7 I will enable my Israeli people to know that I am holy. I will no longer allow people to damage my reputation, and people in other nations will know that I, Yahweh the Lord, am the Holy One in Israel. 8 I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that it will soon be the day that those things will happen. It will be the day that I have spoken to you about.
9 At that time, those Israelis who live in the towns will go out and gather the weapons from your dead soldiers, and use them to make fires to cook their food. They will burn the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs, and spears. There will be enough weapons to use as firewood for seven years. 10 They will not need to gather firewood in the fields or cut wood from trees in the forests, because those weapons will be all the firewood that they will need. And they will take valuable things from those who took valuable things from them, and steal things from people who stole things from them. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare will happen.
11 At that time I will create a graveyard for you, Gog, and your soldiers, in the valley east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will block the road that travelers usually walk on, because you, Gog and all the soldiers of your huge army will be buried there. So it will be named ‘the Valley of Gog’s Huge Army’.
12 For seven months the people of Israel will be burying those corpses. It will be necessary to bury all of them, in order that the land will not be ◄defiled/considered unacceptable to me► because of any unburied corpses. 13 All the people of Israel will do the work of burying them. The day when I win that victory they will honor me.
14 After those seven months are ended, the Israeli people will appoint men to go throughout the land to bury corpses, in order that the land will not remain defiled. 15 When they go through the land, when one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it. When the gravediggers see the markers, they will pick up the bones and bury them in the Valley of Gog’s Huge Army. 16 There will be a city there named Hamonah, which means ‘huge army’. And by doing this work of burying the corpses, they will ◄cleanse the land/cause the land to be acceptable to me again►.’ ”
17 Yahweh said to me, “You human, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Summon every kind of bird and wild animal. Say to them, ‘Gather together from everywhere and come to the feast that Yahweh is preparing for you. It will be a great feast on the mountains in Israel. There you will eat men’s flesh and drink their blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of strong soldiers and drink the blood of kings as if they were fat animals—rams and lambs, goats and bulls—from the Bashan region. 19 At that feast that Yahweh is preparing for you, you will eat fat until your stomachs are full, and you will drink blood until it is as though you are drunk. 20 It will be as though you are eating at a table that I have set up for you. You will eat all you want of the flesh of horses and their riders, strong soldiers [DOU] of every kind.’ That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.
21 I will show people of many nations that I am glorious, and all those nations will see how I punish them [DOU]. 22 After that time, the Israeli people will know that I, Yahweh their God, have the power to do what I say that I will do. 23 And the people of other nations will know that the Israeli people had been forced to go to other countries because they sinned by not being faithful to me. I ◄turned away from/abandoned► them, and allowed their enemies to capture them [IDM], and many [HYP] of them were killed by their enemies’ swords. 24 I punished them like they deserved to be punished because of their disgusting behavior and sins, and I turned away from them [MTY].
25 Therefore, this is now what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I will now bring back from exile/Babylonia the descendants of Jacob; I will pity all the Israeli people, and I will also jealously protect my reputation. 26 When the Israeli people are back in their own country, they will live safely in their land, with no one to cause them to be afraid, but they will be ashamed when they think about the disgraceful and unfaithful things that they did previously. 27 When I have brought them back from their enemies’ countries and gathered them together in Israel, the people of many nations will know that I am holy. 28 And the Israeli people will know that I, Yahweh their Lord, have the power to do what I say that I will do. They will know that because even though I forced them to go to other countries, I will gather them together in their own country. I will not leave any of them in those countries. 29 I will no longer turn away from them; I will pour out my Spirit on the Israeli people. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”
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