“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “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?
Parallel Translations
-
“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “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?
-
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
-
Thus saith the Lord GOD: Art thou he of whom I spoke in old time by My servants the prophets of Israel, that prophesied in those days for many years, that I would bring thee against them?
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 38:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 11:40-45 “At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through. He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape. But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
- Isaiah 63:1-6 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? “I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
- Ezekiel 38:16 You will come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”
- Joel 3:9-14 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh. “Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
- Isaiah 34:1-6 Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it. For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter. Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up. The mountains will melt in their blood. All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree. For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
- Ezekiel 38:10-11 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. 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,
- Isaiah 66:15-16 For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
- Zechariah 12:2-8 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem. It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it. In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.’ In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah. In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like Yahweh’s angel before them.
- Zechariah 14:1-21 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your plunder will be divided within you. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light. It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. It will be so in summer and in winter. Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will each hold onto the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance. A plague like this will fall on the horse, on the mule, on the camel, on the donkey, and on all the animals that will be in those camps. It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of booths. It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH”; and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.
- Psalms 110:5-6 The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath. He will judge among the nations. He will heap up dead bodies. He will crush the ruler of the whole earth.
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hereby he declareth that none affliction can come to…
Hereby he declareth that none affliction can come to the Church, whereof they have not been advertised aforetime, to teach them to endure all things with more patience, when they know that God hath so ordained.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 38:17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; [Art] thou…
Eze 38:17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; [Art] thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days [many] years that I would bring thee against them?
Ver. 17. Art thou he?] It is sure enough thou art he; for I cannot be deceived in thee, nor shall fail to suppress thee.
Read full note →
By my servants the prophets.] Enoch {Jdg 1:14 Hos 2:1 Joe 3:1 Dan 11:1-2 Zec 14:1-21 : 1Ki 20:8 2Th 2:1}
Which prophesied of thee.] Though under another name.
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 Art thou he? either by way of contempt from…
Art thou he? either by way of contempt from God, upon him and all his preparations, or by way of monition: All these enterprises I foresaw, have spoken of them, and I will as well defeat as I did foretell them.
Of whom I have spoken: it is not said it is written, though that be true also, but it was more spoken of.
Read full note →
In old time; in the days of those years past, or of their years, in the times when those prophets lived.
The prophets of Israel; not by prognostication or soothsayers, but by true prophets, my servants whom I sent, Da 11; Zec 14. Now, though they had not foretold this when Ezekiel did, yet when the question shall be asked by the church, it will be so many hundreds of years past, it may well refer to these two prophets; beside Isa 26:20,21, with Isa 27:1; Jer 30:23,24; Joe 3:1,15,16; and Mic 5:5,6, are prophets cited, as those who spake of this mighty enemy and his coming, and from which an understanding reader may soon collect that this foe was intended as well as others in those places.
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 And it shall come to pass at the same…
And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God,.... As before prophesied of and described:
that my fury shall come up in my face; as a man's blood rises up in his face, and his colour appears, when he is wroth and angry: or, "in my nose" (s); as men when they are angry puff and blow, expand their nose, breathe through it; but against whom is all this wrath and fury? Starckius, a modern interpreter, thinks it is against the land of Israel, against the church; but it rather seems to be against Gog himself; the Lord being provoked at his attempt against the land of Israel, and the wicked designs he had to spoil and plunder it.
