Lectionary Calendar
Friday, May 30th, 2025
the Sixth Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Ezekiel 39:12

It will take seven months for the family of Israel to bury them. They must do this to make the land pure.

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

Christian Standard Bible®
The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land.
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;
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

8 That time is coming! It will happen!" This is what the Lord God said. "That is the day I am talking about. 9 "At that time people living in the cities of Israel will go out to the fields. They will collect the enemy's weapons and burn them. They will burn all the shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They will use the weapons as firewood for seven years. 10 They will not have to gather wood from the fields or chop firewood from the forests because they will use the weapons as firewood. They will take the valuable things from the soldiers who wanted to steal from them. They will take the good things from the soldiers who took good things from them." This is what the Lord God said. 11 "At that time I will choose a place in Israel to bury Gog. He will be buried in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers, because Gog and all his army will be buried in that place. People will call it ‘The Valley of Gog's Army.' 12 It will take seven months for the family of Israel to bury them. They must do this to make the land pure. 13 The common people will bury the enemy soldiers, and the people will become famous on the day that I bring honor to myself." The Lord God said those things. 14 "Workers will be given a full-time job burying the dead soldiers to make the land pure. The workers will work for seven months. They will go around looking for dead bodies. 15 They will go around looking, and if anyone sees a bone, a marker will be put up by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers come and bury the bone in the Valley of Gog's Army. 16 The city of the dead will be named Hamonah. In this way they will make the country pure." 17 This is what the Lord God said: "Son of man, speak to all the birds and wild animals for me. Tell them, ‘Come here! Come here! Gather around. Come eat this sacrifice I am preparing for you. There will be a very big sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. Come, eat the meat and drink the 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 Joseph refused. He said, "My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has given me responsibility for everything here.
Genesis 39:10
The woman talked with Joseph every day, but he refused to sleep with her.
Genesis 39:13
The woman saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house.
1 Samuel 15:27
When Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught Samuel's robe. The robe tore.
Proverbs 1:15
My son, don't follow them. Don't even take the first step along that path.
Proverbs 5:8
Stay away from the woman who commits adultery. Don't even go near her house.
Proverbs 6:5
Escape from that trap like a deer running from a hunter. Free yourself like a bird flying from a trap.
Ecclesiastes 7:26
I also found that some women are dangerous like traps. Their hearts are like nets, and their arms are like chains. It is worse than death to be caught by these women. God's followers should run away from them. Let the sinners be caught by them.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Don't be fooled: "Bad friends will ruin good habits."
2 Timothy 2:22
Stay away from the evil things a young person like you typically wants to do. Do your best to live right and to have faith, love, and peace, together with others who trust in the Lord with pure hearts.

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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile