English · KJV

Ezekiel 39:15

“The Cleanup and Burial of the Dead”Ezekiel 39:9–16

King James Version
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
And the passengers H5674 that pass through H5674 the land H776, when any seeth H7200 a man's H120 bone H6106, then shall he set up H1129 a sign H6725 by H681 it, till the buriers H6912 have buried H6912 it in the valley H1516 of Hamongog H1996.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
As 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.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
And they that pass through the land shall pass through; and when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
Those who pass through the land shall pass through; and when any sees a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
And the trauailers that passe through the land, if any see a mans bone, then shall he set vp a signe by it, till the buriers haue buried it, in the valley of Hamon-Gog.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
And those passing by have passed through the land, and seen a bone of man, and one hath constructed near it a sign till those burying have buried it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
17 Hebrew words
  1. וְעָבְרוּve·'a·ve·Ruand they will passH5674Conj-w ¦ V-Qal-ConsecPerf-3cpVerb Qal Consecutive Perfect 3rd Plural common genderוְandעָבְרוּthey will pass
  2. הָעֹבְרִיםha·'oe·Rimthose [who] passH5674Art ¦ V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Absoluteהָthoseעֹבְרִים[who] pass
  3. בָּאָרֶץba·'A·retzin the landH776Prep-b ¦ N-fsNoun Singular Feminine Absoluteבָּin theאָרֶץland
  4. וְרָאָהve·ra·'Ahand they will seeH7200Conj-w ¦ V-Qal-ConsecPerf-3msVerb Qal Consecutive Perfect 3rd Singular Masculineוְandרָאָהthey will see
  5. עֶצֶם'E·tzema bone ofH6106N-fscNoun Singular Feminine Construct
  6. אָדָם'a·Dama humanH120N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absolute
  7. וּבָנָהu·va·Nahand he will buildH1129Conj-w ¦ V-Qal-ConsecPerf-3msVerb Qal Consecutive Perfect 3rd Singular Masculineוּandבָנָהhe will build
  8. אֶצְלוֹ'etz·Lobeside itH681N-csc ¦ 3msNoun Singular common gender Construct with suffixאֶצְלbesideוֹit
  9. צִיּוּןtzi·Yuna markerH6725N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absolute
  10. עַד'aduntilH5704PrepPreposition
  11. קָבְרוּka·ve·Ruthey have buriedH6912V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
  12. אֹתוֹ'o·To[obj.] itH853DirObjM ¦ 3msParticle Object Indicatorאֹת[obj.]וֹit
  13. הַמְקַבְּרִיםham·ka·be·Rimthose [who] buryH6912Art ¦ V-Piel-Prtcpl-mpVerb Piel Participle Plural Masculine Absoluteהַthoseמְקַבְּרִים[who] bury
  14. אֶל'eltoH413PrepPreposition
  15. גֵּיאgei'[the] valley ofH1516N-cscNoun Singular common gender Construct
  16. הֲמוֹןha·MonHamon-H1996N-mscNoun Singular Masculine Construct
  17. גּוֹגGogGogH1996N-properNoun Proper Location
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

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This verse

Any traveler who sees a human bone sets up a marker beside it, so that the buriers can find it and bury it in the valley of Hamongog.

“And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone,”

Any traveler, and even a single bone.

“then shall he set up a sign by it,”

A marker that warns others away and guides the buriers to the spot.

“till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.”

Every bone is taken to the one burial ground.

Passage studyEzekiel 39:9–16

Israel Buries Gog and Cleanses the Land

9And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: 10So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD. 11And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. 12And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 13Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD. 14And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. 15And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. 16And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

Summary

Ezekiel 38 and 39 tell of Gog, who leads a vast army of nations against Israel and is destroyed by God himself on the mountains of Israel. These eight verses describe what happens afterwards. The people burn the enemy’s weapons as fuel for seven years, and the nations that came to plunder Israel are plundered. God gives Gog a grave in Israel, in a valley renamed Hamongog, “the multitude of Gog”. The whole nation spends seven months burying the dead, men are set apart to search the land for every remaining body, and travelers mark each bone they find. All of it is done to cleanse the land, and it brings honour to Israel on the day God is glorified. The passage shows us a God whose victory is complete, who turns the tools of war into provision for his people, and who cares for the holiness of the land where they live.

Where these verses stand in the prophecy against Gog

Ezekiel 38–39 is one prophecy. Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal from the land of Magog (Ezekiel 38:2), comes against Israel with a great coalition, and his aim is “to take a spoil, and to take a prey” (Ezekiel 38:12). God brings him for his own purpose, to show himself holy before the nations (Ezekiel 38:16). Then God judges the invading army with earthquake, pestilence, strife within its own ranks and torrential rain (Ezekiel 38:18–23). Chapter 39 tells the defeat again, with fire, pestilence and overwhelming destruction on the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 39:1–8), and God declares, “I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:7).