Read full note →
(s) "in nasum meum", Piscator, 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 Spoken - All these enterprises I have spoken of,…
Spoken - All these enterprises I have spoken of, and will as well defeat as I did foretel them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. Art thou he of whom I have…
Verse 17. Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time] This prophecy concerning Antiochus and the Jews was delievered about four hundred years before the events took place. - Martin. Calmet maintains that Cambyses is spoken of, and refers to ancient prophecies, especially Isa 14, Isa 15, Isa 20, Isa 21.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 38:17. Art thou he? — This would be…
Eze 38:17. Art thou he? — This would be better translated, Art thou not he? a sense which the Hebrew particle of interrogation often imports; of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets — “It is doubtful by what prophets God foretold the irruption of Gog; but though nothing of this kind be found in the prophets that remain, it is enough that Ezekiel did not first foretel these things. Many of the sacred pages are lost, which might probably be extant when Ezekiel delivered this prophecy.” — Houbigant. The expressions here used, of old time, and which prophesied in those days, many years, plainly imply that there was to be a succession of many ages between the publishing of these prophecies, and this event foretold by them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Gog - is not mentioned by name in any…
Gog - is not mentioned by name in any existing prophecy before Ezekiel’s time. The reference here shows
(1) that the conflict with Gog does not represent a particular event, but one of which the prophets in general had to speak;
Read full note →
(2) that in the interpretation of Old Testament prophecy we are to look beyond special fulfillments.
Events in the world’s history come within a prophet’s ken as parts of the divine administration whereby evil struggles against but is overcome by good. As every such conflict is a prelude to the final struggle, so its prediction has reference ultimately to the consummation here foretold.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Prophets. See Isaias xiv., and xvi. 21., and xxvi.…
Prophets. See Isaias xiv., and xvi. 21., and xxvi. 1., and Jeremias xxx. 3., and 23., and Joel ii. 30., and iii. 1., &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain thou he of whom I have spoken in old…
thou he of whom I have spoken in old time--Gog, &c. are here identified with the enemies spoken of in other prophecies (Num 24:17-24; Isa 27:1; compare Isa 26:20-21; Jer 30:23-24; Joe 3:1; Mic 5:5-6; Isa 14:12-14; Isa 59:19). God is represented as addressing Gog at the time of his assault; therefore, the "old time" is the time long prior, when Ezekiel uttered these prophecies; so, he also, as well as Daniel (Dan. 11:1-45) and Zechariah (Zec. 14:1-21) are included among "the prophets of Israel" here.
many years--ago.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. Of whom I have spoken — No extant…
17. Of whom I have spoken — No extant ancient prophecy names Gog. Doubtless the predictions referred to are all such as represent the hostility of the world powers concentrating itself in one last tremendous attack (for example, Zep_3:8; Zec_12:7; Zechariah 14; Joe_3:2; Joe_3:4-17; Isa_54:15; Isa_54:17; compare Rev_20:7-10).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. The question gives vividness to the fact of…
17. The question gives vividness to the fact of Gog’s invasion having been long predicted, and identifies him with the subject of these predictions. These former prophecies had not named Gog; the identification is matter of inference.
those days many years] The construction is peculiar, but this is probably the sense. Gog, though not by name, had formed the subject of repeated predictions by many prophets. The prophecies referred to are probably such as Zephaniah 1 (Eze_3:8), which agrees with Ezek. Eze_38:20 in mentioning the fishes of the sea (again only Hos_4:3), and Jeremiah 3-6 (Isa_17:12 seq.). The age of Joel may be later than Ezek., and passages like Joel 3, Zechariah 14, possibly repose rather on him, or at all events shew the continued prevalence of the same ideas, which indeed passed as current conceptions into the Apocalyptic prophecy dating from this age. The passage Mic_4:11 seq. is also of uncertain date. It is possible that the invasion of the Scythians may have suggested the prophecies of Zeph. and Jer., though the supposition is less necessary in the case of the latter prophet. It is not likely, however, that Ezekiel’s renewal of the prophecy was occasioned by any fresh movements among these northern nations occurring in his time (Sm. Kuen.), because he regards the inroad of Gog as an event to happen in the far distant future.
Read full note →
17–23. This invasion of Gog has been long predicted. It shall be the occasion of a final manifestation of himself by Jehovah to creation and the nations, which shall inspire universal awe, and leave in the minds of all mankind the knowledge of Jehovah, and that which he is.
