Ezekiel 37-40

Complete Jewish Bible

37 With the hand of Adonai upon me, Adonai carried me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. ² He had me pass by all around them — there were so many bones lying in the valley, and they were so dry! ³ He asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?” I answered, “Adonai Elohim! Only you know that!” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones! Say to them, ‘Dry bones! Hear what Adonai has to say! ⁵ To these bones Adonai Elohim says, “I will make breath enter you, and you will live. ⁶ I will attach ligaments to you, make flesh grow on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you. You will live, and you will know that I am Adonai.”’”

⁷ So I prophesied as ordered; and while I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound; it was the bones coming together, each bone in its proper place. ⁸ As I watched, ligaments grew on them, flesh appeared and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Next he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy, human being! Say to the breath that Adonai Elohim says, ‘Come from the four winds, breath; and breathe on these slain, so that they can live.’”

¹⁰ So I prophesied as ordered, and the breath came into them, and they were alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army! ¹¹ Then he said to me, “Human being! These bones are the whole house of Isra’el; and they are saying, ‘Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy; say to them that Adonai Elohim says, ‘My people! I will open your graves and make you get up out of your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Isra’el. ¹³ Then you will know that I am Adonai — when I have opened your graves and made you get up out of your graves, my people! ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you; and you will be alive. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Adonai, have spoken, and that I have done it,’ says Adonai.”

¹⁵ The word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁶ “You, human being, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Y’hudah and those joined with him [among] the people of Isra’el.’ Next, take another stick and write on it, ‘For Yosef, the stick of Efrayim, and all the house of Isra’el who are joined with him.’ ¹⁷ Finally, bring them together into a single stick, so that they become one in your hand. ¹⁸ When your people ask you what all this means, ¹⁹ tell them that Adonai Elohim says this: ‘I will take the stick of Yosef, which is in the hand of Efrayim, together with the tribes of Isra’el who are joined with him, and put them together with the stick of Y’hudah and make them a single stick, so that they become one in my hand.’ ²⁰ The sticks on which you write are to be in your hand as they watch. ²¹ Then say to them that Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will take the people of Isra’el from among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Isra’el; and one king will be king for all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will never again be divided into two kingdoms.

²³ “‘They will never again defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, or any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning; and I will cleanse them, so that they will be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ My servant David will be king over them, and all of them will have one shepherd; they will live by my rulings and keep and observe my regulations. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to Ya‘akov my servant, where your ancestors lived; they will live there — they, their children, and their grandchildren, forever; and David my servant will be their leader forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give to them, increase their numbers, and set my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My home will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ The nations will know that I am Adonai, who sets Isra’el apart as holy, when my sanctuary is with them forever.’”

38 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being, turn your face toward Gog (of the land of Magog), chief prince of Meshekh and Tuval; and prophesy against him. ³ Say that Adonai Elohim says, ‘I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshekh and Tuval. ⁴ I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all completely equipped, a great horde with breastplates and shields, all wielding swords. ⁵ Paras, Ethiopia and Put are with them, all with breastplates and helmets; ⁶ Gomer with all its troops; the house of Togarmah in the far reaches of the north, with all its troops — many peoples are with you. ⁷ Prepare yourself, get ready, you and all your crowd gathered around you; and take charge of them. ⁸ After many days have passed, you will be mustered for service; in later years you will invade the land which has been brought back from the sword, gathered out of many peoples, the mountains of Isra’el. They had been lying in ruins for a long time, but now Isra’el has been extracted from the peoples and all of them are living there securely. ⁹ You will come up like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land — you and all your troops, and many other peoples with you.’

¹⁰ “Adonai Elohim says: ‘When that day comes, thoughts will well up in your mind, and you will devise a sinister scheme. ¹¹ You will say, “I am going to invade this land of unwalled villages; I will take by surprise these people who are at peace, living securely, all in places without walls, bars or gates. ¹² I will seize the spoil and take the plunder.” You will attack the former ruins that are now inhabited and come against the people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and other wealth and are living in the central parts of the land. ¹³ Sh’va, D’dan and all the leading merchants of Tarshish will ask you, “Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hordes to loot; to carry off silver, gold, livestock and other wealth; to take much plunder?”’

¹⁴ “Therefore, human being, prophesy! Tell Gog that Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Won’t you be aware of it when my people Isra’el are living in security? ¹⁵ You will choose just that time to come from your place in the far reaches of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them on horseback, a huge horde, a mighty army; ¹⁶ and you will invade my people Isra’el like a cloud covering the land. This will be in the acharit-hayamim; and I will bring you against my land, so that the Goyim will know me when, before their eyes, I am set apart as holy through you, Gog.’