Our passage turns from the battle to the work that follows it. The battle belongs to God alone, and the people of Israel take part afterwards, gathering, burning and burying. After these verses the chapter goes on to God’s glory among the nations and the restoration of Israel (Ezekiel 39:21–29).

The name Gôwg is of uncertain origin and belongs to a northern nation. Believers differ on how to read the prophecy. Some hold that it describes a literal future invasion of Israel by particular nations, coming before Christ’s thousand-year reign. Others hold that Gog stands for all the powers that set themselves against God and his people through history, gathered at last in one final conflict. On either reading these verses teach the same thing: God defeats the enemies of his people completely, and the peace that follows is his gift.

Why the weapons burn for seven years

In verse 9, “they that dwell in the cities of Israel” are the ordinary townspeople, and they are the ones who go out. They can leave their cities freely because the land has become safe. What they find is the nesheq of the dead army, a word for military equipment of every kind, for attack and defence alike. The verse then names it: shields and bucklers to protect, and bows, arrows, handstaves and spears to strike. The list stands for the whole arsenal of the invaders.

The “handstaves” join the Hebrew words for hand and maqqêl (also maqqêlah), a staff or rod. A staff could serve for walking or guiding, and in battle it was a club or a short, heavy staff for close fighting. Its place in the list beside the bow and the spear shows that everything the army carried, from its finest weapons to its plainest, is left behind.

Two verbs describe the burning. “Set on fire” is bâʻar, to burn, kindle or consume, and “burn” is nâsaq, to catch fire. Together they picture the weapons lit and burned up, so that they can never serve in war again, and the closing words “burn them with fire” use the same verb, bâʻar. Armies of that time often destroyed an enemy’s arms to keep them from being used again, and here the practice reaches a scale beyond anything known.

What the seven years mean

The weapons last as fuel for seven years, which tells us how vast the army was. The number shebaʻ, seven, often marks completeness in Scripture, and here it speaks of a full period in which the leftovers of war are used up while Israel lives in peace. Believers differ on whether the seven years are an exact length of time. Some take them as the span the burning will actually last. Others take them as a figure that sets before us the size of the victory and the fullness of the peace. Both readings see a war ended so thoroughly that its weapons become firewood.

Scripture often pictures God’s peace as the end of weapons. A psalm praises God, who makes wars cease to the end of the earth, breaks the bow, cuts the spear in two and burns the chariot in the fire (Psalm 46:9). Isaiah sees a day when the nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks” (Isaiah 2:4), and Zechariah says that “the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen” (Zechariah 9:10).

The plunderers are plundered

Wood was precious in Israel, and gathering it from the fields and cutting it in the forests was hard labour. For as long as the weapons last, verse 10 says, “they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests”. “Cut down” is châṭab, to chop wood. The things that were made to kill God’s people now cook their food and warm their homes.

Then comes the reversal: “they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them.” Each half repeats its own verb. The verb for spoil is shâlal, to strip and so to plunder, and the verb for rob is bâzaz, to plunder or take as prey. Gog came “to take a spoil, and to take a prey”, and the people he meant to strip strip him. This is God’s justice, the justice of the psalm that says the wicked man’s mischief returns on his own head (Psalm 7:16).

“Saith the Lord GOD” seals the verse, as it seals verse 13. “Saith” is nᵉʼum, an oracle, a solemn word from God, and Ezekiel uses this formula again and again. “Lord GOD” is ʼĂdônây followed by Yᵉhôvih, a form of God’s own name, which the KJV prints in capitals. The promise carries God’s own authority, and what he declares will come to pass, for he declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).

A grave for Gog in the land he came to take

“In that day” in verse 11 points to the time God has appointed for these events. God himself gives Gog “a place there of graves in Israel”. Gog came to seize the land, and the only part of it he receives is a burial ground.

The place is “the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea”. The word for valley, gayʼ, means a gorge, a valley with steep sides, a natural place to hold so many dead. “Passengers” are travelers, people crossing the land, from ʻâbar, to cross over. The phrase probably names a well-known road through the valley. The verse leaves the sea unnamed, and it may be the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee.

“It shall stop the noses of the passengers.” The verb châçam means to muzzle or stop, and the KJV supplies “noses” to give the sense. The plainest reading is that the stench of the dead is so strong that travelers on the road are sickened by it. The words may also mean that the bodies block the valley so that travelers can’t pass through. Either way the picture is of death on an enormous scale. Isaiah’s prophecy closes on a sight of the same kind, the bodies of those who transgressed against the LORD (Isaiah 66:24).

