Ezekiel 39:12
in Ezekiel 39For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
KJV
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
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This verse in Ezekiel 39
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd seven months - It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army.
This site's exposition
a burial place in Israel
on Ezekiel 39:11-13
Gog is given “a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea,” renamed Hamon-gog for its buried multitude. Seven months of burying answers the corpse law of Numbers 19 and Deuteronomy 21, where a body left lying makes the land unclean.
This site's exposition
to cleanse the land
Seven months of burial show how many died and how seriously the land's defilement is taken. Adam Clarke calls the figure partly figurative but notes that Syrian soldiers who hid and died during the pursuit took months to find. Matthew Henry adds that deliverance should lead to reformation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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 Awakening2 voices
This is an intimation that times of eminent deliverances should be times of reformation. The more God has done for the saving of a land from ruin the more the inhabitants should do for the cleansing of the land from sin.
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
I will give Gog a place there as a grave A place where there will be a grave for them. Since he is of the seed of Japtheth, who covered his father’s nakedness, he therefore merited burial.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
They will bury all the people of the land because they died there.
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
9 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּקְבָרוּם֙ | ukevarum | and they will bury them | H6912 → | 133 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לְמַ֖עַן | lemaan | so as | H4616 → | 272 times |
| טַהֵ֣ר | taher | to cleanse | H2891 → | 94 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| שִׁבְעָ֖ה | shivah | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| חֳדָשִֽׁים׃ | chodashim | months | H2320 → | 284 times |
וּקְבָרוּם֙and they will bury them
ukevarumH6912 →133 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לְמַ֖עַןso as
lemaanH4616 →272 times
טַהֵ֣רto cleanse
taherH2891 →94 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאָ֑רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
שִׁבְעָ֖הseven
shivahH7651 →394 times
חֳדָשִֽׁים׃months
chodashimH2320 →284 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 21:23you 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…
it leads to
- Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- John 19:31
It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have…
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Leviticus 18:25
Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
- Numbers 35:33–34
Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the…
- Galatians 3:13
Through
Numbers 19:16Anyone 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…
it leads to
- Matthew 23:27
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Numbers 19:11
Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
- Numbers 31:19
All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both…
- Matthew 23:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.