Ezekiel 38

KJV · Chapter 38/48

1And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

4And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

6Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

7Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

8After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

9Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

10Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

11And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

12To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

13Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

14Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

15And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

16And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

17Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?

18And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

20So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

21And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

22And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

23Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God announces that, in future days, Gog, leader of the land of Magog, will lead a great coalition of nations in an attack against restored Israel, but will be supernaturally defeated by God.

Explanation

This chapter opens one of the most discussed and debated prophetic sections of the Old Testament, generally interpreted as referring to a final confrontation between organized forces of evil and God's people living in peace and security. The mention of nations from the far north and distant regions gathering against Israel, driven by greed for wealth and land, illustrates how the prosperity and peace of God's people can attract envy and hostility. Regardless of the various interpretations of the exact identity of Gog and Magog throughout history, the central principle is clear: no coalition of human power, however great, can prevail against God's ultimate protection over his people.

Fun facts

  • 'Gog and Magog' are taken up directly in the book of Revelation (20:8), showing how this prophecy became a central reference point in later biblical apocalyptic literature.
  • Scholars have historically linked 'Meshech and Tubal' to peoples who inhabited regions of present-day Turkey and the Caucasus in antiquity, though the exact geographic identification remains debated among specialists.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezekiel 38:1The formula that opens a new oracle, but this time not against a known historical nation, rather against a composite adversary coming from the far north.
  2. Ezekiel 38:2Gog and Magog are names used only here and in a few other places in the Bible for an enemy coming from the north in an apocalyptic vision — the text does not give enough detail to identify a specific historical people, and the task here is not to guess who that would be today, only to record what the text says about this symbolic figure.
  3. Ezekiel 38:3It repeats the formula ‘I am against thee,’ used in the earlier oracles against real nations, now applied to this figure that scholars still debate how to identify historically.
  4. Ezekiel 38:4‘Hooks into thy jaws,’ already used for Pharaoh in chapters 29 and 32, reappears here: it is God who leads Gog into battle — even the villain of the story acts under divine control.
  5. Ezekiel 38:5A list of Gog’s allied peoples — Persia, Cush, Put — forming a coalition of distant nations, which reinforces the scale of the threat described.
  6. Ezekiel 38:6More allies join the list: Gomer and Togarmah, peoples of the far north, in what is now Turkey and the Caucasus — the coalition comes from several directions at once.
  7. Ezekiel 38:7An ironic order: ‘prepare for thyself’ for the attack, as though Gog were in control — but the text has already made clear that it is God who directs the whole scene.
  8. Ezekiel 38:8‘In the latter years’ is a common expression in apocalyptic language for an indefinite future within the vision, not a date on a calendar — the apocalyptic genre uses this kind of open horizon to describe a final confrontation between God’s people and hostile forces.
  9. Ezekiel 38:9The invasion is described as a storm or a cloud covering the land, the image of an army so large it darkens the whole horizon.
  10. Ezekiel 38:10The ‘evil thought’ arises in Gog’s own heart, yet it remains part of a larger plan that he himself does not realize he is merely following.
  11. Ezekiel 38:11Gog’s motivation is to attack a people living in peace, without walls or gates — a detail showing that this attack comes right in the middle of the safety promised in the earlier chapters.
  12. Ezekiel 38:12The stated goal is plunder: seizing the wealth and livestock of a people who had just reorganized themselves after returning from exile.
  13. Ezekiel 38:13Even other trading peoples — Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish — question Gog’s intentions, recognizing that this is clearly a raid for plunder.
  14. Ezekiel 38:14A rhetorical question that introduces God’s answer: Gog would discover firsthand what it means to attack a people under divine protection.
  15. Ezekiel 38:15It repeats the description of the army coming from the far north, mounted on horses, in enormous numbers, reinforcing the scale of the announced threat.
  16. Ezekiel 38:16It reinforces that this confrontation serves a greater purpose: showing the nations who God is through the defeat of so great a threat.
  17. Ezekiel 38:17A question linking this figure to old prophecies already made by other prophets of Israel — suggesting that this threat represents a recurring type of danger.
  18. Ezekiel 38:18It marks the moment of the divine reaction: Gog’s arrival against Israel stirs up God’s indignation, setting up the chapter’s climax.
  19. Ezekiel 38:19Earthquake, famine, pestilence, hailstones: the pattern of destruction described against Gog repeats the same elements already used in other judgments in the book, against Jerusalem and against Egypt — it is the standard vocabulary of prophetic judgment poetry, reused on a larger scale.
  20. Ezekiel 38:20An exaggerated description of the shaking caused by the divine intervention: fish, birds, and reptiles react, and even mountains and walls collapse — all creation feels the impact.
  21. Ezekiel 38:21Gog’s defeat comes in an unexpected way: the confusion makes the invading army turn against itself.
  22. Ezekiel 38:22Besides the internal confusion, come plagues, hailstones, and fire — images recalling other judgments already told in the Bible, reinforcing the extraordinary nature of the defeat.
  23. Ezekiel 38:23The chapter’s conclusion: the purpose of this whole confrontation is for the nations to recognize God through what happened.

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