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Ezekiel 39:14

in Ezekiel 39

And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they shall set apart men of continual employment, that shall pass through the land, and, with them that pass through, those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

KJV

And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

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This verse in Ezekiel 39

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Men of continual employment - literally, as margin, i. e., men regularly appointed to this business. As the land of Israel represents figuratively the Church of Christ, the purification of that land is a proper part of the figure to indicate such a sanctification and cleansing of His Church, as Paul describes Eph 5:26-27.

This site's exposition

men of continual employment

on Ezekiel 39:14-16

After the seven months a standing crew of men of continual employment keeps searching the land for any bone still exposed, marking it with a sign so the buriers can find and inter it, a second and finer pass beyond the first general burial. Even a city takes the name of the multitude, Hamonah, so that the land's own map records what happened there. The bench reads the doubled search as the same meticulous thoroughness the book will show again in the measured sanctuary of the chapters ahead, nothing left unaccounted for.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter 39, Verse 1 onwards) \"But you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you.'

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And they shall sever out men of continual employment,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

with the passengers--The men employed continually in the burying were to be helped by those happening to pass by; all were to combine. after the end of seven months shall they search--to see if the work was complete [MUNSTER].

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Men of continuous employment Men designed to continuously devote themselves to this. Israel will separate out in order to [be able to] pass through the land and gather the scattered [corpses].
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 39:14:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
They will bury all the people of the land because they died there.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 39:13:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
And when they that pass through the land shall pass Wayfarers who see a human bone
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 39:15:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 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.

  • וְאַנְשֵׁ֨יand people of

    veansheiH582 →566 times

  • תָמִ֤ידcontinuity

    tamidH8548 →104 times

  • יַבְדִּ֙ילוּ֙they will set apart

    yavdiluH914 →42 times

  • עֹבְרִ֣ים[who] pass

    ʾoerimH5674 →556 times

  • בָּאָ֔רֶץin the land

    baaretzH776 →2504 times

  • מְקַבְּרִ֣ים[who] bury

    mekaberimH6912 →133 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעֹבְרִ֗יםthose [who] pass through

    haoerimH5674 →556 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַנּוֹתָרִ֛יםthose [who] remain

    hanotarimH3498 →106 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • פְּנֵ֥י[the] surface of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הָאָ֖רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • לְטַֽהֲרָ֑הּto cleanse it

    letaharahH2891 →94 times

  • מִקְצֵ֥הfrom [the] end of

    miktzehH7097 →97 times

  • שִׁבְעָֽה־seven

    shivah-H7651 →394 times

  • חֳדָשִׁ֖יםmonths

    chodashimH2320 →284 times

  • יַחְקֹֽרוּ׃they will make a search

    yachkoruH2713 →

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

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

3 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

    Ezekiel 39:12

    For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 21:23

      you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must…

    • Ezekiel 39:16

      (Even the city will be named Hamonah.) And so they will cleanse the land.

    • Numbers 19:16

      Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 39 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 39 →