Ezekiel 39

1Son of man, you must prophesy against the nations. Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD God says: I am against you, Gog, prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2I will turn you round and I will pull you along. I will bring you from the far north to attack the mountains of Israel. 3Then I will knock your arms out of your hands. 4You will fall on Israel’s mountains. You and your soldiers and the nations with you will all fall there. Birds of many kinds and wild animals will feed on your dead bodies. 5I have decided that you will fall in the fields.’ That is what the LORD God says.

6‘I will send fire to burn Magog and the people who live in safe towns by the sea. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

7My people, Israel will know that my name is holy. No longer will I let them say bad things about me. And the nations round you will know that I, the LORD am the holy God in Israel. 8I promise that I will cause this to happen. You can be sure that this day will come’, says the LORD God.

‘I told you that this day would come.

9Then those who live in Israel’s towns will go out. They will pick up the arms and they will burn them. They will burn the small and large shields, the heavy sticks, the throwing sticks and the sharp pointed sticks (swords). They will use them to make their fires. They will have enough wood for seven (7) years of fires. 10They will not have to go into the fields or forests to find wood. They will take away the things from those who took their things’, says the LORD God.

11‘They will bury Gog in the valley east of the sea. They will bury Gog and all his armies there. So men will not be able to walk through this valley. They will call it the valley of Hamon Gog (Gog’s army).

12Israel’s people will need seven (7) months to bury all the dead bodies. Then the land will be clean. 13All the people in the country will bury the dead bodies. They will always remember that day, the day that I won the fight. They will give me glory’, says the LORD God.

14‘They will choose some men to clean the land. They will travel through all the country. Other men will bury the dead bodies that remain on the ground. They will begin to do this at the end of the seven (7) months. 15The men who walk through the country will find dead men’s bones. They will put a sign by each one. Then the men who bury the bodies will bury them in the valley of Hamon Gog. 16(A town called Hamonah is also there.) That is how they will make the land clean.’

17Son of man, this is what the LORD God says: ‘Shout to all kinds of birds and wild animals, “Come here from all the country to eat the meal that I have prepared for you. It is a great sacrifice on Israel’s mountains. There you will eat meat and you will drink blood. 18You will eat the meat of great men and you will drink the blood of kings. You will eat them like the fat sheep, cows and animals from Bashan that you eat. 19At this sacrifice, you will eat so much fat that you cannot eat any more. You will drink so much blood that you become drunk. 20I will give you horses and their riders to eat. I will give you great men and many kinds of soldiers to eat”’, says the LORD God.

21‘I will show my glory to all the nations. They will see that I can punish people. And they will know that I decide how and when to punish them. 22From that time and for all the time after that, Israel’s people will know that I am the LORD their God. 23And the nations will know that I sent Israel’s people away from their country. They will know that I punished my people because of their sin. They had not been faithful to me so I turned away from them. I let their enemies take them and kill them with swords. 24I punished them because they had not kept themselves clean from sin. I hid myself from them because they had done so many evil things.’

25So this is what the LORD God says. ‘Now I will bring back Jacob (Israel) from the countries where his people are prisoners. I will be kind to all Israel’s people. And I will make them see that I am holy. 26They will forget that they were ashamed. They will forget that they failed to keep their promises to me. That was when they lived in a safe country. In that country, nobody made them afraid. 27I will bring them back from the lands where their enemies took them. The nations will see what I have done. So all the nations will know that I am holy. 28Then Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. I sent my people away to far countries. But I will bring them all back to their own country. I will not leave any behind. 29No longer will I turn away from them. I will pour my Spirit over Israel’s people’, says the LORD God.