Gog is buried there “and all his multitude”, hâmôwn, a word for a crowd or a great company. The valley takes a new name, “The valley of Hamongog”, Hămôwn Gôwg, “the multitude of Gog”. The name sets the memory of God’s victory in the very ground of Israel, so that every later generation that hears it remembers how many came against his people and how completely he defeated them.

Is this the Gog and Magog of Revelation?

Ezekiel’s Gog and the Gog and Magog of Revelation share one picture, a great rebellion of the nations against God and his people that ends in God’s judgment (Revelation 20:7–9). They also differ in timing. Revelation places its rebellion at the end of the thousand years, and Ezekiel’s battle is commonly placed before them, so the two are best taken as related events that show the same final triumph of God over every evil.

Why the dead must be buried to cleanse the land

“And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.” Verse 12 gives the reason in its own words. Under the law of Moses, touching a dead body made a person unclean, and the law laid down how he was to be made clean again (Numbers 19). Whoever touched the dead was unclean for seven days and was kept from the worship of God until he was purified (Numbers 19:11–16).

The land itself could be defiled. The law about an executed man required that his body be buried, so that the land God gave Israel would remain undefiled (Deuteronomy 21:23). Shed blood defiled the land (Numbers 35:33–34), and the law warned that a defiled land vomits out those who live in it (Leviticus 18:24–28). The bodies of a whole army lying across the land would defile all of it, so every one of them must be buried.

The verb for cleanse, ṭâhêr, means to be clean or pure, and to cleanse or purify. The law of Moses uses it for making clean what death or skin disease has made unclean. “The land” is ʼerets, land or earth, here the land of Israel. So the burial is a work of holiness as well as of decency. The land is God’s, and he wants it fit for his people to live in and to worship him there. The practical side is real as well, since so many bodies would bring disease.

The burying is qâbar, to bury or inter. Armies of that time often left their enemies unburied as a mark of disgrace. Israel buries even the invaders, and does it for the sake of the land.

“The house of Israel” uses bayith, house, in the sense it often has of a whole family or people, here the nation descended from Jacob, Yisrâʼêl. The task belongs to everyone. The seven months, shebaʻ with chôdesh, a month (the word comes from the new moon), show how great the army was, and the number seven again speaks of a work done fully.

Verse 16 ends the passage with “Thus shall they cleanse the land.” The burial in the valley, the searching and the marking all serve this one end. God had already promised in Ezekiel 36:23–28 to cleanse his people and give them a new heart, so the cleansing of the land belongs with the cleansing of the people who live in it. The same care for order and purity fills the temple vision that closes the book (Ezekiel 40–48).

Renown on the day God is glorified

“Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them.” In verse 13 everyone takes part. “And it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.” The word for renown is shêm, name, and by implication reputation, honour and character. Israel gains a good name, and it comes from their share in the aftermath of a victory God alone won. Their honour reflects his.

“Glorified” is kâbad, to be heavy, and in a good sense to be weighty, rich or honourable. When God says “I shall be glorified”, he means that his majesty, power and justice will be seen and acknowledged. “The day”, yôwm, can mean a single day or a span of time, and here it is the time when God’s glory is shown in his victory over Gog.

This is the purpose behind the whole prophecy. God acts for his name’s sake (Ezekiel 20:9), he sanctifies his name before the nations (Ezekiel 36:23), and through Gog’s defeat he makes his majesty known to all nations (Ezekiel 38:23). A psalm says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), and Isaiah sees the mountain of the LORD’s house established and the nations learning war no more (Isaiah 2:2–4).

The work itself is grim, carrying the dead for months on end, and God makes it a source of honour. It is honour of the kind God promised when he said that he honours those who honour him (1 Samuel 2:30).

The men who search and the travelers who mark

“And they shall sever out men of continual employment.” In verse 14, to sever out is bâdal, to divide or set apart, here to choose men for a task. These ʼĕnôwsh, men, are given work of tâmîyd, continuance: they do it regularly and continually, as their whole occupation. They go “passing through the land”, the verb ʻâbar again, and they bury “with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth”. “Remain” is yâthar, to be left over, and these are the bodies the general burial left behind. “With the passengers” brings in the travelers who come across bodies on their way, so the whole land shares the work.

“After the end of seven months shall they search.” The verb châqar means to search, examine carefully, explore or find out. When the seven months of burial by the whole nation are over, the appointed men search again, until every last body is found.

Verse 15 shows how the travelers help. Any passer-by who “seeth a man’s bone” marks the place. The bone is ʻetsem, a bone, and by extension a body. The word for setting up the marker is bânâh, to build, and the marker is a tsîyûwn, a sign or waymark, the kind of pillar set up to mark or guide. It warns others to keep clear of what is unclean, and it shows the buriers where to dig, “till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog”. Even a single bone is carried to the one burial ground.

