WHAT DOES EZEKIEL 38 and 39 REALLY SAY?
A NEW LOOK AT EZEKIEL 38 and 39!
Part 1 of 4 - Chapter 38by Brig. Gen. Jack Mohr, C.P.D.L.
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God; a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15The 38th and 39th Chapters of the Book of Ezekiel are a "natural" for prophetic preachers; they literally love these chapters for they allow their minds to run wild with all sorts of "spiritual' fantasies. But too often when they attempt to "teach" or "preach" from these fascinating chapters, they are so strongly influenced by the men who taught them in seminary, or by the "so-called" Bible scholars of their particular church, they fail to see what the Bible teaches.
Often they fail to take into account, that in recent years, say the last 75 or so, many of these Bible scholars are unregenerate Jewish scholars who have infiltrated the religious institutions of Christendom with devious motives in mind and who often attempt to deceive gullible "Goyim" Christians with the scholarly (?) books they write. A thought provoking study into the 38th and 39th Chapters of the Book of Ezekiel
This has been particularly true in the Jewish fable which has been "palmed off' on unsuspecting Christians, that Jesus, their Lord, Master and Savior came from that race which He called "children of their father the devil," (John 8:44), and that the Pharisees of His day, and this Twentieth Century, are "all of Israel" and represent the "people of the Book," or as Baptist Evangelist Jack Van Impe says, are "THE APPLE OF God's eye."
How they ever come to this dubious conclusion is beyond my comprehension, when as they read the Gospels of the New Testament, they surely must see how Jesus blasted these religious hypocrites, calling them "whited sepulchres, poisonous snakes," and clearly said in John 10:26, that they could not hear His message or understand Him, because "Ye are not of my sheep," (John 10:26). In Matthew 23:15, He clearly tells them that their proselytes (converts), under their guidance, become "two fold more a child of hell than themselves." This seems mighty plain to me.
In the Epistles, we find the Apostle Paul, who is wrongfully called a Jew, since he was of the tribe of Benjamin, saying that the Jews of His day: "Please not God and are contrary to all men," (1 Thess. 2:15). Later on, the Apostle John in I John 2:22, 23, gives a clear definition of an anti-Christ, which clearly fits the Jews of His day and those of the Twentieth Century, when he states in no uncertain terms, that "Who is a LIAR but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father..." (This seems to me to lay to rest all the arguments about whether a Jew can come to contact with God, without going through the Son. ANY Christian, worthy of that name, knows and teaches this. Then in 2 John 10, 11, the Apostle tells Christians how to act towards these anti-Christ's and it is not by associating with them and holding Jewish-Christian joint meetings on Hannakuh. In clear wording, that even a child can understand, John says: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine (that Jesus is the Christ), RECEIVE him not into your house, NEITHER bid him God speed: (don't help him in any way) for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his EVIL DEEDS." (Emphasis mine.)
How can any pastor read these words of truth and still continue in the darkness which allows them to consort with these enemies of Jesus Christ?
Could their reason be "Fear of the Jews", which has so thoroughly permeated the Christian world? Fear of losing their fine church and congregation by preaching the truth? Fear of losing funds to run their elaborate religious establishment? Fear of losing that lucrative TV contract? Fear of being called "anti-Semitic?" Have these "religious shepherds" become the "salt of the earth which has lost its savor?" (ability to act like salt) Have the modern preachers, for the most part, become the watchmen on the walls of America, spoken of in Isaiah 56:10, 11, who are deliberately blind and dumb, so that they cannot, or will not warn their people of this Talmudic danger? Are they watchmen who have been lulled to sleep by the sweet teachings of the Judeo-Christianizers in our seminaries? Are they the greedy dogs who do everything for their own gain? Watch most any TV evangelist in action and see where he puts his emphasis. I dare you to do this with a honest, open mind.
Probably no portion of Scripture has even been twisted out of shape as much as these two chapters, which are sometimes referred to as the "Russian Chapters" of the Bible. That they deal with a future conflict which will be worse than anything this world has ever seen and which will be unleashed against the Israelite people in the "end times", becomes quite obvious. This attack will come from a monstrous military alliance which will sweep out of the North country, headed by the atheistic communists of the Soviet Union. There is very little argument here among Bible scholars.
But most of the "fundamental" and "evangelical" preachers, base their ideas on these chapters, not from a study of God's Word, but from the footnotes of a reprobate preacher named C. I. Schofield. His twisted theological concepts have so permeated the thinking of the fundamental Christian world, that it is almost considered "heresy" when anyone deviates from them. Often in Baptist churches, in particular, (and I can speak from experience, since I was a Baptist evangelist for eighteen years) the footnotes of the Schofield Reference Bible are held in as much respect as the text itself.
We could argue for many pages as to who is "right" and who is "wrong," and we would accomplish absolutely nothing, except to raise tempers. What I propose to do, is make a verse by verse study of these two chapters to see what they really say, not what men want them to say.
The "futurists" say the unregenerate Jew must be back in old Palestine before Jesus can return the Second Time and that this massive Russian military machine will sweep down from the North against the Jewish entity in Palestine, which we know today as the "Israeli."
But at this point, an interesting thing takes place, which surely should make any intelligent person question this. If you have watched the unfolding of history during this Twentieth Century, (I have seen over 70 years of it,) do you honestly believe that Russia has spent hundreds of billions of dollars of its national wealth, building the most massive military machine in the world's history, for the purpose of attacking a little nation of less than 4-million? Surely you must be kidding? Look where the ICBM's are pointed. They are not aimed at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They are aimed at the capitol cities of the nations of Christendom, the primarily white-Christian nations of Europe and North America. There must be a reason for this. The major enemy of the Soviet Union is not that little patch of real estate in Palestine, which we call Israel. They a:re aimed against the Israel nations (tribes) who are resting safely in their God-given lands (2 Samuel 7:10).
But my purpose in writing this article is not to prove that the modern Jews are a "fraud" and have no blood connection with Abraham. Jesus pretty well took care of this exposure in John 8:32, when He told them how they could be free, and they (the Jewish leaders) braggingly and openly admitted that they were not Israelites when they said: "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man." Any Sunday School student knows that true Israel was in long and cruel bondage in Egypt.
But let's get on with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and see what the prophet really says. We will use the old, tried and true Authorized King James Version of the Bible for our study and Strong's incomparable, exhaustive Concordance. Since most of my readers do not read or understand Hebrew, we will use Strong's Hebrew definitions of English words, since he is considered to be a top authority in this field by most Bible scholars.
Some of my readers may question as to why we will use a Hebrew-English Concordance: "Isn't the Bible good enough in itself?" they may ask. But unfortunately, even the marvelous King James Version cannot convey in English, the true meaning of many Hebrew words. So we will check out the "key" words in every verse and see what they mean in the Hebrew language. If this seems tedious to some, then you are really not interested in learning the truth. You are not really a Bible scholar.
EZEKIEL 38
Vs. 1 - "The word of the Lord came unto me (Ezekiel) saying." No explanation needed here.
Vs 2 - "Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him." Here the Bible concordance will do us little good, so we must go to history to discover who MAGOG, MESHECH and TUBAL are.
Very few Bible scholars will argue that the enemy of Israel, mentioned here, is not Russia. This is why these two chapters are called the "Russian Chapters." As far back as 1857, a Rev. F. E. Pitts spoke twice before joint sessions of the U.S. Congress, predicting sometime in the future, a vast and terrible war between Russia and the United States. About 130 years ago, Commodore Perry of the U.S. Navy, read a paper before the American Geographical and Statistical Society in which he predicted that Russia would become our deadly enemy.
The word "Gog" in Russian means: "Chief"; MAGOG refers to Russia and MESHECH is the ancient name for the Russian Capitol in Moscow.
TUBAL was the grandson of Noah; his father was named Japheth. Japheth settled in the Central Area of Siberia. If you were to place your outspread right hand over Siberia, with your little finger on the "A" in Siberia, you would find your thumb to be close to the city of TUBLOSK, which was named for Noah's grandson.
Vs 3 - "And say, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, 0 Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal." Why would this be? Because this vast land is completely anti-God in its religious philosophy. While there are still Christians in this land, the majority of its people are atheists.
Vs 4 - "And I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers, and shields, all of them handling swords:" The phrase: "I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws," has been a point of controversy with many preachers. They say: "See, Russia has plans for world conquest, but God is going to put hooks into their jaws, and draw them away from world conquest, into the land of Palestine, so He can destroy them." But is this what this verse means? Let us see.
We will look at each key word, then I will give the numerical place where it is found in the Concordance, the Hebrew word and its English meaning.
TURN - (7725) - Heb. "shuwb", meamng: "to turn away or back, not necessarily with the idea of returning to the starting point;" "retreat;" "do evil;" "draw back;" "come again, "cause to turn."
HOOKS - (2397) - "chachiy", meaning: "put a ring in the nose" (like to lead a bull.)
BRING - (3318) - "yatsa" - meaning: "draw forth;" "fetch out"; "lead out;" "pull out."
FORTH - (3318) - the same Hebrew word and meaning as BRING.
CLOTHED - (3847) - "labesh", meaning: "to put on or clothe onesself."
SORTS - (4358) - "miklowl"; meaning: "all sorts of splendid armour."
ARMOUR - (3627) - "kliy", meaning: "armored dress." (Notice that even the horses are armored.)
We must realize here that Ezekiel was speaking of war terms of what he knew and understood; He did not know about tanks, planes and airborne attacks; when he visualized heavily armored horses, he was thinking in terms of what we would today call "armored forces."
COMPANY - (6951) - "qahal", meaning: "multitude".
BUCKLERS - (6793) - "tsinnoh" - meaning: "a large shield which covered the body." (Again think in terms of armored personnel carriers.)
HANDLING - (8610) - "tophas", meaning: "wielding" or "manipulating."
So if we take these English words at their Hebrew meaning, we could say this verse says: "I (God) will turn thee (Magog~Russia) away from where you were going, and will put a ring in your nose and draw you forth, with all your military might (this is to be an "all-out" military effort), your armored forces with all their weapons."
In no place in this verse does God intimate that He is drawing this Russian army into Palestine, as most preachers teach. (Never read anything into a verse which isn't there.)
Vs 5 - "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with spear and helmet." The Russian allies are clearly mentioned here. Persia, which is now Iran, Ethiopia which is a Communist country and Libya, which is an ally of the Soviet Union.
Vs 6 - "Gomer with all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people with thee."
GOME - (1586) - "Gomer" - meaning: "Son of Japheth", who was believed to have settled in what we now know as Siberia.
BANDS - (102) - " 'aggaph" - meaning. a cover, "wings or flank forces of an army;" "crowds of troops."
HOUSE - (1004) "bavith" - meaning: "family of."
TOGARMAH - (8425) - "Togarmah", meaning: "a son of Gomer and his posterity." (Believed to be the non-Israelite people of Eastern Germany.)
NORTH - (6828) - "tsaphown," meaning: "a dark and gloomy place;" "northern."
QUARTERS - (3411) "yrekah" - meaning: "rear"; "border;" "coast."
This verse could very well read: "Gomer, the Son of Japheth from Siberia with crowds of troops; the family of Togarmah from Eastern Germany from the gloomy north with crowds of troops."
Vs 7 - "Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them."
PREPARED - (3559) - "kuwn", meaning: "establish;" "prepare yourself."
COMPANY - (6951) - "quahl", meaning: "multitude."
ASSEMBLED - (6950) - "misjmar", meaning: "prison;" "ward."
