Bible in a Year · Day 266 of 365
Today’s reading: Ezekiel 38–41 (4 chapters)
Read the passage below, or open your own Bible and follow along. The text here is the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, printed in full so the day’s reading is all on one page.
About Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a priest taken to Babylon, and his book is full of visions that are hard to picture and hard to forget. He sees the glory of God by a river, then watches that glory leave the temple, and later watches it return. He acts out the siege, lies on his side for weeks, and shaves his head as signs for a people who will not listen. The book also holds the valley of dry bones and the promise of a new heart of flesh. Much of it is dated, which gives the reader a timeline through the exile.
What to watch for. Watch the movement of God's glory, out of the temple and back again, and notice how the promise of a new heart in chapter 36 answers the diagnosis of chapter 36. Read the dry bones as a promise to people who think they are finished.
Ezekiel 38
1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: 4and I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; 5Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you. 7Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them. 8After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them. 9You shall ascend, you shall come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. 10Thus says the Lord Yahweh: It shall happen in that day, that things shall come into your mind, and you shall devise an evil device:
11and you shall say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12to take the plunder and to take the prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth. 13Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions of it, shall tell you, Have you come to take the plunder? have you assembled your company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder? 14Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, shall you not know it? 15You shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army;
16and you shall come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes. 17Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them? 18It shall happen in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils. 19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the field, and all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains, says the Lord Yahweh: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. 22With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur. 23I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 39
1You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: 2and I will turn you around, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel; 3and I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the animals of the field to be devoured. 5You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.
6I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely in the islands; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 7My holy name will I make known among my people Israel; neither will I allow my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel. 8Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh; this is the day about which I have spoken. 9Those who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go out, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years; 10so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord Yahweh.
11It shall happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop those who pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon Gog. 12Seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. 13Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord Yahweh. 14They shall set apart men of continual employment, who shall pass through the land, and, with those who pass through, those who bury those who remain on the surface of the land, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. 15Those who pass through the land shall pass through; and when any sees a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.
16Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus shall they cleanse the land. 17You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood. 18You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19You shall eat fat until you be full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20You shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the Lord Yahweh.
21I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22So the house of Israel shall know that I am Yahweh their God, from that day and forward. 23The nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I to them; and I hid my face from them. 25Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name.
26They shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and no one shall make them afraid; 27when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. 28They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there; 29neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 40
1In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me there. 2In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south. 3He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. 4The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, you are brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel. 5Behold, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand width each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
6Then came he to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide; and the other threshold, one reed wide. 7Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed wide; and between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. 8He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. 9Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. 10The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
11He measured the width of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; 12and a border before the lodges, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. 13He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits; door against door. 14He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate. 15From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits.
16There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches; and windows were around inward; and on each post were palm trees. 17Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement, made for the court all around: thirty rooms were on the pavement. 18The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. 19Then he measured the width from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north. 20The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its width.
21The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. 22The windows of it, and its arches, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them. 23There was a gate to the inner court facing the other gate, on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits. 24He led me toward the south; and behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measurements. 25There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits.
26There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts. 27There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits. 28Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measurements; 29and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. 30There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits wide.
31The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps. 32He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measurements; 33and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements: and there were windows therein and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. 34The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. 35He brought me to the north gate: and he measured it according to these measurements;
36its lodges, its posts, and its arches: and there were windows therein all around; the length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. 37The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. 38A room with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering. 39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. 40On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed the sacrifices. 42There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice. 43The hooks, a hand width long, were fastened within all around: and on the tables was the meat of the offering. 44Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. 45He said to me, This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house;
46and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him. 47He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits wide, square; and the altar was before the house. 48Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the width of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 49The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the width eleven cubits; even by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.
Ezekiel 41
1He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side, and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent. 2The width of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits. 3Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits. 4He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place. 5Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.
6The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported, and not penetrate the wall of the house. 7The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level. 8I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits. 9The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house. 10Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around. 12The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits. 13So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long; 14also the width of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits. 15He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
16the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), 17to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure. 18It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; 19so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around: 20from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.
21As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple. 22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh. 23The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other. 25There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
26There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side rooms of the house, and the thresholds.
Next · Day 267: Ezekiel 42–44 →
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation. Day numbering follows the calendar year; you can start at Day 1 on any date.