So the work runs in an orderly way: the nation buries for seven months, the appointed men search after that, and every traveler on the road marks what he sees. After the confusion of battle comes God’s order, and it reaches the smallest remains.

The city named Hamonah

“And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah.” Hămôwnâh means multitude, a feminine form of the word for multitude. Beside the valley of the multitude of Gog stands a city whose very name means multitude, and the map of the land itself keeps the memory of the victory.

Christ’s victory and the cleansing he gives

The defeat of Gog points us to the greater victory of Christ. On the cross he defeated the enemies that stand against every one of us: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Through his death he destroyed the power of death (Hebrews 2:14–15), and death itself is the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26). He will return to judge the nations and overthrow all who oppose him (Revelation 19:11–21). God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:9–11), and in the end God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). As Israel gained renown from God’s victory, believers are heirs with Christ and share in his glory (Romans 8:17). He is our peace, who has broken down the wall of hostility between God and us and between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:14–16).

The cleansing of the land points us to the cleansing of sin. Israel needed months of labour to cleanse a land defiled by death, and our hearts are defiled by sin far more deeply. Christ is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). God made him sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), his blood cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), and it purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). Jesus told his disciples that they were “clean every whit” (John 13:10). He gave himself for his church to sanctify and cleanse it, so that it would be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25–27), and God chose us in him to be holy and without blame (Ephesians 1:4). Our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The prophets longed for this cleansing. Isaiah called, “Wash you, make you clean” (Isaiah 1:16–17), David prayed to be purged with hyssop (Psalm 51:7), and Zechariah saw a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). The cleansing of the land in Ezekiel looks ahead to the new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). There God wipes away every tear, and death and sorrow are gone (Revelation 21:4), and only what is clean enters the holy city (Revelation 21:27).

What the aftermath shows us of God

These verses are grim to read, full of bodies, bones and graves, and they are also full of God’s care. He wins the battle alone and then gives his people a share in what follows: fuel for their homes, the spoil of those who came to rob them, and a good name on the day his own name is honoured. He cares about one bone lying by the road, because the land where his people live is to be clean. And what he begins he finishes, so that the work ends only when the last trace of the enemy is gone.

We belong to the same God. The victory over sin and death is Christ’s, the cleansing of our hearts is his work, and the day is coming when all his world will be clean.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Ezekiel 39:8–22. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 15 verses
Passage under commentEzekiel 39:8–22
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details

Though this prophecy was to have its accomplishment in the latter days, yet it is here spoken of as if it were already accomplished, because it is certain (Ezekiel 39:8): "Behold it has come, and it is done; it is as sure to be done when the time shall come as if it were done already; this is the day whereof I have long and often spoken, and, though it has been long in coming, yet at length it has come." Thus it was said unto John (Revelation 21:6), It is done. To represent the routing of the army of Gog as very great, here are three things specified as the consequences of it. It was God himself that gave the defeat; we do not find that the people of Israel drew a sword or struck a stroke: but,

I.They shall burn their weapons, their bows and arrows, which fell out of their hands (Ezekiel 39:3), their shields and bucklers, their javelins, spears, leading staves, truncheons, and half-pikes, every thing that is combustible. They shall not lay them up in their armouries, nor reserve them for their own use, lest they should be tempted to put a confidence in them, but they shall burn them; not all at once, for a bonfire (to what purpose would be that waste?) but as they had occasion to use them for fuel in their houses, instead of other fire-wood, so that they should have no occasion to take wood out of the field or forests for seven years together (Ezekiel 39:10), such vast quantities of weapons shall there be left upon the open field where the enemy fell, and in the roads which they passed in their flight. The weapons were dry and fitter for fuel than green wood; and, by saving the wood in their coppices and forests, they gave it time to grow. Though the mountains of Israel produce plenty of all good things, yet it becomes the people of Israel to be good husbands of their plenty and to save what they can for the benefit of those that come after them, as Providence shall give them opportunity to do so. We may suppose that when those who dwelt in the cities of Israel came forth to spoil those who spoiled them, and make reprisals upon them, they found upon them silver, and gold, and ornaments; yet no mention is made of any thing particularly that they converted to their own use but the wood of the weapons for fuel, which is one of the necessaries of human life, to teach us to think it enough if we be well supplied with those, though we have but little of the delights and gaieties of it and of those things which we may very well live without. And every time they put fuel to the fire, and warmed themselves at it, they would be put in mind of the number and strength of their enemies, and the imminent peril they were in of falling into their hands, which would help to enlarge their hearts in thankfulness to that God who had so wonderfully, so seasonably, delivered them. As they sat by the fire with their children about them (their fire-side), they might from it take occasion to tell them what great things God had done for them.

