Yechezkiel - Chapter 39

1. And you, Son of man, prophesy about Gog, and say; So says the Lord God: Lo! I am against you, O Gog, prince and head of Meshech and Tubal.

2. And I will unbridle and entice you and lead you up from the utmost parts of the north and bring you upon the mountains of Israel.

and I will entice you [Heb. וְשִּׁשֵּׁאתִי,] like וְהִשֵּׁאתִי, I will entice you upon My people, as in (Ps. 89:23): “No enemy will entice (יַשִׂיא) him.”

3. And I will smite the bow out of your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand.

4. Upon the mountains of Israel shall you fall, you and all your hordes, and the people that are with you; to the birds of prey, to all the winged creatures and the beasts of the field have I given you to be devoured.

5. Upon the open field shall you fall, for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

6. And I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell in safety in the islands, and they will know that I am the Lord.

7. And I will make known My Holy Name in the midst of My people Israel, and I will no longer cause My Holy Name to be profaned, and the nations will know that I, the Lord, am holy in Israel.

and I will no longer cause My Holy Name to be profaned For Israel’s degradation is a profanation of His Name, “inasmuch as it is said of them, ‘these are the people of the Lord’” (above 36:20), and He is unable to save them.

8. Behold it is coming, and it will be, says the Lord God: that is the day whereof I have spoken.

9. Then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth and make fires and heat up with the weapons, the bucklers, and the encompassing shields, the bows and the arrows and the handstaves and the spears, and burn them as fires for seven years.

and heat up [Heb. וְהִשִּׂיקוּ,] like (Orlah 3:5): “An oven that they heated up (שֶּׁהִטִיקוּהָ)” in the language of the Mishnah.

with the weapons [Heb. בַנֶשֶּׁק,] an armures in Old French, with weapons.

10. So that they shall carry no wood from the fields nor cut down any from the forests, for they shall make fires from the weapons. Thus will they spoil those who spoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.

11. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will give Gog a place there as a grave in Israel, the valley of them who pass along the east side of the sea, and it will then stop those who pass along. And there shall they bury Gog and all his hordes, and they shall call it the Valley of Hamon Gog [the masses of Gog].

I will give Gog a place there as a grave A place where there will be a grave for them. Since he is of the seed of Japtheth, who covered his father’s nakedness, he therefore merited burial.

the valley of those who pass along The valley where people pass the Sea of Kinnereth to bring from there Genossar fruits regularly.

the east side of the sea Jonathan renders: on the east of the Sea of Gennasar.

and it will then stop those who pass along [Heb. וְחֹסֶמֶת.] It closes off those who pass, like (Deut. 25:4): “You shall not muzzle (לֹא תַחְסוֹם).” Because of the many corpses that will fall there, travelers will be prevented from passing through. Therefore, they will pass by them and bury them. Menachem (p. 91) interprets it in his book (Machbereth) to mean that they will close their nose so as not to smell the odor of the corpses.

12. And seven months shall the House of Israel be burying them in order to purify the land.

13. They will bury all the people of the land, and they will be renowned; it is a day when I will be glorified, says the Lord God.

They will bury all the people of the land because they died there.

and they will be renowned All the nations will speak their name as praise and as a sign of kindness: “There are no nations as compassionate as this one; do you find a man who buries his enemy who rose up against him to kill him?”

14. Men of continuous employment they shall separate, who pass through the land, burying those who pass through with those who are left on the surface of the land, in order to purify it, at the end of seven months shall they search.

Men of continuous employment Men designed to continuously devote themselves to this. Israel will separate out in order to [be able to] pass through the land and gather the scattered [corpses].

burying with those who pass through Burying with (Heb. אֶת) those who pass through; the corpses (אֶתהַנוֹתָרִים) that will block off and hinder the crossing. Those who crossed the ocean will bury them for their own benefit.

with those who pass through Heb. אֶתהַעֹבְרִים, with those who pass through. So I heard, and so did Jonathan render.

those who are left on the surface of the land far from the crossing. Those who cross the sea will not occupy themselves with burying them. Those designated to devote themselves to this purpose will bury them.

at the end of seven months the majority of the corpses visible to the eye will have been buried; from then on they will probe through the land in the hidden places, in the briars and among the thorns, and bury whomever find.

15. And when they that pass through shall pass and see a human bone, they shall build a sign next to it until the buriers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.

And when they that pass through the land shall pass Wayfarers who see a human bone will construct a marker next to it as a sign that there is a bone of a dead body there, in order that wayfarers and those who prepare ritually pure food should stay away from it.

until the men of continuous employment, designated to search, will come and bury it.

16. And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus they shall purify the land.

And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah And also the city whose name is “the city stirring with numerous people,” that is, the wicked city, the masses of its inhabitants will be buried there.

Thus they shall purify the land [i.e.,] Israel will purify their ritually pure foods and their terumoth in the Land.

Hamonah without a “mappiq hey” since the final “hey” serves as an adjective, for הֲמוֹנָה is like הוֹמִיָה, stirring.

17. And you, son of man, so said the Lord God: Say to every winged bird and to every beast of the field, Assemble and come; gather from around My slaughter, which I am slaughtering for you in a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.

18. The flesh of the mighty you shall eat and the blood of the princes of the earth you shall drink; rams, lambs, he-goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

rams, lambs, he-goats, and bulls kings and dukes, rulers, and princes.

fatlings of Bashan [Heb. מְרִיאִי בָשָּׁן,] An ox given to be fattened is called al meri in Arabic.

19. And you shall eat fat until you are full, and you shall drink blood until you are drunk, from My slaughtering that I have slaughtered for you.

20. And you shall be sated on My table with horses and riders, mighty men and all warriors, says the Lord God.

21. And I shall publicize My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see My judgement that I performed and My hand that I place upon them.

My judgment [Heb. מִשְׁפָּטִי,] My retribution, justize in Old French, judgment, punishment.

22. And the House of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day on.

23. And the nations will know that for their iniquity the House of Israel was exiled, because they betrayed Me, and I hid My face from them, and I delivered them into the hands of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.

And the nations will know that for their iniquity they were exiled [i.e.,] the Children of Israel. When they see My might, they will recognize that it was not because of inability that I did not save them but because of their iniquity that I hid My face from them, and they were exiled.

24. According to their defilement and according to their transgressions I did to them, and I hid My face from them.

25. Therefore, so said the Lord God: Now I shall return to the captivity of Jacob, and I shall have compassion on the House of Israel, and I shall be zealous for My Holy Name.

and I shall be zealous for My Holy Name And I donned the zeal of salvation and vengeance for the sake of My Holy Name, that it no longer be profaned.

and I shall be zealous for My Holy Name [Heb. לְשֵּׁם,] for the sake of My Holy Name, as in (Num. 11:29): “Are you jealous for my sake אַתָּה לִי) (הַמְקַנֵא.”

26. And they shall bear their disgrace and all their treachery that they committed against Me when they dwell on their land securely with no one frightening them.

And they shall bear their disgrace When I do good to them and I do not recompense them according to their evil, they will bear the disgrace and be ashamed to lift up their faces. Menahem, however, explained וְנָשּׂוּי like (Ps. 32:1): “Praiseworthy is he whose transgression is forgiven (נְשּׂוּי),” an expression of atonement.

27. When I return them from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I shall be sanctified through them before the eyes of many nations.

28. And they will know that I am the Lord their God when I exile them to the nations, and I shall gather them to their land, and I shall no longer leave any of them there.

And I shall no longer leave one of them in exile.

29. And I shall no longer hide My face from them, for I shall have poured out My spirit upon the House of Israel," says the Lord God.