So this verse could read: "Be thou (MAGOG-RUSSIA) prepared (or prepare thyself), thou, and all thy multitude which are gathered together unto thee, and keep them under guard."
(Why?) Because we know that many of the nations which are part of the Soviet Union would revolt if given the chance, so the Communists must keep them under constant guard, to see that they do not revolt.) Do you see how the English translation does not do this justice?
Vs 8 - "After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them."
This is a "key" verse which we MUST understand, if we are to properly understand the rest of this chapter.
VISITED - (6485) - "paquod" - meaning: "to visit with hostile intent."
LATTER YEARS - (319) -"acharivth: meaning: "the last days; in the future; end time."
MOUNTAINS - (2022) - "har" meaning: "hill country." (It is also interesting to note that in Bible symbolism, especially in the Old Testament, the word "mountains" often means "people".)
WASTE - (2723) - "charbah" meaning: "by implication a desolate place."
BROUGHT FORTH - (3318) - "yatsu" meaning: "to bring out."
NATIONS - "goy-gowry" (1471) meaning: "gentiles; tribes; non-Jewish people."
DWELL - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "to remain; continue."
SAFELY - (983) - "betach" meaning: "boldly; without care; with confidence."
So this verse could very well read: "After many DAYS (3177) - "Yowm", meaning: "a space of time; age; days; seasons." After many seasons thou (Russia) shall move with hostile intent, into the land that is brought back from war, and is gathered from many nations, against the people or nations of Israel and the mountains which have always been a desolate uninhabited place: but which is brought out of the nations or gentile non-Jewish nations, and they shall continue in safety, living boldly without care and with confidence." (Can you see why the Bible scholars want us to use the literal Bible translation without going to the original? It changes the meaning doesn't it?
Vs 9-
ASCEND - (5927) - "aloh" meaning: "to come up; get up; go."
STORM - (7722) - "shoah" meaning: "tempest."
CLOUD - (6051) - '~anan" meaning: "like a cloud covers the sky."
COVER - (3680) - "youm" meaning: "overwhelm."
So when we put verse 9 together we get something like this: "Thou (Russia) shall come up like a tempest, like a cloud you shall cover the sky and the land, thou, and all thy bands with thee." (Could this mean an airborne invasion? I believe it could since it is a perfect description of such an event. Of course Ezekiel did not know about parachute troops, so he used words people would understand to show them that something would take place which would literally cloud the sky with enemy soldiers."
Vs 10 -
PASS - (5674) - "abar" meaning: "to cross over; overrun; meddle; over- run; enter."
TIME - (3177) - "youm" meaning: "day".
THINGS - (1697) - "dabar" meaning: "a matter; harmful; evil favored; a cause."
MIND - (3824) - "lebab" meaning: heart."
THINK - (2803) - "chashab" meaning: "plot; conceive; consider; imagine."
EVIL - (7451) - "ra" meaning: "bad; harmful; mischevious; wicked."
THOUGHT - (4284) - "machashebeth" meaning: "contrivance; machine; curious device."
This verse has some interesting possibilities in the original Hebrew and might read something like this: "Thus saith the Lord God, It shall come about, that on that day, a certain matter shall come into thy (Russia's) heart, and thou (Russia) shall consider a harmful thought concerning a military device you have in your possession." (What this device is we do not know. It might be a new military machine such as a lazer beam that would give them military superiority over us. It might be a defense against our ICBM's which would make them invulnerable to attack. Whatever it is, the translators made a complete mess here, since the word (thought) in Hebrew, obviously has to do with some sort of device and not something in the mind as the King James Version would have us believe.)
Vs 11 -
UP - (4605) - "ma'al" meaning: "above; upward."
LAND - (776) - erets meaning: "land; country; nations."
UNWALLED - (6519) - "prazah" meaning: "town without walls; open country."
VILLAGES - (6519) - "prazah" meaning: "town."
REST - (8252) - "shaquat" meaning. 'repose; living in apathy."
DWELL - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "abide."
