Ezekiel 37-42

Ezekiel 37

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.

²He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry.

³Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.”

⁴And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

⁵This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life.

⁶I will attach tendons to you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you so that you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

⁸As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”

¹⁰So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

¹²Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

¹³Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.

¹⁴I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’”

¹⁵Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹⁶“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’

¹⁷Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.

¹⁸When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’

¹⁹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’

²⁰When the sticks on which you write are in your hand and in full view of the people,

²¹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms.

²³They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.

²⁵They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever.

²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary among them forever.

²⁷My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.

²⁸Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is among them forever.’”

Ezekiel 38

¹And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him

³and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

⁴I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army—your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all brandishing their swords.

⁵Persia, Cush, and Put will accompany them, all with shields and helmets,

⁶as well as Gomer with all its troops, and Beth-togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.

⁷Get ready; prepare yourself, you and all your company gathered around you; you will be their guard.

⁸After a long time you will be summoned. In the latter years you will enter a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and all now dwell securely.

⁹You and all your troops, and many peoples with you will go up, advancing like a thunderstorm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

¹¹You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will come against a tranquil people who dwell securely, all of them living without walls or bars or gates—

¹²in order to seize the spoil and carry off the plunder, to turn a hand against the desolate places now inhabited and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and possessions and who live at the center of the land.’

¹³Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to seize great spoil?’

¹⁴Therefore prophesy, son of man, and tell Gog that this is what the Lord GOD says: On that day when My people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not take notice of this?

¹⁵And you will come from your place out of the far north—you and many peoples with you, all riding horses—a mighty horde, a huge army.

¹⁶You will advance against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. It will happen in the latter days, O Gog, that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy in you before their eyes.

¹⁷This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one of whom I have spoken in former days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those times prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?

¹⁸Now on that day when Gog comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, My wrath will flare up.

¹⁹In My zeal and fiery rage I proclaim that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

²⁰The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

²¹And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.

²²I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.

²³I will magnify and sanctify Myself, and will reveal Myself in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 39

¹“As for you, O son of man, prophesy against Gog and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

²I will turn you around, drive you along, bring you up from the far north, and send you against the mountains of Israel.

³Then I will strike the bow from your left hand and dash down the arrows from your right hand.

⁴On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast.

⁵You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

⁶I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

⁸Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD. This is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, kindle fires, and burn up the weapons—the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

¹⁰They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord GOD.

¹¹And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹²For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

¹³All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display My glory, declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁴And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.

¹⁵As they pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will set up a pillar next to it, until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹⁶(Even the city will be named Hamonah.) And so they will cleanse the land.

¹⁷And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.

¹⁸You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.

¹⁹At the sacrifice I am preparing, you will eat fat until you are gorged and drink blood until you are drunk.

²⁰And at My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and warriors of every kind,’ declares the Lord GOD.

²¹I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them.

²²From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.

²³And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword.

²⁴I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid My face from them.

²⁵Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.

²⁶They will forget their disgrace and all the treachery they committed against Me, when they dwell securely in their land, with no one to frighten them.

²⁷When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, I will show My holiness in them in the sight of many nations.

²⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, when I regather them to their own land, not leaving any of them behind after their exile among the nations.

²⁹And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 40

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.

²In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.

³So He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze. He was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.

⁴“Son of man,” he said to me, “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Report to the house of Israel everything you see.”

⁵And I saw a wall surrounding the temple area. Now the length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits (each measuring a cubit and a handbreadth), and he measured the wall to be one rod thick and one rod high.

⁶Then he came to the gate facing east and climbed its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate to be one rod deep.

⁷Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubits between the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep.

⁸Then he measured the portico of the gateway inside;

⁹it was eight cubits deep, and its jambs were two cubits thick. And the portico of the gateway faced the temple.

¹⁰There were three gate chambers on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side also had the same measurements.

¹¹And he measured the width of the gateway entrance to be ten cubits, and its length was thirteen cubits.

¹²In front of each gate chamber was a wall one cubit high, and the gate chambers were six cubits square.

¹³Then he measured the gateway from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from doorway to doorway.

¹⁴Next he measured the gateposts to be sixty cubits high. The gateway extended around to the gatepost of the courtyard.

¹⁵And the distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its inner portico was fifty cubits.

¹⁶The gate chambers and their side pillars had beveled windows all around the inside of the gateway. The porticos also had windows all around on the inside. Each side pillar was decorated with palm trees.

¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court, and there were chambers and a pavement laid out all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement,

¹⁸which flanked the gateways and corresponded to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement.