II.They shall bury their dead.

Usually, after a battle, when many are slain, the enemy desire time to bury their own dead. But here the slaughter shall be so general that there shall not be a sufficient number of the enemies left alive to bury the dead. And, besides, the slain lie so dispersed on the mountains of Israel that it would be a work of time to find them out; and therefore it is left to the house of Israel to bury them as a piece of triumph in their overthrow.

1.A place shall be appointed on purpose for the burying of them, the valley of the passengers, on the east of the sea, either the salt sea or the sea of Tiberias, a valley through which there was great passing and repassing of travellers between Egypt and Chaldea. There shall be such a multitude of dead bodies, putrefying above ground, with such a loathsome stench, that the travellers who go that way shall be forced to stop their noses. See what vile bodies ours are; when the soul has been a little while from them the smell of them becomes offensive, no smell more nauseous or more noxious. There therefore where the greatest number lay slain shall the burying-place be appointed. In the place where the tree falls there let it lie. And it shall be called, The valley of Hamon-gog, that is, of the multitude of Gog; for that was the thing which was in a particular manner to be had in remembrance. How numerous the forces of the enemy were which God defeated and destroyed for the defence of his people Israel!

2.A considerable time shall be spent in burying them, no less than seven months (Ezekiel 39:12), which is a further intimation that the slain of the Lord in this action should be many and that great care should be taken by the house of Israel to leave none unburied, that so they might cleanse the land from the ceremonial pollution it contracted by the lying of so many dead corpses unburied in it, for the prevention of which it was appointed that those who were hanged on a tree should be speedily taken down and buried, Deut, Ezekiel 21:23. This is an intimation that times of eminent deliverances should be times of reformation. The more God has done for the saving of a land from ruin the more the inhabitants should do for the cleansing of the land from sin.

3.Great numbers shall be employed in this work: All the people of the land shall be ready to lend a helping hand to it, Ezekiel 39:13. Note, Every one should contribute the utmost he can in his place towards the cleansing of the land from the pollutions of it, and from every thing that is a reproach to it. Sin is a common enemy, which every man should take up arms against. In publico discrimine unusquisque homo miles est - In the season of public danger every man becomes a soldier. And whoever shall assist in this work it shall be to them a renown; though the office of grave-makers, or common scavengers of the country, seem but mean, yet, when it is for the cleansing and purifying of the land from dead works, it shall be mentioned to their honour. Note, Acts of humanity add much to the renown of God's Israel; it is a credit to religion when those that profess it are ready to every good work; and a good work it is to bury the dead, yea, though they be strangers and enemies to the commonwealth of Israel, for even they shall rise again. It shall be a renown to them in the day when God will be glorified. Note, It is for the glory of God when his Israel do that which adorns their profession; others will see their good works and glorify their Father, Matthew 5:16. And when God is honoured he will put honour upon his people. His glory is their renown.

4.Some particular persons shall make it their business to search out the dead bodies, or any part of them that should remain unburied. The people of the land will soon grow weary of burying the pollutions of the country, and therefore they shall appoint men of continual employment, that shall apply themselves to it and do nothing else till the land be thoroughly cleansed; for, otherwise, that which is every one's work would soon become nobody's work. Note, Those that are engaged in public work, especially for the cleansing and reforming of a land, ought to be men of continual employments, men that will stick to what they undertake and go through with it, men that will apply themselves to it; and those that will do good according to their opportunities will find themselves continually employed.

5.Even the passengers shall be ready to give information to those whose business it is to cleanse the land of what public nuisances they meet with, which call for their assistance. Those that pass through the land, though they will not stay to bury the dead themselves, lest they should contract a ceremonial pollution, will yet give notice of those that they find unburied. If they but discover a bone, they will set up a sign, that the buriers may come and bury it, and that, till it is buried, others may take need of touching it, for which reason their sepulchres among the Jews were whitened, that people might keep at a distance from them. Note, When good work is to be done every one should lend a hand to further it, even the passengers themselves, who must not think themselves unconcerned, in a common calamity, or a common iniquity, to put a stop to it. Those whose work it is to cleanse the land must not countenance any thing in it that is defiling; though it were not the body, but only the bone, of a man, that was found unburied, they must encourage those who will give information of it (private information, by a sign, concealing the informer), that they may take it away, and bury it out of sight. Nay, after the end of seven months, which was allowed them for this work, when all is taken away that appeared at first view, they shall search for more, that what is hidden may be brought to light; they shall search out iniquity till they find none. In memory of this they shall give a new name to their city. It shall be called Hamonah - The multitude. O what a multitude of our enemies have we of this city buried! Thus shall they cleanse the land, with all this care, with all this pains, Ezekiel 39:16. Note, After conquering there must be cleansing. Moses appointed those Israelites that had been employed in the war with the Midianites to purify themselves, Numbers 31:24. Having received special favours from God, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness.

