The Daily Audio Bible

Destruction of Gog

39 “You, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ² I will turn you around, drive you along, and lead you up from the extreme north. I will bring you upon the mountains of Israel. ³ Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. ⁴ You will fall on the mountains of Israel—you, all your troops and the people that are with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of birds of prey and to the beasts of the field. ⁵ You will fall on an open field, for I have spoken.’” It is a declaration of Adonai.

⁶ “I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the islands. Then they will know that I am Adonai. ⁷ So I will make My holy Name known among My people Israel. I will not let My holy Name be profaned anymore. The nations will know that I am Adonai, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ Behold, it is coming. It will be done”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“this is the day that I have spoken about.

⁹ “The inhabitants of Israel’s cities will go out and kindle fires with the weapons—shields and breastplates, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears. They will make fires with them for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not take wood out of the field or cut anything from the forests, for they will make fire from the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹¹ “On that day, I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of the travelers east of the sea. It will block those who travel through, since they will bury Gog and all his multitude there. Then they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog. ^{[a] 12} The house of Israel will bury them for seven months, in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ All the people of the land will bury them. It will be memorable for them, a day when I am glorified.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁴ “Men will be continually set apart to travel through the land and bury the travelers remaining on the face of the land, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months, they will make their search. ¹⁵ When they travel through the land, if any sees a man’s bone, he will set up a sign by it, until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ Hamonah will also be the name of the city. So they will cleanse the land.

¹⁷ “You, son of man”—thus says Adonai Elohim—“say to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to My sacrificial feast that I have prepared for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. You will eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—as rams, lambs, goats, bulls—all of them fatlings of Bashan. ¹⁹ So you will eat fat until you are gorged and you will drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrificial feast that I have prepared for you. ²⁰ You will be filled at My table with horses and horsemen, with mighty men and all the warriors.’” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Israel Will Know Adonai

²¹ “I will put My glory among the nations. All the nations will see My judgment that I will execute and My hand that I will lay on them. ²² The house of Israel will know that I am Adonai their God, from that day onward. ²³ The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they broke faith with Me. So I hid My face from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies. All of them fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions. I hid My face from them.”

²⁵ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: “Now I will restore Jacob from exile, when I have compassion on the whole house of Israel. I will be zealous for My holy Name. ²⁶ They will bear their shame and all their disloyalty by which they broke faith with Me, when they were living securely in their land, with no one making them afraid. ²⁷ When I have brought them back from the peoples and have gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, I will be sanctified in them in the eyes of many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am Adonai their God, since it was I who caused them to go into exile among the nations and I who will gather them back to their own land. I will never again leave them there. ²⁹ I will never again hide My face from them. For I have poured out My Ruach upon the house of Israel.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Measurements of a New Temple

40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day—the hand of Adonai was on me, and He brought me there. ² In visions God brought me to the land of Israel and set me down upon a very high mountain. On it, toward the south, was something like the construction of a city. ³ He brought me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze.^[b] He had a linen cord in his hand and a measuring rod.^[c] He was standing in the gateway.

⁴ The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, set your heart on all that I show you—for I brought you here in order to show you—and report all that you see to the house of Israel.”

⁵ Behold, an outer wall was all around the House. The measuring rod in the man’s hand was six cubits long,^[d] each of which was a normal cubit and a handbreadth. When he measured the thickness of the wall structure, it was one rod, and the height was one rod.

⁶ Then he went to the gate that faced east and went up its steps. When he measured the threshold of the gate, it was one rod wide. Also the other threshold was one rod wide. ⁷ Each guard chamber was one rod long and one rod wide. The space between the chambers was five cubits. The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate, facing the House, measured one rod. ⁸ When he measured the porch of the gate toward the House, it was one rod. ⁹ When he measured the porch of the gate, it was eight cubits; its pillars were two cubits. The porch of the gate faced the House. ¹⁰ Now the guard chambers of the east gate were three on this side, and three on the other side—the three had the same measurement. The side pillars had the same measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹ When he measured the width of the entrance of the gate, it was ten cubits, and the length of the gate was 13 cubits. ¹² A barrier wall was in front of the guard chambers, one cubit on each side. Each chamber was six cubits on each side. ¹³ When he measured the gate from the roof of the one chamber to the roof of the other, the width was 25 cubits, door facing door. ¹⁴ Then he did the pillars—60 cubits. A gateway extended all around to the pillar of the courtyard. ¹⁵ Now from the front of the gate of the entrance to the front of the inner porch of the gate measured 50 cubits. ¹⁶ There were shuttered windows toward the chambers and toward their pillars within the surrounding gate, and likewise the porches had windows all around inside. On each pillar were palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me to the outer court.^[e] Behold, there were rooms and pavement, made for the surrounding court, with 30 rooms along the pavement. ¹⁸ The pavement was by the side of the gates, as wide as the gates were long. This was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ He measured the width from the front of the lower gate to the exterior front of the inner court—it was 100 cubits, to the east and to the north.

²⁰ Next he measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court facing toward the north. ²¹ Its guard chambers were three on this side and three on that side. Its pillars and its porches had the same measurements as the first gate—50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. ²² Its windows, porches and palm trees were the same measurements as the gate facing toward the east. Its stairway had seven steps, and its porch was in front of them. ²³ A gate to the inner court was opposite the other gate, northward and eastward. He measured 100 cubits from gate to gate.

²⁴ Then he led me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate toward the south. He measured its pillars and its porches. They had the same measurements. ²⁵ The gate and its porch had windows all around, like the other windows, 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. ²⁶ Its stairway had seven steps, and its porches were in front of them. It had palm-trees on its pillars, one on this side and another on that side. ²⁷ There was a gate to the inner court toward the south. He measured from gate to gate toward the south—100 cubits.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder! ²⁰ But do you want to know, you empty person, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father proved righteous by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith worked together with his works, and by the works his faith was made complete. ²³ The Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”^[a]—and he was called God’s friend. ^{[b] 24} You see that a man is proved righteous by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And likewise, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also proved righteous by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out another way? ^{[c] 26} For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Dangerous Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, since you know that we will receive a stricter judgment. ² For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. ³ And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole body as well. ⁴ See also the ships—though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member—yet it boasts of great things.^[d] See how so small a fire sets a blaze so great a forest! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire.^[e] The tongue is a world of evil placed among our body parts. It pollutes the whole body and sets on fire the course of life—and is set on fire by Gehenna.

⁷ For every species of beasts and birds, reptiles and sea creatures, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ^{[f] 9} With it we bless our Adonai and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the image of God. ^{[g] 10} From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be. ¹¹ A spring doesn’t pour out fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh water.

Gentle Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct let him show his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.^[h]

His Chesed Endures Forever

Psalm 118