¹⁹Then he measured the distance from the front of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north.

²⁰He also measured the length and width of the gateway of the outer court facing north.

²¹Its three gate chambers on each side, its side pillars, and its portico all had the same measurements as the first gate: fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

²²Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them.

²³There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured the distance from gateway to gateway to be a hundred cubits.

²⁴Then he led me to the south side, and I saw a gateway facing south. He measured its side pillars and portico, and they had the same measurements as the others.

²⁵Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around, like the other windows. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

²⁶Seven steps led up to it, and its portico was opposite them; it had palm trees on its side pillars, one on each side.

²⁷The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured the distance from gateway to gateway toward the south to be a hundred cubits.

²⁸Next he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others.

²⁹Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁰(The porticoes around the inner court were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits deep.)

³¹Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees. Eight steps led up to it.

³²And he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others.

³³Its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both the gateway and its portico had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁴Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

³⁵Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others,

³⁶as did its gate chambers, side pillars, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁷Its portico faced the outer court, and its side pillars were decorated with palm trees on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

³⁸There was a chamber with a doorway by the portico in each of the inner gateways. There the burnt offering was to be washed.

³⁹Inside the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were to be slaughtered.

⁴⁰Outside, as one goes up to the entrance of the north gateway, there were two tables on one side and two more tables on the other side of the gate’s portico.

⁴¹So there were four tables inside the gateway and four outside—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered.

⁴²There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offering, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit high. On these were placed the utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices.

⁴³The double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be placed on the tables.

⁴⁴Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two chambers, one beside the north gate and facing south, and another beside the south gate and facing north.

⁴⁵Then the man said to me: “The chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple,

⁴⁶and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, the only Levites who may approach the LORD to minister before Him.”

⁴⁷Next he measured the court. It was square, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.

⁴⁸Then he brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the side pillars of the portico to be five cubits on each side. The width of the gateway was fourteen cubits and its sidewalls were three cubits on either side.

⁴⁹The portico was twenty cubits wide and twelve cubits deep, and ten steps led up to it. There were columns by the side pillars, one on each side.

Ezekiel 41

¹Then the man brought me into the outer sanctuary and measured the side pillars to be six cubits wide on each side.

²The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side. He also measured the length of the outer sanctuary to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.

³And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide.

⁴Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits.

⁶The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself.

⁷The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

⁸I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the full length of a rod, six long cubits.

⁹The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick, and the open area between the side rooms of the temple

¹⁰and the outer chambers was twenty cubits wide all around the temple.

¹¹The side rooms opened into this area, with one entrance on the north and another on the south. The open area was five cubits wide all around.

¹²Now the building that faced the temple courtyard on the west was seventy cubits wide, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, with a length of ninety cubits.

¹³Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.

¹⁴The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.

¹⁵Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits. The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary, and the porticoes facing the court,

¹⁶as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.

¹⁷In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary on all the walls, spaced evenly around the inner and outer sanctuary,

¹⁸were alternating carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces:

¹⁹the face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion was toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all the way around the temple.

²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary from the floor to the space above the entrance.

²¹The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the doorframe of the sanctuary was similar.

²²There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”

²³Both the outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary had double doors,

²⁴and each door had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other.

²⁵Cherubim and palm trees like those on the walls were carved on the doors of the outer sanctuary, and there was a wooden canopy outside, on the front of the portico.

²⁶There were beveled windows and palm trees on the sidewalls of the portico. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.

Ezekiel 42

¹Then the man led me out northward into the outer court, and he brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple courtyard and the outer wall on the north side.

²The building with the door facing north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.

³Gallery faced gallery in three levels opposite the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court.

⁴In front of the chambers was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north.

⁵Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space from the chambers on the lower and middle floors of the building.

⁶For they were arranged in three stories, and unlike the courts, they had no pillars. So the upper chambers were set back further than the lower and middle floors.

⁷An outer wall in front of the chambers was fifty cubits long and ran parallel to the chambers and the outer court.

⁸For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the temple were a hundred cubits long.

⁹And below these chambers was the entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court were chambers adjoining the courtyard and opposite the building,

¹¹with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that were on the north. They had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions.

¹²And corresponding to the doors of the chambers that were facing south, there was a door in front of the walkway that was parallel to the wall extending eastward.

¹³Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.

¹⁴Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.”

¹⁵Now when the man had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and he measured the area all around:

¹⁶With a measuring rod he measured the east side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁷He measured the north side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁸He measured the south side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁹And he came around and measured the west side to be five hundred cubits long.

²⁰So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.