Ezekiel 38
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 38
First Prophecy against Gog.[a] 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, turn your face toward Gog, in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
3 Say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around and affix hooks in your jaws, and I will lead you forth with your entire army—your horses and your horsemen, all of them fully equipped, and a huge horde with bucklers and shields, all of them brandishing their swords.
5 Accompanying them will be the forces of Persia, Ethiopia, and Put, all with shields and helmets; 6 Gomer[b] and all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the far north with all its troops—a huge assemblage gathered in support of you. 7 Get ready and be prepared, you and all your troops and all your allies that have come together to support you. Keep yourselves at my disposal.
8 After a long period of time, you will be given orders, and sometime thereafter you will invade a land that has emerged from ruin. Its people have been assembled from many nations on the mountains of Israel which had long been desolate, and all of them are living in safety. 9 You will advance, coming forth like a storm. You will cover the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and the many nations who have come to support you.
10 Thus says the Lord God: On that day thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will attack this country that has no means of defense and march against this peaceful nation which dwells with a sense of security, even though it has no walls or bars or gates. 12 I will plunder and loot and strip bare the settlements which once lay in ruins but are now inhabited by a people gathered from the nations who dwell at the very center of the world, a people engaged in trade and breeding cattle.”
13 Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages, will say to you, “Is it for plunder that you have come? Have you assembled your horde to carry off silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, and to seize a great amount of booty?”
14 Second Prophecy against Gog. Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, will you not rouse yourself 15 and come forth from your home in the far recesses of the north, you and many nations with you, a mighty army of soldiers beyond counting, all of them riding on horses? 16 You will come forth against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the final days, I will bring you against my land so that the nations will know me when through you, O Gog, I display my holiness before their eyes.
17 Thus says the Lord God: It was you of whom I spoke in former days through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them. 18 On that day, when Gog attacks the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my fury will be aroused.
19 In my jealousy and in my blazing wrath, I swear that there will be a tremendous earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and all the reptiles that crawl on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down, cliffs will crumble, and every wall will tumble to the ground.
21 I will summon the sword against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God, and the swords of all will be turned against their comrades. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed, I will bring judgment upon him, and I will pour down torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone upon him and his troops and the many nations that are supporting him. 23 I will, thereby, display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 38:1 It would be useless to try to identify persons and countries in this fanciful description. The poet uses apocalyptic ideas and mythology in order to teach us how to read the main guiding lines of the history of salvation as seen through the tragic experience of the exiles. Israel has been uprooted and mistreated by the pagans whom God has used in punishing his people; the forces of the world seem to have formed a coalition which serves God as a weapon against the rebellious nation. But this time of suffering leads to peace and prosperity, and then all of Israel’s enemies will be under its feet. These pictures with their vivid colors are made up of numerous fragments; they make use of elements—plague, earthquakes, floods, fire and brimstone—that gradually become characteristic of the way in which the Jewish tradition represents the critical moment, the final conflict between good and evil, God and sin. The name of Gog, with its reputation for savagery, stands for all the nations that have oppressed Israel and that always come from the north. The battle will take place in a distant future which cannot be specified and in which the unlikely is imagined as happening.
- Ezekiel 38:6 Gomer represents the Cimmerians, north of the Black Sea. Beth-togarmah is Armenia.
