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Ezekiel

About this book
Chapter 39

1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! 2 I will turn you around and drag you along; I will lead you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand. 4 You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast. 5 You will fall dead in the open field; for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. 6 I will send fire on Magog and those who live securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am the Lord. 7 “‘I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore.⁠ Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 8 Realize that it is coming and it will be done, declares the Sovereign Lord. It is the day I have spoken about. 9 “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and use the weapons for kindling—the shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears—they will burn them for seven years. 10 They will not need to take wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, declares the Sovereign Lord. 11 “‘On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 For seven months Israel will bury them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will be a memorial for them on the day I magnify myself, declares the Sovereign Lord. 14 They will designate men to scout continually through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months. 15 When the scouts survey the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, until those assigned to burial duty have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog. 16 (A city by the name of Hamonah will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.’ 17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter that I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan.⁠ 19 You will eat fat until you are full and drink blood until you are drunk at my slaughter that I have made for you.⁠ 20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. 21 “I will display my majesty among the nations.⁠ All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed and the power I have exhibited among them. 22 Then the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and rebellion I have dealt with them, and I hid my face from them. 25 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name. 26 They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile any longer. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ezekiel describes a future when the exile ends and God’s Spirit is poured on Israel, depicting restoration and renewed divine presence. Joel expands this into a vision where the Spirit is poured out universally, beyond the leaders and on all people.

Passages

Ezekiel 39:29

Hebrew Bible
27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile any longer. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Joel 2:28

Hebrew Bible
26 You will have plenty to eat, and your hunger will be fully satisfied; you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has acted wondrously in your behalf. My people will never again be put to shame. 27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God; there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame. 28 (3:1) “After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have prophetic dreams; your young men will see visions. 29 Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth—blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joel

References

"... The allusive texture is probably densest in the late Book of Joel, sometimes called the 'learned prophet,' who, though sedulous in his recreation of the old oral forms, must have composed his prophecies in writing toward the close of the Persian period (early fourth century B.C.E.). Like the authors of the two pseudonymous collections sometimes known as 'Second Zechariah' (Zechariah 9-14), Joel appeals to textual traditions in support of an eschatological vision which will supersede the theocratic reliance on ritual and law. His picture of the endtime, later adopted by the author of Acts for Peter's speech at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21), includes a radical democratization of spiritual authority ... (Joel 2:28) Yet this very passage is itself heavily indebted to at least two literary models: Ezekiel's prediction of the outpouring of spirit upon the house of Israel (Ezekiel 39:29), which also underlies the transition from the previous oracle (compare Joel 2:27 and Ezekiel 39:28), and Moses' defense of unauthorized prophecy in the Wilderness camp (Numbers 11:29) - a paradoxically mediated projection of unmediated experience ..."
Herbert Marks, “The Twelve Prophets,” in The Literary Guide to the Bible, ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987), 207–233.

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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Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28

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