You will 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,
Parallel Translations
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You will 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,
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And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
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and thou shalt say: I will go up against the land of unwalled villages; I will come upon them that are at quiet, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 38:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zechariah 2:4-5 and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.
- Exodus 15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’
- Judges 18:7 Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else.
- Judges 18:27 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire.
- Psalms 10:9 He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.
- Proverbs 1:11-16 If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.” My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.
- Proverbs 3:29-30 Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you. Don’t strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.
- Isaiah 37:24-25 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
- Jeremiah 49:31-32 Arise! Go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care,” says Yahweh; “that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone. Their camels will be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a plunder. I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them,” says Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 38:8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will 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 will dwell securely, all of them.
- Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, Israel, which had now been destroyed, and was…
Meaning, Israel, which had now been destroyed, and was not yet built again: declaring hereby the simplicity of the godly, who seek not so much to fortify themselves by outward force, as to depend on the providence and goodness of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 38:11 And thou shalt say, I will go…
Eze 38:11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
Ver. 11. I will go up to the land of unwalled villages.] That care not to fortify their towns, but commit themselves to God, and think to escape us, but we shall soon show them their folly therein. The Hebrews have one and the same word for folly ( כסל) and confidence. (Psa 49:14 Ecc 7:25 Psa 78:7 Job 31:24) See on Job 4:6 But "in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence; and his children," though their towns be unwalled, "have a place of refuge." {Pro 14:26}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thou shalt say; thou wilt resolve in thyself, and…
Thou shalt say; thou wilt resolve in thyself, and declare it to thy council.
Go up; invade with all thy puissance.
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Of unwalled villages; weak, and without any considerable defences: a scattered people, that dwell in villages, can make little if any resistance.
That are at rest; who would willingly be quiet.
That dwell safely; suspecting as little evil from others, as they intend little against others, and trusting in the protection of their God, who hath promised they shall dwell safely.
Without walls that may resist and be too strong for my forces and engines; though they have walls, bars, and gates, yet Gog accounts as none against his mighty armies.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain To take a spoil, and to take a prey,....…
To take a spoil, and to take a prey,.... These are the words of Gog continued; suggesting that he should have no occasion to fight; should have nothing else to do but to seize upon the goods and plunder the substance of these people:
to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited: such as were before desolate, and had lain long so, but now peopled and cultivated; these he would attack and demolish, and make a spoil and prey of:
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and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations; a description of the Jews, as before; Eze 38:8.
which have gotten cattle and goods; so that it should seem that Gog or the Turks will not immediately attack the Jews upon their possession of the land of Judea; but some time after, when they have settled in it, and have acquired much wealth and riches in cattle and goods, and then think to have a fine booty of them:
that dwell in the midst of the land; or, "the navel of the land" (p); which may design Jerusalem, situated in the midst of the land of Israel, and so called the navel of it, as that is in the midst of the body; as Enna is said by Cicero to be the navel of Sicily: or, as Kimchi thinks, the land of Israel itself is meant; which is in the midst of the world, and so the navel of it; though the former seems best.
(p) , Sept.; "in vel super umbilico terrae", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Unwalled - Weak, and without any considerable defenses.
Unwalled - Weak, and without any considerable defenses.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Unwalled villages - Compare Zec 2:4-5.
