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Ezekiel 38:21

in Ezekiel 38

And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

KJV

And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

This verse in Ezekiel 38

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I will call for a sword against him - Meaning Judas Maccabeus, who defeated his army under Lysias, making a horrible carnage. - Martin. Cambyses had no wars in the mountains of Israel.

This site's exposition

every man’s sword will be against his brother

on Ezekiel 38:21-23

Gog's host turns on itself, “every man’s sword will be against his brother,” the same panic that scattered Gideon's Midianites and Jehoshaphat's enemies. The plagues gather the language of Sodom's judgment, and in “hailstones, fire, and sulfur” fire and sulfur are the pair Genesis uses of the cities of the plain. The oracle closes where the book always closes, “Then they will know that I am the LORD,” making Gog's defeat a revelation like every judgment before it.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter XXXVIII.) \"And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of the head (or head of) Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. And you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of the head (or head of) Meshech and Tubal.

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Throughout - From all parts of the land, which was full of mountains. Every man's sword - As it was in Jehoshaphat's time; and these swords may be meant by the sword God will call for through all, for they ranged all over his mountains.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

And he has swords always at command, that are bathed in heaven, Isa. xxxv. Throughout all the mountains of Israel, where he hoped to meet with spoil to enrich him, he shall meet with swords to destroy him, and, rather than fail, every man's sword shall be against his brother, as in the day of Midian, Ps. lxxxiii.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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 been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

And I will call for a sword against him,....

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְקָרָ֨אתִיand I will summon

    vekaratiH7121 →733 times

  • עָלָ֤יוon him

    ʾalavH5921 →5755 times

  • לְכָל־to all

    lekholH3605 →5413 times

  • הָרַי֙mountains my

    haraiH2022 →546 times

  • חֶ֔רֶבa sword

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • נְאֻ֖ם[the] utterance of

    neumH5002 →376 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהוִ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • חֶ֥רֶב[the] sword of

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • אִ֖ישׁeach

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • בְּאָחִ֥יוon brother his

    beachivH251 →630 times

  • תִּֽהְיֶֽה׃it will be

    tihyehH1961 →3559 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 20:23

    The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

    it leads to

    • Judges 7:22

      And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the…

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 14:20

      Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 14:20

    Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 20:23

      The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Judges 7:22

    And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 4:12

      Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;

  • Through

    Ezekiel 14:17

    Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 21:3–4

      and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

    • Leviticus 26:25

      And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into…

    • Ezekiel 5:12

      A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…

  • Through

    Haggai 2:22

    I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his…

    it leads to

    • Micah 5:10

      “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will remove your horses from among you and wreck your chariots.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.