SAFELY - (983) - "betach" meaning: "with security."
BARS - (1280) - "briyach" meaning. 'bolts."
TAKE - (962) - "bazaz" meaning: "to spoil; destroy utterly; to plunder."
SPOIL - (7998) - "shalal" meaning. to strip; take booty."
DESOLATE - (2723) - "charbah" meaning: "a destroyed place; waste place; uninhabited place."
PLACES - (4725) - "mgomah" meaning: "locality; country."
INHABITED - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "to dwell; to remain, as permanently."
PEOPLE - (5971) - "am" meaning: "tribe or nation."
GATHERED - (622) - "acaph" meaning: "to assemble; bring together (such as the United States.)
NATIONS - (1471) - "gowyr or goy" meaning. a (non-Jewish) tribe or nation.)" (The Jewish Encyclopaedia says that the Jews are a non-Israelite tribe.)
DWELL - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: same as "inhabited" above.
So we put these meanings together and come out with a verse which would read something like: "And thou (Russia) shall say, I will go upward to a country of towns without walls; I will go to them that live safely in apathy, that abide with security all of them living without bolts or bars on their doors."
Vs 12 - This verse has 20 KEY words. Each MUST be looked up separately, as they may have different meanings in the Hebrew language.
TAKE - (962) - "bazaz" meaning: "to plunder; spoil utterly; rob." Can also be (7997) - "shalal", meaning: "to strip; plunder; for the purpose of spoiling."
SPOIL - (7998) - "shalal" meaning: "to strip or plunder."
TURN - (7725) - "shuwb" meaning: "to do evil; carry away."
HAND - (3027) - "yad" meaning: "power; force."
UPON - (5921) - "al" meaning: "against."
DESOLATE - (2737) - "waste places; uninhabited."
(May I remind you again to look up each KEY word separately, the English word DESOLATE, for instance as used in one verse, may have a completely ifferent meaning in another place.)PLACES - (4725) - "maqowm" - meaning: "a locality; country." NOW - (6258) - " 'attah" meaning: "at this time."
INHABITED - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "established; dwelling." UPON - (5921) - "al" meaning "against."
PEOPLE - (5971) - "am" meaning. people; tribes, as those of Israel; nation."
GATHERED - (622) - " 'acaph" meaning: "gathered for a purpose; assemble." (Here is a good example of what I mentioned earlier. The English word GATHERED is used seven times in the book of Ezekiel, yet it has four different meanings. Therefore each KEY word MUST be looked up to come up with a correct translation.)
OUT - (4480) - "mm" meaning: "from out of."
NATIONS - (1471) - "goury or goyim" - meaning: "non-Jewish nations; people; nations."
GOTTEN - (6213)-" 'asah" meaning: "brought forth; have charge of; gathered; procured."
CATTLE - (4735) - "Migneh" meaning: "property; acquisition of cattle; flocks; herds; possessions; substance." (Note that this word does not necessarily refer to animals, but to great possession.)
GOODS - (7075) - "gimyan" meaning: "creatures; wealth; riches; substance."
DWELL - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "remain, abide; inhaait; settle."
MIDST - (2872) - "tabbuwr" meaning: "piled up; accumulated; middle."
LAND - (776) - " 'erets" meaning: "the earth; a country; nations; wilderness." (Here is another good example of a multiple use of the English word LAND. This word is used 151 times in the book of Ezekiel; it has two major meanings, yet the same word was used in each instance.)
So we put this interesting verse together and come out with: "To come for the purpose of plundering the land and to strip it; to do evil with thy forces against the uninhabited country which is at this time established; and upon the tribes of Israel who have been gathered for a purpose, out of many non-Jewish nations, which have procured much property, flocks, herds and possessions and who have settled down in the midst of the wilderness." (Notice how this verse could not possibly apply to the little Israeli nation presently in Palestine; nor could it apply to Palestine itself. In the first place, the Israeli have very few cattle. The 1983 Israeli Agricultural report said they had about 56,000 head, which is not as much as most American counties contain. Then, too, this land against which Russia comes, is to be one that has great wealth in possessions; this could only refer to the United States and Canada, both Israel nations and the wealthiest nations in the world. Secondly, this nation which will be invaded will be a nation that was once uninhabited. To all intents and purposes this could not refer to Old Palestine which has been inhabited since earliest historical times. Yet when the first white men came to North America, for all intents and purposes, they found what is now Canada and the United States, a gigantic wilderness, peopled only by a few wandering Indian tribes.