¹⁷ “Adonai Elohim says: ‘I spoke of you long ago through my servants the prophets of Isra’el. Back then, they prophesied for many years that I would have you invade them. ¹⁸ When that day comes, when Gog invades the land of Isra’el,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘my furious anger will boil up. ¹⁹ In my jealousy, in my heated fury I speak: when that day comes there will be a great earthquake in the land of Isra’el; ²⁰ so that the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the wild beasts, all the reptiles creeping on the ground and every human being there in the land will tremble before me. Mountains will fall, cliffs crumble and every wall crash to the ground. ²¹ I will summon a sword against him throughout all my mountains,’ says Adonai Elohim; ‘every man will wield his sword against his brother. ²² I will judge him with plague and with blood. I will cause torrential rain to fall on him, his troops and the many peoples with him, along with huge hailstones, fire and sulfur. ²³ I will show my greatness and holiness, making myself known in the sight of many nations; then they will know that I am Adonai.’

39 “So you, human being, prophesy against Gog; say that Adonai Elohim says: ‘I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshekh and Tuval. ² I will turn you around, lead you on and bring you from the far reaches of the north against the mountains of Isra’el. ³ But then I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. ⁴ You will fall on the mountains of Isra’el, you, your troops and all the peoples with you; I will give you to be eaten up by all kinds of birds of prey and by wild animals. ⁵ You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken,’ says Adonai Elohim.

⁶ “‘I will also send fire against Magog and against those living securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am Adonai. ⁷ I will make my holy name known among my people Isra’el; I will not allow my holy name to be profaned any longer. Then the Goyim will know that I am Adonai, the Holy One in Isra’el. ⁸ Yes, this is coming, and it will be done,’ says Adonai Elohim; ‘this is the day about which I have spoken.

⁹ “‘Those living in Isra’el’s cities will go out and set fire to the weapons, to use as fuel — the shields, breastplates, bows, arrows, clubs and spears; they will use them for fire seven years; ¹⁰ so that they will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut down any from the forests; because they will use the weapons for fire. Thus they will plunder those who plundered them and rob those who robbed them,’ says Adonai Elohim.

¹¹ “‘When that day comes, I will give Gog a place there in Isra’el for graves, the Travelers’ Valley, east of the sea; and it will block the travelers’ passage. There they will bury Gog and all his horde, and they will rename it the Valley of Hamon-Gog [horde of Gog]. ¹² It will take the house of Isra’el seven months to bury them, in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ Yes, all the people of the land will be burying them; they will become famous for it. It will be a day for me to be glorified,’ says Adonai Elohim. ¹⁴ ‘They will then pick men for the continual duty of going through the land and burying with the travelers the corpses still lying out on the ground, in order to cleanse it; they will begin their search after the seven months. ¹⁵ As they go through the land, if anyone sees a human bone, he will put a marker next to it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-Gog. ¹⁶ Moreover, “Hamonah” [its horde] will be the name of a city. Thus will they cleanse the land.’

¹⁷ “As for you, human, Adonai Elohim says that you are to speak to all kinds of birds and to every wild animal as follows: ‘Assemble yourselves and come, gather yourselves from all around for the sacrifice I am preparing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Isra’el, where you can eat flesh and drink blood! ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of heroes and drink the blood of the earth’s princes — rams, lambs, goats and bulls, fattened in Bashan, all of them. ¹⁹ You will eat fat till you are gorged and drink blood till you are drunk at the sacrifice I have prepared for you. ²⁰ At my table you will be satiated with horses, horsemen, heroes and every kind of warrior,’ says Adonai Elohim.

²¹ “‘Thus will I display my glory among the nations, so that all the nations will see my judgment when I execute it and my hand when I lay it on them. ²² From that day on, the house of Isra’el will know that I am Adonai their God; ²³ while the Goyim will know that the house of Isra’el went into exile because of their guilt, because they broke faith with me; so that I hid my face from them and handed them over to their adversaries; and they fell by the sword, all of them. ²⁴ Yes, I treated them as their uncleanness and crimes deserved; and I hid my face from them.’

²⁵ “Therefore Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Now I will restore the fortunes of Ya‘akov and have compassion on the entire house of Isra’el, and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They will bear their shame and all their [guilt from] breaking faith with me, once they are living securely in their land, with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ This will be after I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, thereby being consecrated through them in the sight of many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am Adonai their God, since it was I who caused them to go into exile among the nations, and it was I who regathered them to their own land. I will leave none of them there any more, ²⁹ and I will no longer hide my face from them, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Isra’el,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month — this was the fourteenth year after the city [of Yerushalayim] was struck — it was on that very day that the hand of Adonai was on me, and he took me there. ² In visions God brought me into the land of Isra’el and put me down on a very high mountain; on it, toward the south, it seemed that a city was being built. ³ That is where he took me, and there in front of me was a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. ⁴ The man said to me, “Human being, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to all the things I am showing you; because the reason you were brought here is so that I could show them to you. Tell everything you see to the house of Isra’el.”

