1 Therefore thou sonne of man, prophecie against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee O Gog, the chiefe prince of Meshech & Tubal.
2 And I will turne thee backe, and leaue but the sixt part of thee, and will cause thee to come vp from the North parts, and will bring thee vpon the mountaines of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrowes to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall vpon the mountaines of Israel, thou & all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will giue thee vnto the rauenous birds of euery sort, and to the beasts of the field to be deuoured.
5 Thou shalt fall vpon the open field, for I haue spoken it, saith the Lord God.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelesly in the yles, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
7 So will I make my holy Name knowen in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let them pollute my holy Name any more, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the holy One in Israel.
8 ¶ Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God, this is the day whereof I haue spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel, shall goe forth, and shall set on fire, and burne the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bowes and the arrowes, and the handstaues and the speares, and they shall burne them with fire seuen yeeres.
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut downe any out of the forrests: for they shall burne the weapons with fire, and they shall spoile those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.
11 ¶ And it shal come to passe at that day, that I will giue vnto Gog a place there of graues in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the East of the Sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers, and there shall they burie Gog, and all his multitude, and they shal call it, the valley of Hamon-gog.
12 And seuen moneths shall the house of Israel bee burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea all the people of the land shall burie them, and it shall be to them a renowne the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
14 And they shall seuer out men of continual emploiment, passing through the land, to burie with the passengers those that remaine vpon the face of the earth to clense it: after the end of seuen moneths shall they search.
15 And the passengers that passe through the lande, when any seeth a mans bone, then shall he set vp a signe by it, till the buriers haue buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.
16 And also the name of the citie shall be Hamonah: thus shal they clense the land.
17 ¶ And thou sonne of man, Thus saith the Lord God, Speake vnto euery feathered foule, and to euery beast of the field, Assemble your selues, and come, gather your selues on euery side to my sacrifice that I doe sacrifice for you, euen a great sacrifice vpon the mountaines of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drinke blood.
18 Ye shall eate the flesh of the mightie, and drinke the blood of the princes of the earth, of rammes, of lambes and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And yee shall eate fat till yee be full, and drinke blood till yee be drunken, of my sacrifice which I haue sacrificed for you.
20 Thus yee shall be filled at my table with horses and charets, with mightie men, and with all men of warre, saith the Lord God.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shal see my iudgement that I haue executed, and my hande that I haue laid vpon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
23 ¶ And the heathen shall knowe that the house of Israel went into captiuitie for their iniquitie: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gaue them into the hand of their enemies; so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their vncleannesse, and according to their transgressions haue I done vnto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Now will I bring againe the captiuitie of Iacob, and haue mercie vpon the whole house of Israel, and will be ielous for my holy Name:
26 After that they haue borne their shame, and all their trespasses, wherby they haue trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their lande, and none made them afraid.
27 When I haue brought them againe from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captiuitie among the heathen: but I haue gathered them vnto their owne land, and haue left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I haue powred out my Spirit vpon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
The destruction of Gog. (1-10) Its extent. (11-22) Israel again favoured. (23-29)1-10 The Lord will make the most careless and hardened transgressors know his holy name, either by his righteous anger, or by the riches of his mercy and grace. The weapons formed against Zion shall not prosper. Though this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the latter days, it is certain. From the language used, it seems that the army of Gog will be destroyed by miracle.
11-22 How numerous the enemies which God destroyed for the defence of his people Israel! Times of great deliverances should be times of reformation. Every one should help the utmost he can, toward cleansing the land from reproach. Sin is an enemy every man should strive against. Those engaged in public work, especially of cleansing and reforming a land, ought to be men who will go through with what they undertake, who will be always employed. When good work is to be done, every one should further it. Having received special favours from God, let us cleanse ourselves from all evil. It is a work which will require persevering diligence, that search may be made into the secret recesses of sin. The judgments of the Lord, brought upon sin and sinners, are a sacrifice to the justice of God, and a feast to the faith and hope of God's people. See how evil pursues sinners, even after death. After all that ambitious and covetous men do and look for, "a place of graves" is all the Lord gives them on earth, while their guilty souls are doomed to misery in another world.
23-29 When the Lord shall have mercy on the whole house of Israel, by converting them to Christianity, and when they shall have borne the shame of being cast off for their sins, then the nations shall learn to know, worship, and serve him. Then Israel also shall know the Lord, as revealed in and by Christ. Past events do not answer to these predictions. The pouring out of the Spirit is a pledge that God's favour will continue. He will hide his face no more from those on whom he has poured out his Spirit. When we pray that God would never cast us from his presence, we must as earnestly pray that, in order thereto, he would never take his Holy Spirit from us.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.