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Sunday, September 14th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

Christian Standard Bible ®

Ezekiel 39:12

The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Burial;   The Topic Concordance - Israel/jews;   Last Days;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Burial;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Funeral;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Tabernacles, Feast of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gog;   Thessalonians, Second Epistle to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Burial;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Gog and Magog;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Burial;   Cremation;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Seven months shall the house of Yisra'el be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
King James Version
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
English Standard Version
For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
New American Standard Bible
"For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
New Century Version
"‘The people of Israel will be burying them for seven months to make the land clean again.
Amplified Bible
"For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And seuen moneths long shall the house of Israel be burying of the, that they may clense the land.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
Legacy Standard Bible
And for seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
Berean Standard Bible
For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
Contemporary English Version
The Israelites will spend seven months burying dead bodies and cleaning up their land.
Complete Jewish Bible
It will take the house of Isra'el seven months to bury them, in order to cleanse the land.
Darby Translation
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land;
Easy-to-Read Version
It will take seven months for the family of Israel to bury them. They must do this to make the land pure.
George Lamsa Translation
And for seven months the house of Israel shall be busy burying them; and then the land shall be cleansed.
Good News Translation
It will take the Israelites seven months to bury all the corpses and make the land clean again.
Lexham English Bible
And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
Literal Translation
And the house of Israel shall bury them, in order to cleanse the land, seven months.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Seuen monethes longe shall the house of Israel be burienge of them, that they maye clense the lode:
American Standard Version
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
Bible in Basic English
And the children of Israel will be seven months putting them in the earth, so as to make the land clean.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
King James Version (1611)
And seuen moneths shall the house of Israel bee burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Seuen monethes long shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the lande.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the house of Israel shall bury them, that the land may be cleansed in the space of seven months.
English Revised Version
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
World English Bible
Seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the hous of Israel schulen birie hem, that thei clense the lond in seuene monethis.
Update Bible Version
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
Webster's Bible Translation
And seven months shall the house of Israel be in burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
New English Translation
For seven months Israel will bury them, in order to cleanse the land.
New King James Version
For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
New Living Translation
It will take seven months for the people of Israel to bury the bodies and cleanse the land.
New Life Bible
It will take the people of Israel seven months to bury the dead and make the land clean again.
New Revised Standard
Seven months the house of Israel shall spend burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So shall the house of Israel bury them hat they may cleanse the land, - seven months;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the house of Israel shall bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
Revised Standard Version
For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
Young's Literal Translation
And the house of Israel have buried them -- in order to cleanse the land -- seven months.
THE MESSAGE
"Israel will bury the corpses in order to clean up the land. It will take them seven months. All the people will turn out to help with the burials. It will be a big day for the people when it's all done and I'm given my due. Men will be hired full-time for the cleanup burial operation and will go through the country looking for defiling, decomposing corpses. At the end of seven months, there'll be an all-out final search. Anyone who sees a bone will mark the place with a stick so the buriers can get it and bury it in the mass burial site, Gog's Mob. (A town nearby is called Mobville, or Hamonah.) That's how they'll clean up the land.

Contextual Overview

8Yes, it is coming, and it will happen. This is the declaration of the Lord God. This is the day I have spoken about. 9“‘Then the inhabitants of Israel’s cities will go out, kindle fires, and burn the weapons—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them to make fires. 10They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it down from the forests, for they will use the weapons to make fires. They will take the loot from those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them. This is the declaration of the Lord God. 11“‘Now on that day I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel—the Travelers’ Valley east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, for Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called Hordes of Gog Valley. 12The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13All the people of the land will bury them and their fame will spread on the day I display my glory. This is the declaration of the Lord God. 14“‘They will appoint men on a full-time basis to pass through the land and bury the invaders who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will make their search at the end of the seven months. 15When they pass through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker next to it until the buriers have buried it in Hordes of Gog Valley. 16There will even be a city named Hamonah there. So they will cleanse the land.’ 17“Son of man, this is what the Lord God says: Tell every kind of bird and all the wild animals, ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my sacrificial feast that I am slaughtering for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel; you will eat flesh and drink blood.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cleanse: Ezekiel 39:14, Ezekiel 39:16, Numbers 19:16, Deuteronomy 21:23

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 23:14 - the bones of men Joel 2:20 - his stink

Cross-References

Genesis 39:8
But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.
Genesis 39:10
Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.
Genesis 39:13
When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,
1 Samuel 15:27
When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore.
Proverbs 1:15
my son, don’t travel that road with themor set foot on their path,
Proverbs 5:8
Keep your way far from her.Don’t go near the door of her house.
Proverbs 6:5
Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,like a bird from a hunter’s trap.
Ecclesiastes 7:26
And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
2 Timothy 2:22
Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,.... So long time will the burial of Gog's army take up, because of the multitude of it, and by reason their bones will be scattered here and there; which will require time to gather them together, and bring them to one place: the reason of the burial of them will be, partly out of humanity, which the Christian religion, which will then be embraced by the Jews, teaches and encourages; and partly because of the disagreeable sight and ill smell of the carcasses of the slain, and to prevent the air being infected therewith, which might cause noxious diseases. Jarchi gives the reason of it, because Gog is of the seed of Japheth, who covered his father's nakedness, and therefore worthy of a funeral: but a better reason follows,

that they may cleanse the land: not from ceremonial uncleanness, a place being unclean, by the ceremonial law, where dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, lay; for the ceremonial law, as it is abrogated, will now be disused by the Jews themselves, when converted; but from natural pollution, before mentioned.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 39:12. And seven months — It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army. This slow process of burying is distinctly related in the three following verses, and extended even to a bone, Ezekiel 39:15; which, when it was found by a passenger, the place was marked, that the buriers might see and inter it. Seven months was little time enough for all this work; and in that country putrescency does not easily take place: the scorching winds serving to desiccate the flesh, and preserve it from decomposition.


 
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