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 (17) Of whom I have spoken in old time.—This…
(17) Of whom I have spoken in old time.—This is put in that interrogative form which is often used for emphatic assurance. The word many before “years” is not in the original, but is correctly inserted to mark the accusative of duration. The statement is then an emphatic one, that God had of old and for a long time foretold by His prophets this attack of Gog. But the name of Gog is not mentioned in any earlier prophecy now extant, nor is it likely that any such, far less that any long series of such prophecies, have been lost. This concurs with many other indications in the prophecy to show that it does not relate to any particular event, but that Gog and his allies represent the enemies of the Church in general, and that the prophet is here depicting the same great and prolonged struggle between evil and good, between the powers of the world and the kingdom of God, which has formed the burden of so much of both earlier and later prophecy.
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 Art thou he of whom I have spoken in…
Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time? As no existing prophecy, prior to Ezekiel"s time, mentions Cog by name, it must be concluded either
(1) that Ezekiel refers to prophecies known in his day, though no longer extant; or
Read full note →
(2) that his words simply mean that earlier prophets had predicted such an invasion of Israel in the last times as that which he announces under the leadership of Gog. The former opinion, though countenanced by Ewald, Kuenen, and Smend, is less probable than the latter, which expositors both ancient and modern favor. Schroder considers the hypothesis that earlier prophets had spoken of Gog by name as excluded by the interrogatory form of the sentence, since, had Cog been thus explicitly pointed out, there would, he thinks, have been no need to ask, "Art thou he?" But it is doubtful if the interrogatory form of the words had any other intention than to lend emphasis to the assertion that Gog was he to whom the earlier prophets had unconsciously referred. As to which earlier prophets he alluded opinions vary. Ewald cites Isa_10:6 Isa_17:4; Smend adding Mic_5:11; Zep_3:8; Keil, Isa_25:5, Isa_25:10; Jer_30:23Jo Jer_3:2, Jer_3:11, etc.; Hengstenberg, De 32; Isa 24 Isa 27; Isa 34; and Fairbairn, Num_24:17-24; Isa_14:28-32 Isa 18 Joe 3; Dan_2:44, Dan_2:45; though Schroder is probably correct in holding that all should be included which represent the hostility of the heathen world as culminating in the latter days in a grand concentrated attack upon Israel. Smend sees in the unusual phenomenon that Ezekiel reflects upon earlier prophecies an indication of the declining spirit of prophetism; it should, however, rather be regarded as a sign of superior spiritual insight on the part of Ezekiel, who could discern that from the first the prophets had been guided in their utterances by One who was intimately acquainted with the whole world-program, and knew the end from the beginning, so that however dark and enigmatical their predictions might be when taken separately, when viewed in connection they were recognized as forming parts of a harmonious whole.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues telling Ezekiel what he is to say to Gog.
Read full note →
Are you not the one ... bring you against them?
Yahweh uses this question to emphasize that he was the one who brought Gog to the land of Israel. AT: "You are the one ... bring you against them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
of whom I spoke
"that I spoke about"
in former days
"in the past" or "a long time ago"
by the hand of my servants
Here "hand" refers to the fact that these prophets wrote down Yahweh's message. AT: "by means of my servants" or "through my servants" (See: Metonymy)
against them
"against the people of Israel"
this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 5:11. AT: "this is what the Lord Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
my wrath will mount up in my anger
Here "mount up" means "rise up" and expresses that his wrath will increase. The words "wrath" and "anger" mean the same thing and emphasize how intense his anger will be. AT: "my anger will greatly increase" or "I will be very angry with you" (See: Metaphor and Doublet)
translationWords
Lord Yahweh
hand
servant
prophet
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 38:17 Gog was not the prophesied “enemy from the…
38:17 Gog was not the prophesied “enemy from the north” of Jer 4–6 that God was talking about long ago. Those prophecies had already found their fulfillment in the devastation that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had wreaked on Judah.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.