III.The birds and beasts of prey shall rest upon the carcases of the slain while they remain unburied and it shall be impossible to prevent them, Ezekiel 39:17, etc. We find a great slaughter represented by this figure, Revelation 19:17, etc., which is borrowed from this.

1.There is a general invitation given, Ezekiel 39:17. It is to the fowl of every wing and to every beast of the field, from the greatest to the least, that preys upon carcases, from the eagle to the raven, from the lion to the dog; let them all gather themselves on every side; here is meat enough for them, and they are all welcome. Let them come to God's sacrifice, to his feast; so the margin reads it. Note, The judgments of God, executed upon sin and sinners, are both a sacrifice and a feast, a sacrifice to the justice of God and a feast to the faith and hope of God's people. When God broke the head of leviathan, he gave him to be meat to Israel, Psalm 74:14. The righteous shall rejoice as at a feast when he sees the vengeance, and shall wash his foot, as at a feast, in the blood of the wicked. This sacrifice is upon the mountains of Israel; these are the high places, the altars, where God has been dishonoured by the idolatries of the people, but where he will now glorify himself in the destruction of his enemies.

2.There is great preparation made: They shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Ezekiel 39:18, Ezekiel 39:19.

(1.)It is the flesh and blood of men that they shall be treated with. This has sometimes been an instance of the rebellion of the inferior creatures against man their master, which is an effect of his rebellion against God his Maker.

(2.)It is the flesh and blood of great men, here called rams, and bullocks, and great goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan. It is the blood of the princes of the earth that they shall regale themselves with. What a mortification is this to the princes of the blood, as they call themselves, that God can make that blood, that royal blood, which swells their veins, a feast for the birds and beasts of prey!

(3.)It is the flesh and blood of wicked men, the enemies of God's church and people, that they are invited to. They had accounted the Israel of God as sheep for the slaughter, and now they shall themselves be so accounted; they had thus used the dead bodies of Gods' servants (Psalm 79:2), or would have done, and now it shall come upon themselves.

3.They shall all be fed, they shall all be feasted to the full (Ezekiel 39:19, Ezekiel 39:20): "You shall eat fat, and drink blood, which are satiating surfeiting things. The sacrifice is great and the feast upon the sacrifice is accordingly: You shall be filled at my table." Note, God keeps a table for the inferior creatures; he provides food for all flesh. The eyes of all wait upon him, and he satisfies their desires, for he keeps a plentiful table. And if the birds and beasts shall be filled at God's table, which he has prepared for them, much more shall his children be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house, even of his holy temple. They shall be filled with horses and chariots; that is, those who ride in the chariots, mighty men and men of war, who triumphed over nations, are now themselves triumphed over by the ravens of the valley and the young eagles, Proverbs 30:17. They thought to make an easy prey of God's Israel, and now they are themselves an easy prey to the birds and beasts. See how evil pursues sinners even after death. This exposing of their bodies to be a prey is but a type and sign of those terrors which, after death, shall prey upon their consciences (which the poetical fictions represented by a vulture continually pecking at the heart), and this shame is but an earnest of the everlasting shame and contempt they shall rise to.

IV.This shall redound very much both to the glory of God and to the comfort and satisfaction of his people.

1.It shall be much for the honour of God, for the heathen shall hereby be made to know that he is the Lord (Ezekiel 39:21): All the heathen shall see and observe my judgments that I have executed, and thereby my glory shall be set among them. This principle shall be admitted and established among them more than ever, that the God of Israel is a great and glorious God. He is known to be so even among the heathen, that have not, or read not, his written word, by the judgments which he executes.

2.It shall be much for the satisfaction of his people; for they shall hereby be made to know that he is their God (Ezekiel 39:22): The house of Israel shall know, abundantly to their comfort, that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.

(1.)He will be so from that day and forward. God's present mercies are pledges and assurances of further mercies. If God evidence to us that he is our God he assures us that he will never leave us. This God is our God for ever and ever.

(2.)They shall know it with more satisfaction from that day and forward. They had sometimes been ready to question whether the Lord was with them or no; but the events of this day shall silence their doubts, and, the matter being thus settled and made clear, it shall not be doubted of for the future. As boasting in themselves is hereby for ever excluded, so boasting in God is hereby for ever secured.

Historical interpretation

Historical reception

1 surviving comment on this verse from the historical church.

