Study Desk

'Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy (love for that which is Mine) and in My wrath because you have endured the [shameful] insults of the nations.'

'But you, O mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and bear your fruit to My people Israel; for they will soon come [home].

'For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you [in favor], and you shall be cultivated and sown.

'I will multiply on you man and animal; and they will increase and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly, and I will do better [things] for you than at your beginning. Then you will know [with great confidence] that I am the LORD.

"So I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land and because they had defiled it with their idols.

"But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

"For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

"I will also save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the grain and make it abundant, and I will not bring famine on you.

"Then you will remember [clearly] your [own] evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your sins and for your outrageous atrocities.

"I am not doing this for your sake," says the Lord GOD. "Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your [wicked] ways, O house of Israel!"

'Thus says the Lord GOD, "This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock.

"Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the desolate cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know [with confident assurance] that I am the LORD."'"

"And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'

"Then the nations will know [without any doubt] that I am the LORD who sets apart and sanctifies Israel [for holy use], when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."'"

"You [Gog] be prepared; prepare yourself, you and all your hordes that are assembled around you, and be a guard and a lookout for them.

"After many days you will be summoned [for service]; in the latter years you shall come into the land that is restored from [the ravages of] the sword, where people have been gathered out of many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual wasteland; but its people were brought out of the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.

'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you (Gog) against them?

"I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains," says the Lord GOD. "Every man's (invading soldier's) sword will be against his brother (ally) [in panic and confusion].

"You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken," says the Lord GOD.