You may ask: "How did Israel get from Palestine to North America. I thought Palestine was the Israel land of promise?" This is natural for this is what you have been taught in your churches. Yet if you will study Scripture, you will find that at the time of King David, when he had conquered Palestine and was finally settled in Jerusalem, at peace for the first time in forty years, God sent a prophet to him that made this promise: Remember now, the King is standing in his palace in Jerusalem when this promise was made: "Moreover I (God) will APPOINT (future tense) a PLACE for my people ISRAEL, and will PLANT them, that they may dwell in a PLACE of their own, and MOVE no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime." (2 Sam. 7:10).
This clearly shows, that the "Promised Land" sometimes called ZION, was to be at a future time and in a different place. Other Scriptures give an accurate description of this marvelous country. Isaiah 18 tells us of a country that will be beyond (to the west of) the rivers of Ethiopia (referring of course to the mighty Nile River). It was to be a land under cover of "buzzing wings". There is hardly a moment, day or night, that the U.S. and Canada is not being crossed by an airplane.
Second, note that this country was to send its ambassadors abroad not in the "vessels of reeds" mentioned in your King James Version, (who ever heard of a mighty country sending her ambassadors in such flimsy vessels.) This should have been translated "water drinking vessels." Until this century, all our ambassadors traveled to other countries by steam ships.
This country was to be somewhere to the west of Ethiopia, or the rivers of Ethiopia. If you were to go due west from Jerusalem, you would cross the mouth of the Nile River in the vicinity of Alexanderia, Egypt, then going further west would cross Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, then the Atlantic Ocean, and finally you would arrive in the heartlands of America, somewhere in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia.
This nation of people, living in a land which had once been a wilderness, was to be a people who had been "terrible" from their beginning. The word TERRIBLE as used here is the Hebrew word ~ which means ''to revere; be afraid of." Up until this last fifty years or so, the United States, from its beginning in 1776, has been an undefeated nation, admired, or feared by everyone. When we were still babies we defeated the greatest military power on earth, the British, on two occasions. We defeated the Mediterranean pirates who had caused proud England to pay them tribute; we defeated mighty Spain and stopped her dream of becoming a world power. Then we fought in two great world wars, where it was our might that caused victory. We did not know at the time that we had been tricked by our enemy to fight these wars for their benefit, but we were a "terrible people" in every meaning of the word and even today, when America's foreign statesmanship has for the most part been replaced by "chickenship," when our military might begins to assemble; when America sends out the "call to arms" to her sons and daughters, the entire world, even mighty Russia, hesitates to attack us.
Isaiah went into great detail describing this country. He could not put a name on it, since it did not exist at this time and was still some 2500 years in the future. He said it was to be a land that was "meted out and trodden down." The United States, is the only country in the world that has been completely surveyed north to south, east to west. This was done by the U.S. Metes and Bounds Act of the early 1800's. All of America's lands have been laid out by compass, literally a "Nation measured out by lines underfoot."
There is no great nation on earth that is divided by rivers such as ours. The Mississippi dividing us east from west; and the east being further divided by such rivers as the Ohio and the Tennessee, while the west is divided by the Columbia, the Missouri, Arkansas, and the Colorado.
So when you hear your pastor say, "There is no such nation like the United States mentioned in Scripture," you know he is either lying to you, or is a poor Bible scholar.
Vs 13 -
SHEBA - (7614) - meaning: "the name of three early ancestors of the Ethiopians, sometimes called Sabeans."
