Gog Falls on the Mountains
Gog falls on Israel's mountains, his weapons burned for fuel for seven years, while burial parties work seven months and markers are set beside stray bones. Birds are summoned to a grim feast. Our Father says the exile was never his absence, and pours out his Spirit.
39 1"And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog: This is what the Sovereign Father says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2I will turn you around, drive you on, bring you up from the far north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. 3Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and knock your arrows from your right. 4You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples with you. I will give you as food to every kind of bird of prey and to the wild animals. 5You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Father. 6I will send fire on Magog and on those living securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Father. 7I will make my holy name known among my people Israel, and will no longer let my holy name be desecrated. Then the nations will know that I am the Father, the Holy One in Israel. 8Look, it is coming and it will happen, declares the Sovereign Father. This is the day I spoke of.'
9"Then those who live in Israel's cities will go out, make fires with the weapons and burn them—shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears—using them as fuel for seven years. 10They will gather no wood from the field or forest, for they will burn the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Father.'
11"On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It blocks travelers, for there they will bury Gog and all his multitude, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-gog. a a v11 Hamon-gog means "the multitude of Gog" — the valley is named for the vast horde buried there. 12For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13Everyone in the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display my glory, declares the Sovereign Father.'
14"They will appoint men to pass through the land continually, burying those left on the ground's surface, to cleanse it. After seven months they will search. 15As they pass through the land, anyone seeing a human bone sets up a marker beside it, until the buriers bury it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. 16(There will also be a city called Hamonah there.) So they will cleanse the land.'
17"As for you, son of man, this is what the Sovereign Father says: Speak to the birds of every kind and to all the beasts of the field: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel; you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of earth's princes—rams, lambs, goats, bulls, all fatlings of Bashan. 19You will eat fat till gorged and drink blood till drunk, at the sacrifice I prepare for you. 20At my table you'll eat your fill of horses and charioteers, of strong men and soldiers of every kind, declares the Sovereign Father.'
21"I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment I carried out and the hand I laid on them. 22And from that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am their Father. 23Then the nations will know the house of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face, gave them to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24I dealt with them according to their impurity and sins, and hid my face from them.'
25"So the Sovereign Father says: Now I will restore Jacob's fortunes and have compassion on all Israel's house, and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26They will bear their shame and all the treachery they did against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to frighten them. 27When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from their enemies' lands, I will show myself holy through them before many nations. 28Then they will know I am their Father, because I exiled them among the nations, then gathered them to their own land, leaving none behind. 29I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Father."