⁵ There was a wall surrounding the house. The man had in his hand a measuring rod six cubits long [ten-and-a-half feet], each cubit [twenty-one inches] being a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]. He measured the wall’s width at ten-and-a-half feet and its height ten-and-a-half feet. ⁶ He went to the east gate, climbed its steps and measured one of the gate’s doorposts at ten-and-a-half feet wide and the other one the same. ⁷ There were guardrooms, each ten-and-a-half feet square; the distance between the guardrooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet. The threshold of the gate adjoining the gate’s entranceway facing the house measured ten-and-a-half feet. ⁸ He measured the gate’s entranceway facing the house at ten-and-a-half feet. ⁹ Then he measured the gate’s entranceway itself, fourteen feet, and its supports, three-and-a-half feet; the gate’s entranceway was on the side facing the house. ¹⁰ There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all the same size; and on each side the supports [between the guardrooms] were also all the same size. ¹¹ He measured the width of the opening to the gateway at seventeen-and-a-half feet and the width of the passage through the gateway at twenty-two-and-three-quarters feet. ¹² There was a partition in front of the guardrooms [on one side] twenty-one inches [wide] and a partition on the other side twenty-one inches [wide], with the guardrooms themselves being ten-and-a-half feet square. ¹³ He measured [inside] the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other a distance of forty-three-and-three-quarters feet, the openings [to the guardrooms] being opposite each other. ¹⁴ He made the posts 105 feet, likewise the posts of the other gates around the courtyard. ¹⁵ The distance along the passage from the outer opening of the gateway to the far side of the entranceway at the inner end of the gateway was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. ¹⁶ There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There I saw rooms and paved mosaic flooring made for the courtyard all around its perimeter, and thirty rooms facing the flooring. ¹⁸ The flooring was alongside the gates and corresponded to the length of the gates [from outside to inside], this lower flooring. ¹⁹ He measured at 175 feet the distance from inside this lower gate that faced east to the outside of the inner courtyard, and he did the same for the gate that faced north.

²⁰ Next he measured the length and width of the outer courtyard gate that faced north. ²¹ It had three guardrooms on each side, and its supports and vestibule were the same size as those at the first gate; its length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and its width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ²² Its windows, vestibule and palm trees were the same size as those at the east gate. Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside.

²³ There were gates to the inner courtyard across from the gates to the north and east; he measured 175 feet from each outer gate to its corresponding inner gate.

²⁴ He led me toward the south, and there I saw a gate that faced south. He measured its supports and vestibule; they were the same size as the others. ²⁵ There were windows in it and all around its vestibule like the other windows; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ²⁶ Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside. It had palm trees, one on each side, on its supports. ²⁷ The inner courtyard had a gate on the south; he measured from gate to gate toward the south 175 feet.

²⁸ He brought me to the inner courtyard through its south gate. He measured this south gate as being the same size; ²⁹ its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. ³⁰ There was a vestibule around it forty-three-and-three-quarters feet long and eight-and-three-quarters feet wide; ³¹ this vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³² He brought me into the inner courtyard, went toward the east and measured that gate as being the same size; ³³ its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. ³⁴ Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³⁵ He brought me over to the north gate and measured it as being the same size; ³⁶ it had guardrooms, supports and a vestibule with windows all around; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ³⁷ Its supports faced the outer courtyard; palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³⁸ There was a room with its entry by the supports at the gates where the burnt offerings were washed. ³⁹ In the entranceway to the gate were two tables on the one side and two on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. ⁴⁰ On the outside, as one goes up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side of the entranceway to the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ So there were four tables on the one side and four on the other side, by the gate — eight tables on which to slaughter sacrifices. ⁴² There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, thirty-one-and-a-half inches square and twenty-one inches high, on which to lay the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and other sacrifices. ⁴³ Hooks a handbreadth long were fastened all around the inside of the room; the flesh of the offerings was to be placed on the tables.

⁴⁴ Outside the inner gate, in the inner courtyard, were rooms for the singers, one facing south alongside the north gate, and one facing north alongside the east gate. ⁴⁵ He said to me, “This room facing south is for the cohanim in charge of the house; ⁴⁶ while the room facing north is for the cohanim in charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Tzadok, who are the descendants of Levi designated to approach Adonai and serve him.”

⁴⁷ Then he measured the courtyard at 175 feet long and 175 feet wide — it was square. The altar was in front of the house.

⁴⁸ He brought me to the vestibule of the house and measured at eight-and-three-quarters feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance. On each side, these walls extended five-and-a-quarter feet from the side-walls of the vestibule. ⁴⁹ The length of the vestibule was thirty-five feet and the width nineteen-and-a-quarter feet; steps led up to it. There were columns on each side of the entrance.