DEDAN - (1719) - "ded-awn" meaning: the name of two Cushites and their territory mentioned in Ezekiel 25:13 as part of Edom, the natural enemies of the Israel people.
LIONS - (3715) - "kphyr", meaning: "young lions; also villages."
SPOIL - (7998) - "shalan" meaning: "booty, prey."
PREY - (957) - "baz" mearnng:' 'plunder or booty."
GATHERED - (622) - "acaph" meaning: "to assemble; restored; gathered." Notice that the English word GATHERED is also used in verse 9 where it means: "collected; gather themselves together."
COMPANY - (6951) - "qahal" meaning: "multitude; assemblage."
CARRY - (5375) - "nacah" meaning: "bring forth; burn; carry away; fetch; take away utterly." Here we have another good example of one word having many meanings. The English word CARRY is used five times in the book of Ezekiel but has three different meanings.
GREAT - (1419) - "godawl" meaning: "great in any sense; exceedingly; much."
So we could translate this verse to say: "The Ethiopians and Edomites, and the merchants of Tarshish (a great seaport on the Mediterranean Sea), with all the villages, or towns thereof shall say unto thee (Russia), Art thou come to take booty? hast thou (Russia) assembled thy multitudes to take a
PREY (957) "baz" meaning "booty". To carry away silver, and gold (representative of great wealth), to take a booty of cattle and goods, to take exceedingly much booty?"
Vs 14 -PROPHESY - (5012) "naba" meaning: "to foretell the future through inspiration."
DWELLEST - (3427) - "yashab" meaning: "abide; inhabit; remain.
SAFELY - (983) - "betach", the same as in vs. 8 meaning: "both the fact and feel of security; assurance; without care; confidence; securely." That phrase "without care" surely describes most of the American people. Give them a roof over their head, three square meals a day, a six pack of beer and a television to watch and you can do almost anything you like with them. Truly, our people for the most part dwell "without care," or in simplistic apathy.
KNOW - (3045) - "yadah" the same word as is used in vss 16 and 23 meaning: "recognize; feel; have knowledge of; understand."
So this verse would translate to read: "Therefore, (because of this) son of man, prophesy by my (God's) inspiration, and say unto Russia, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people Israel live in security, without care, surely thou (Russia) shalt have knowledge of it."
Vs 15 -
COME- (935) the same word as is used in vss 8, 9, 13, and 15 - "bow" meaning: "beseige; invade." It is interesting to note that the English word COME is used ten times in this 38th Chapter. Five times it is the Hebrew word "bow"; twice it is (1961) "hayah", and three times (5927) "alah". Again a reminder to look up EACH key word.
PLACE - (4725) - "maqowm" meaning: "locality; country."
OUT - (4480) - "mm" meaning: "out of."
NORTH - (6828) - "tsaphan" meaning: "used only of the far north; a gloomy, unknown place to the north."
PARTS - (3411) - "yrekah'' meaning: "borders; coasts.''
MANY - (7277) same as in 6, 8, 9, 15, 22, 23 meaning "abundance of; multiple."
PEOPLE - (5971) "am" the same word used eight times in this chapter meaning "a specific tribe or nation; troops; nations."
RIDING - (7392) - "rakab" meaning: "riding on an animal or vehicle; on horseback; in a vehicle."
COMPANY - (6951) - "quahal" meaning: "a multitude."
MIGHTY (7227) same as in vs 15 "rab" meaning: "exceedingly great."
ARMY - (2428) - "chaquil" meaning: "band of soldiers; great forces of armed men; a huge force indicating war."
When we put this together we get a verse which reads somewhat like this:
"Arid thou (Russia) shall come from thy country, out of the gloomy places to the north, thou (Russia) and nations with thee, a multitude, exceedingly great, a huge force prepared for war."
Continue on to Part 2 of 4:- WHAT DOES EZEKIEL 38 and 39 REALLY SAY?