THE DAY GOD IS GLORIFIED AMONG THE NATIONS

(Ezekiel 39:9-29)

9 Those who live in the towns of Israel will go out

And use the weapons for fuel and burn them up--

The small and large shields, the bows and arrows,

The war clubs and spears.

For seven years they will use them for fuel.

10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields

Or cut it from the forests,

Because they will use the weapons for fuel.

And they will plunder those who plundered them

And loot those who looted them,' declares the Sovereign Lord.

11 'On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel,

In the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea (the Dead Sea).

It will block the way of travelers,

Because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there.

So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.

12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them

In order to cleanse the land.

All the people of the land will bury them,

AND THE DAY I AM GLORIFIED

WILL BE A MEMORABLE DAY FOR THEM,'

Declares the Sovereign Lord.

14 'Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land.

Some will go throughout the land and, in addition to them,

Others will bury those that remain on the ground.

At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.

15 As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone,

He will set up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it

In the Valley of Hamon Gog.

16 (Also a town call Hamonah will be there.)

And so they will cleanse the land.'

17 Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

'CALL OUT TO EVERY KIND OF BIRD

AND ALL THE WILD ANIMALS:

Assemble and come together from all around

To the sacrifice I am preparing for you,

The great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel.

There you will eat flesh and drink blood.

18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men

And drink the blood of the princes of the earth

As if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls--

All of them fattened animals from Bashan.

19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you,

You will eat fat till you are glutted

And drink blood till you are drunk.

20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders,

Mighty men and soldiers of every kind,' declares the Sovereign Lord.

'21 I will display my glory among the nations,

And all the nations will see the punishment I inflict

And the hand I lay upon them.

22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know

That I am the Lord their God.

23 And the nations will know

That the people of Israel went into exile for their sin,

Because they were unfaithful to me.

So I hid my face from them

And handed them over to their enemies,

And they all fell by the sword.

24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness

And their offenses, and I hid my face from them.'

25 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

'I will now bring Jacob back from captivity

And will have compassion on all the people of Israel,

And I will be zealous for my holy name.

26 They will forget their shame

And all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me

When they lived in safety in their land

With no one to make them afraid.

27 When I have brought them back from the nations

And have gathered them from the countries of their enemies,

I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations.

28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God,

For though I sent them into exile among the nations,

I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.

29 I will no longer hid my face from them,

For I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel,'

Declares the Sovereign Lord.

(The house of Israel spoken of here is the Nation Israel).

(Ezekiel 39:9-29)