1 quote · AD 420
d. AD 420JeromePost-NiceneSourceCommentary on Ezekiel
(Chapter 39, Verse 1 onwards) "But you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you.' I have given you as food to the wild animals, birds, and all flying creatures, and to the animals of the earth. You will fall on the face of the field (or the plain): for I have spoken, says the Lord God. And I will send fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely on the islands (or the coastlands): and they will know that I am the Lord. And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not allow my holy name to be profaned (or polluted) anymore; and the nations will know that I am the holy Lord of Israel. Behold, it comes, and it will happen (or you will know that it will be), says the Lord (Vulgate adds God): this is the day of which I spoke. And the inhabitants of the cities (Vulgate: of the cities) of Israel will go out and burn weapons, shields, spears (or bucklers and thrusting spears), bows and arrows, staffs of the hands (Vulgate: of the hands), and spears (or lances): and they will set them on fire for seven years. And they will not gather (or take) wood from the fields (or the plains), nor cut down from the forests: for they will burn the weapons with fire, and those who had been their plunder will plunder them; and they will loot their looters, says the Lord God. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of the travelers east of the sea, which will cause those passing by to marvel. (Or the πολυάνδριον of those who come to the sea, and they will build around the mouth of the valley; and there Gog and all his multitude will be buried; and the valley (or Ge ) will be called the multitude of Gog. And the house of Israel will bury them there, to cleanse the land (or so that the land will be cleansed) for seven months. But the whole population of the earth will bury them (Vulg. they are silent) and there will be a day named for them, in which I have been glorified, says the Lord God. And they will continuously appoint men, traversing (or encircling) the earth, who will bury and seek out those who remain (Vulg. remained) upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it. But after seven months they will begin to search. And they will go around exploring the earth: and when they see the bone of a man, they will set up a marker next to it, until the embalmers in the Valley (or Ge ) of the multitude of Gog bury it. The name of the city is Amona (or Polyandrion): and the earth will be cleansed (or will be cleansed). And these are the heirs of the Jewish tradition and the disciples of endless fables, who contend that after a thousand years of reign, Gog, the prince of Ros, Mosoch, and Thubal will be killed in the borders of Israel; and they will be devoured by all the birds and beasts: and the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will not use wood for seven years, but instead will use the weapons of Gog, namely shields and spears, arrows and clubs or poles: but Gog himself will be buried in a valley called Ge in Hebrew, and his tomb will be called polyandrion; where, indeed, a multitude of men will be buried. But he must be buried for seven months from the house of Israel, so that the land may be cleansed. And a glorious day will come when Gog is killed, and those who diligently search for and bury the bones must be appointed, so that nothing remains unburied on the land. After the months have passed, or rather after seven months have passed, a great expanse of land must be traversed; and wherever they see a human bone, they must mark it with a nearby sign, so that it can be buried later by those in charge of this task. And the city must be named Amona, which is called πολυάνδριον in Greek, meaning a multitude of buried men; and thus the land will be cleansed. They said this to him. But we, starting the explanation, will discuss each thing that we proposed, keeping the meaning. Gog himself has his own Trinity: Ros, Mosoch, and Thubal; head, namely, and insanity, and everything; so that there is no vice that does not consist in the possession of Gog. This [person] will be educated, whether revolving or being touched, and whether suckled or caressed: so that, hoping for victory, he may be led to battle to be killed. And he will ascend from the sides, or from the farthest parts of the North, from where evil is ignited upon all the earth (Jeremiah 1). And he shall be led by the same over the mountains of Israel, whom we must understand to be the apostles and apostolic men and ecclesiastics, so that after he has been led to the mountains of Israel, the bow in his left hand and the arrows held in his right hand may be struck. And he himself, in order to kill those whom he has deceived, imitates having weapons in both his left and right hands, through good and bad reputation. These are the arrows and javelins of which the Psalmist speaks: For behold sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in a quiver, to shoot in the dark at the upright of heart (Psalm 10:2). The fiery darts of the devil must be extinguished by the shield of faith (Ephesians 6). Moreover, Gog, who had ascended over the mountains of Israel, will fall and be cast down on those same mountains with all his army and all his troops. And he will be food for the wild beasts, birds, and all the flying creatures and beasts of the earth, namely the adversarial powers that devour the seed along the way and the bloodthirsty beasts. For just as it is written about the dragon, 'You have given him as food to the peoples of Ethiopia' (Psalm 73:14), so those deceived by heretics are food for demons. But Gog, whether in the breadth of the field or in the cultivated land, which is cared for by the farmers of God. For it cannot be that the words of the Lord are in vain. Then fire will be sent upon Magog, that is, upon those who have accepted the teachings of Gog, and upon those who are beaten by the waves of the world like the likeness of islands, and think that they should be secure. That fire of which the Lord speaks: I came to send fire upon the earth; and how I wish that it should burn! (Luke XII, 49); that all may know and understand that I am the Lord, and that the name of my holiness may be