Unwalled villages - Compare Zec 2:4-5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain dwell safely--that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare…
dwell safely--that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare Est 9:19). Antiochus, the type of Antichrist, took Jerusalem without a blow.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. Cf. Deu_3:5; 1Sa_6:18; Jdg_18:27. “Safely,” i.e. in confidence,…
11. Cf. Deu_3:5; 1Sa_6:18; Jdg_18:27. “Safely,” i.e. in confidence, Eze_38:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) The land of unwalled villages.—Again, omit the definite…
(11) The land of unwalled villages.—Again, omit the definite article before land, as in Eze_38:8. The description of a people living in prosperity and security looks quite beyond anything hitherto realised in the history of the Jews, and points to such a state of things as is described in Zec_2:4-5. The description of the attack of Gog and Magog in Rev_20:9 corresponds to this.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 11, 12 give voice to the things that…
Vers. 11, 12 give voice to the things that should come into Gog"s mind and incite him to his enterprise against Israel. The spectacle of Israel dwelling safely, i.e. securely and confidently, in a land of un-walled villages literally, a land of open places, as opposed to fortified citiesi.e. of towns without walls, and having neither bars nor gates (comp Zec_2:4, Zec_2:5; Deu_3:5; 1Sa_6:18) because of being no more apprehensive of invasion, should excite within his bosom the thought that Israel would fall an easy prey to his assault; and this thought again should kindle in his bosom the lust of conquest which should finally impel him to the sinful project described, viz. to take a spoil and to take a prey; literally, to spoil the spoil (comp. Eze_29:19; and (Isa_10:6) to prey the prey. (Isa_33:23) In execution of this he would fall upon the once desolate but then inhabited places, upon the once scattered but then collected population, upon the previously poor but then wealthy inhabitants, who should then have gotten cattle and goods (cattle and chattel best renders the Hebrew parouomasia, mikneh vekinyan), as the patriarchs of their nation had once done, (Gen_34:23 Gen_36:6) and who should then be dwelling in the midst of the land; literally, in the height, or, navel (LXX, Vulgate), of the earth, (comp. Jud_1:9:37) the Hebrews generally regarding Palestine as the Greeks did Delphi, both as the middle (Eze_5:5) and perhaps therefore if not as the highest (Gesenius), at least as the fairest and most fertile portion of the earth.
Spiritual security.
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We may treat this subject in two ways, We may have regard to
I NATIONAL SECURITY. Unfortunately, it is only too typical of our race that a great power should say, "I will go up to the land of unwalled villages," etc. Taking men and nations as they are, we have to reckon upon:
1. N ational unscrupulousness. It has been enough that one country has been strong and another weak, one covetous and another wealthy, one well armed and another defenseless, for the military enterprise to be undertaken, the attack to be delivered, and the disaster to be sustained. Then there has to be:
2. Some means and method of national defense. And we may find a country:
(1) Pitiably helpless. Such is the case with Israel (in the text); it has not yet recovered from its past defeats and despoilments; it has not had the opportunity of strengthening itself against attack.
(2) Culpably negligent. It may be so intent on enrichment or enjoyment that it has not given the needful time and strength to make itself secure against assault from without.
(3) Secured by international covenant; as Switzerland.
(4) Wisely regardful of its chief source of safety. This is found, not in regiments and in ships, not in fortresses and in magazines though these may not be disregarded but in the manliness and temperance of its citizens, and in the favor of Almighty God.
II INDIVIDUAL SECURITY. Every man has to guard the sanctity of his own heart and character, the honor of his own name; his most sacred and bounden duty is to see that it is not invaded and defiled. That it may be preserved in its purity and integrity it becomes him:
1. To recognize the strength of the enemy. To remember and to realize that the adversaries of his soul are many, subtle, and strong; they are such as these covetousness, passion, pride, intemperance, worldliness, unbelief.
2. To raise the strongest defenses he can secure. And these are
(1) good principles, the love of that which is true and pure and sound, the hatred of that which is base and shameful and degrading;
(2) good habits, the habits, well cultivated and constantly sustained, of self-command, of temperance, of purity, of through investigation before acceptance and utterance, of devotion. There are "the walls, the bars, and the gates" of the soul, which the adversary must take before he succeeds in his attack, within which the soul should be safely entrenched.
3. To secure the guardianship of God. By simplicity and uprightness of heart, by prayerfulness of attitude and engagement, to secure that gracious and mighty power against which all the devices and all the assaults of evil will not be able to succeed. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.