecy to Gog, “The Lord Yahweh says this: Is it not true that you are planning to set out at a time when my people Israel is living undisturbed?

¹⁵ You plan to leave your home in the far north, you and many nations with you, a great army of countless troops all mounted.

¹⁶ You plan to invade Israel, my people. You will be like a cloud covering the earth. I myself am going to bring you in days to come to attack my country, so that the nations may learn what I am, when I have used you, Gog, to display my holiness to them.

¹⁷ The Lord Yahweh says this: It was of you that I spoke in the past through my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied and foretold your invasion.

¹⁸ On the day Gog attacks the land of Israel – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – I shall grow angry. In my anger,

¹⁹ my jealousy and the heat of my fury I say it: I swear that on that day there will be a fearful quaking in the land of Israel.

²⁰ At my presence the fish in the sea and the birds of heaven, the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl along the ground, and all men on earth, will quake. Mountains will fall, cliffs crumble, walls collapse, and

²¹ I will confront him with every sort of terror – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks. His men will turn their swords on each other,

²² I will punish him with plague and bloodshed and send torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone against him and his hordes and against the many nations with him.

²³ I mean to display my greatness and holiness and to compel the many nations to acknowledge me; this is how they will learn that I am Yahweh.”