made known among my people, who are in no way deceived by the authority of Gog: nor is my name defiled in heretics by the occasion of false knowledge; and that the nations, which are around, may know that I am the Lord. But what follows is said about the judgment of Christ: Behold, he is coming, and it shall be done, the Lord says: He who is coming will come, and he will not delay (Hab. 2:3). And this is the day of punishment and vengeance, of which the Lord spoke through all the prophets. And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out, the people who believe: but by the cities of Israel we understand the Churches of the right faith. And they will set on fire and burn the weapons, of which it is also written in another place: He will break the bow, and shatter the weapons, and burn the shields and spears with fire (Ps. 43:10), shields and spears, bows and arrows, staves of their hands, with which they celebrated the perverted Passover: lances or poles, with which they inflicted wide and incurable wounds of false doctrines: shields, bows and arrows, of which it has been said above. And what follows: And seven years later they will perish by fire, as is explained in Exodus and Leviticus (Exod. XXI; Levit. XXV), in which the Law prescribes that in the seventh year of release, when freedom is restored to the Hebrew slaves and all debts are paid, and the ancient possession is returned to the masters, and rest is given to the land, and all produce is forgiven to the poor, so that in the sacred and perfect number of seven years the armor of the heretics may disappear, and the men of the Church may not cut wood from the fields and regions, and the forests and woods of the nations, which they most desire to save rather than to destroy; but from the heretics whom they have conquered, with shields, spears, arrows, staves, and lances. For they also have various weapons to attack the Church of Christ, which must be ignited by learned men with the fire of the Holy Spirit; namely, the ecclesiastical word, which whoever possesses can say: Was not our heart burning within us while He was opening the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32) We cannot have full peace and confidence of habitation unless we plunder all the belongings of our adversaries, so that all may perish and be turned to ashes; and let us plunder those who had previously plundered us, and let us devastate those who had previously devastated the Church. In Hebrw, in the clear light of preaching, he says, 'I will give Gog a named place, a tomb in Israel; according to the Hebrew, a valley of travelers to the east of the sea, which astonishes passers-by. The meaning of this statement is that the tomb of Gog will not be in the mountains, but in the low valleys and in rugged places, which are called Ge in Hebrew. The heretics, although they are in the West, claim that these places are in the East, in order to deceive travelers, namely those who pass through this world and are not residents but strangers, saying that prophetic verse: I am a stranger and a sojourner, like all my fathers (Ps. 38:12).' For who among those passing by, of whom it is written: 'And those who pass by did not say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you' (Ps. 128:8), does not marvel and stand amazed when he sees the valley of travelers, which appears as a valley to travelers but as a mountain to its inhabitants? This is according to the Hebrew. However, the Septuagint translated it as the polyandrion of those who come to the sea; and they shall build around the entrance of the valley. For it is the labor of those who go out from the cities of Israel to close and enclose every entrance and exit of heretical corruption from those who come to the sea, and they delighted in its bitterness, and with the crashing waves and the cruelty of shipwreck, they shall close and enclose, and bury in the depths of the earth, so that they may no longer go out and deceive others with their deceit. Therefore, there they will bury Gog and his entire multitude, which always delights the heretics. And the name of that valley where Gog is buried will be called the Valley of the Multitude, or πολυάνδριον, that is, the tomb of a very large multitude. And as we said above, the weapons of the adversaries will be burned for seven years: thus, for seven months, the land will be cleansed of the filth of the heretics. For from the first month, when we celebrate the Passover of the Lord and avoid the destroyer of Egypt, the lamb with the blood on our doorposts, until the end of the year, that is, until the seventh month when we pitch our tents and are protected among the other branches of palm trees, in order to demonstrate a complete victory against the enemies. We fulfill all the festivals among the people: not only the teachers, but also the entire population will do this eagerly, to bury Gog and cover the land, and by no means allow the free air to be shared. But after the killing and destruction, or the burial of Gog, Ecclesiastical men shall be chosen, who have this study, so that nothing of the former impurities remains in the land of Israel, nor anything of death. They shall search the land, and seek the dead, and bury them, so that the land of the Church may be cleansed. But if, after seven months, when everything should be cleansed, those who go through and surround the land find in any place the bone of a man, that is, the hardness of heretical corruption, or anything of the previous doctrine of death, they shall place it beside that, or they shall build a monument: so that once those who are of this kind have been marked, then they shall either be cleansed or buried with Gog, and cast into the tomb ((or crowd)) of his burial. The name of the city, where the victory of the Lord's servants is, and the adversaries lie down, and the whole multitude of its enemies is prostrated, will be called Amona, or Polyandrion, so that it may be the end of all things, the restoration of purity. Finally, it follows: And they shall cleanse the earth; no doubt those of whom it is written above will begin to seek, and will go around the earth.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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