Ezekiel 39:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 39:1
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
man
אָדָם֙'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
prophesy
הִנָּבֵ֣אhi.na.Ve'
H5012
to prophesy · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
Gog
גּ֔וֹגGog
H1463
Gog · proper noun, a place name
say
וְאָ֣מַרְתָּ֔ve.'A.mar.ta
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
saith
אָמַ֖ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֑הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Gog
גּ֔וֹגGog
H1463
Gog · proper noun, a place name
chief
רֹ֖אשׁrosh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
prince
נְשִׂ֕יאne.Si'
H5387
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
Meshech
מֶ֥שֶׁךְMe.shekh
H4902
Meshek · proper noun, a place name
Tubal
וְתֻבָֽלve.tu.Val
H8422
Tubal · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 38:2-3 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
Ezekiel 35:3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will…
Nahum 2:13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: a…
Nahum 3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 39:1-7
This prophecy begins as that before (Eze 38:3, Eze 38:4, I am against thee, and I will turn thee back); for there is need of line upon line, both for the conviction of Israel's enemies and the comfort of Israel's friends. Here, as there, it is foretold that God will bring this enemy from the north parts, as formerly the Chaldeans were fetched from the north, Jer 1:14 (Omne malum ab aquilone - Every evil comes from the north), and, long after, the Roman empire was overrun by the northern nations, that he will bring him upon the mountains of Israel (Eze 39:2), first as a place of temptation, where the measures of his iniquity shall be filled up, and then as a place of execution, where his ruin…
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,.... As he had been ordered to do before, and must still continue to do it:
behold, I am against thee, O Gog; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to inject terror into him; for terrible it is to have God against any:
the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; See Gill on Ezekiel 38:2, the Septuagint version adds "Ros" here as there.
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 39:1-8
Further Description of the Judgment to Fall upon Gog and his Hosts
Eze 39:1-8. General announcement of his destruction. - Eze 39:1. And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Eze 39:2. I will mislead thee, and conduct thee, and cause thee to come up from the uttermost north, and bring thee to the mountains of Israel; Eze 39:3. And will smite thy bow from thy left hand, and cause thine arrows to fall from thy right hand. Eze 39:4. Upon the mountains of Israel wilt thou fall, thou and all thy hosts, and the peoples which are with thee: I give thee for food to the birds of prey of…
(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…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gog — (1.) A Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:4), the father of Shimei. (2.) The name of the leader of the hostile party described in Ezek. 38, 39, as coming from the “north country” and assailing the people of Israel…
Magog — Region of Gog, the second of the “sons” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chr. 1:5). In Ezekiel (38:2; 39:6) it is the name of a nation, probably some Scythian or Tartar tribe descended from Japheth. They are…
Mesech, Meshech — (drawing out), a son of Japhet, (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5) and the progenitor of a race frequently noticed in Scripture in connection with Tubal, Magog and other northern nations. They appear…
Rosh — (Ezek. 38:2, 3; 39:1) is rendered “chief” in the Authorized Version. It is left untranslated as a proper name in the Revised Version. Some have supposed that the Russians are here meant, as one of…
Tubal — (1.) The fifth son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2). (2.) A nation, probably descended from the son of Japheth. It is mentioned by Isaiah (66:19), along with Javan, and by Ezekiel (27:13), along with Meshech,…
Rosh · .R. V.) — .R. V.)
Tubal · General references — General references
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
