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Ezekiel

About this book
Chapter 38

1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, all of them armed with swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Put are with them, all of them with shields and helmets. 6 They are joined by Gomer with all its troops and by Beth Togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples are with you. 7 “‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, from many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely. 9 You will advance; you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the earth, you, all your troops, and the many other peoples with you. 10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against those living quietly in security—all of them living without walls and barred gates— 12 to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the navel of the earth.”⁠ 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’ 14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice 15 and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In future days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself through you, O Gog. 17 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days that I would bring you against them? 18 On that day, when Gog invades the land of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake at my presence.⁠ The mountains will topple, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will call for a sword to attack Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother.⁠ 22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops, and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones,⁠ fire, and brimstone.⁠ 23 I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 38:12 and 1 Enoch 26:1 and Jubilees 8:12

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Ezekiel 38 calls Israel the “navel of the earth,” an image echoed in 1 Enoch and Jubilees to describe Israel as the center of the world. In Jubilees, this area is given to Shem in the divine division of land, while in 1 Enoch it is a cosmic mountain.

Passages

Ezekiel 38:12

Hebrew Bible
11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against those living quietly in security—all of them living without walls and barred gates— 12 to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the navel of the earth.” 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

1 Enoch 26:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And I went from there to the middle of the earth, and I saw a blessed place where trees with branches were abiding and blooming [from a dismembered tree]. 2 And there I saw a holy mountain, and beneath the mountain to the east there was a stream that flowed towards the south. 3 And I saw towards the east another mountain higher than this, and between them a deep and narrow ravine: in it also a stream ran beneath the mountain.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jubilees 8:12

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
11 And he called his sons, and they came close to him, they and their children, and he divided the earth into the lots, which his three sons were to take possession of, and they reached out their hands, and took the writing from the fold of their father Noah's clothing. 12 And the document assigned to Shem as his share the middle of the earth which he should take as an inheritance for himself and for his sons for the generations of eternity, from the middle of the mountain range of Rafa, from the mouth of the water from the river Tina, and his portion goes toward the west through the middle of this river, and it extends until it reaches the water of the abysses, out of which this river flows out and pours its waters into the sea Me'at, and this river flows into the great sea. And all that is toward the north is Japheth's, and all that is toward the south belongs to Shem.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... In the redivision, Shem’s lot - he is the good son - was assigned the center of the earth: this matches Ezekiel’s notion of the land of Israel as the Earth's “navel” (Ezekiel 38:12), compare 1 Enoch 26:1 ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 78.
"... During the centuries from the Exile in Babylon in the sixth century BCE to the first century CE, Jews lauded the Holy City and declared Jerusalem to be the center of the earth. Such claims and perceptions loom prominently in Ezekiel 38:12, 1 Enoch 26:1, and Jubilees 8:19. They evolve from earlier poetic visions, notably Psalm 87 ..."
James H. Charlesworth, “Devotion to and Worship in Jerusalem’s Temple,” in Jesus and Temple: Textual and Archaeological Explorations, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014), 1–17.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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  • Can these be referenced to the sign of Jonah three days in the belly of the whale and Jesus' three days in the heart of the earth?

    Linda Donaldson, October 27, 2025

Ezekiel 38:12 and 1 Enoch 26:1 and Jubilees 8:12

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