There are some that preach Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog are in Daniel’s chapter 11 as the kings of the South and the North. Sometimes these same teachers will also confuse Gog and Magog as being the Antichrist. This cannot be so since the Antichrist is not defeated until the very end of tribulation, by Christ at the 2nd Coming about 7 years after the Rapture, Daniel 9:24-27. We also know that according to Ezekiel 39:9-13. In these verses we see a very independent Israel cleansing its own land after the attack and defeat of Gog and Magog. So Gog and Magog cannot possibly be the Antichrist if they are defeated since according to Daniel 9:24-27 we see them in Israel at the very end. In fulfillment of scripture and the 70 year prophecy we will see the Antichrist invade Israel in the last year, the 70th year,the 70th time the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated for one week, 70th week, 2018, Leviticus 23:33-44. For this is a seven day or one week celebration according to God’s words, Leviticus 23:34. See these sermon links:

The History of Herodotus By Herodotus http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.4.iv.htmlWritten 440 B.C.E

Translated by George Rawlinson

1 After the taking of Babylon, an expedition was led by Darius into Scythia. 2 Asia abounding in men, and vast sums flowing into the treasury, the desire seized him to exact vengeance from the Scyths, who had once in days gone by invaded Media, defeated those who met them in the field, and so begun the quarrel. During the space of eight-and-twenty years, as I have before mentioned, the Scyths continued lords of the whole of Upper Asia. 3 They entered Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and overthrew the empire of the Medes, who till they came possessed the sovereignty. 4 On their return to their homes after the long absence of twenty-eight years, a task awaited them little less troublesome than their struggle with the Medes.5 They found an army of no small size prepared to oppose their entrance. 6 For the Scythian women, when they saw that time went on, and their husbands did not come back, had intermarried with their slaves.

1Now the Scythians blind all their slaves, to use them in preparing their milk. 2 The plan they follow is to thrust tubes made of bone, not unlike our musical pipes, up the vulva of the mare, and then to blow into the tubes with their mouths, some milking while the others blow. They say that they do this because when the veins of the animal are full of air, the udder is forced down. 3The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round. That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part; the under portion is of less account. Such is the reason why the Scythians blind all those whom they take in war; it arises from their not being tillers of the ground, but a pastoral race. 4 When therefore the children sprung from these slaves and the Scythian women grew to manhood, and understood the circumstances of their birth, they resolved to oppose the army which was returning from Media. 5 And, first of all, they cut off a tract of country from the rest of Scythia by digging a broad dyke from the Tauric mountains to the vast lake of the Maeotis. 6 Afterwards, when the Scythians tried to force an entrance, they marched out and engaged them. Many battles were fought, and the Scythians gained no advantage, until at last one of them thus addressed the remainder: “What are we doing, Scythians? We are fighting our slaves, diminishing our own number when we fall, and the number of those that belong to us when they fall by our hands. 7 Take my advice- lay spear and bow aside, and let each man fetch his horsewhip, and go boldly up to them. 8 So long as they see us with arms in our hands, they imagine themselves our equals in birth and bravery; but let them behold us with no other weapon but the whip, and they will feel that they are our slaves, and flee before us.” 9 The Scythians followed this counsel, and the slaves were so astounded, that they forgot to fight, and immediately ran away. 10 Such was the mode in which the Scythians, after being for a time the lords of Asia, and being forced to quit it by the Medes, returned and settled in their own country. 11 This inroad of theirs it was that Darius was anxious to avenge, and such was the purpose for which he was now collecting an army to invade them.

1 Such is the account which the Scythians give of their origin. They add that from the time of Targitaus, their first king, to the invasion of their country by Darius, 2 is a period of one thousand years, neither less nor more.

3 There is also another different story, now to be related, in which I am more inclined to put faith than in any other. It is that the wandering Scythians once dwelt in Asia, and there warred with the Massagetae, but with ill success; they therefore quitted their homes, crossed the Araxes, and entered the land of Cimmeria. 4 For the land which is now inhabited by the Scyths was formerly the country of the Cimmerians. On their coming, the natives, who heard how numerous the invading army was, held a council. 5 At this meeting opinion was divided, and both parties stiffly maintained their own view; but the counsel of the Royal tribe was the braver. 6 For the others urged that the best thing to be done was to leave the country, and avoid a contest with so vast a host; but the Royal tribe advised remaining and fighting for the soil to the last. 7 As neither party chose to give way, the one determined to retire without a blow and yield their lands to the invaders; but the other, remembering the good things which they had enjoyed in their homes, and picturing to themselves the evils which they had to expect if they gave them up, resolved not to flee, but rather to die and at least be buried in their fatherland. 8 Having thus decided, they drew apart in two bodies, the one as numerous as the other, and fought together. 9 All of the Royal tribe were slain, and the people buried them near the river Tyras, where their grave is still to be seen. 10 Then the rest of the Cimmerians departed, and the Scythians, on their coming, took possession of a deserted land.

11 Scythia still retains traces of the Cimmerians; there are Cimmerian castles, and a Cimmerian ferry, also a tract called Cimmeria, and a Cimmerian Bosphorus. It appears likewise that the Cimmerians, when they fled into Asia to escape the Scyths, made a settlement in the peninsula where the Greek city of *Sinope was afterwards built.

*Sinope was a Greek Colony in the land of Assyria, which later became modern Turkey;  http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheSinope.html

12 The Scyths, it is plain, pursued them, and missing their road, poured into Media. For the Cimmerians kept the line which led along the sea-shore, but the Scyths in their pursuit held the Caucasus upon their right, thus proceeding inland, and falling upon Media. *This account is one which is common both to Greeks and barbarians.*Herodotus considered the Scythes also barbarians

1 With regard to the regions which lie above the country where of thisportion of my history treats, there is no one who possesses any exact knowledge. Not a single person can I find who professes to be acquainted with them by actual observation. 2 Even Aristeas, the traveller of whom I lately spoke, does not claim- and he is writing poetry- to have reached any farther than the Issedonians. What he relates concerning the regions beyond is, he confesses, mere hearsay, being the account which the Issedonians gave him of those countries. 3 However, I shall proceed to mention all that I have learnt of these parts by the most exact inquiries which I have been able to make concerning them. 4 Above the mart of the Borysthenites, which is situated in the very centre of the whole sea-coast of Scythia, the first people who inhabit the land are the Callipedae, a Greco-Scythic race. 5 Next to them, as you go inland, dwell the people called the Alazonians. 6  These two nations in other respects resemble the Scythians in their usages, but sow and eat corn, also onions, garlic, lentils, and millet. 7 Beyond the Alazonians reside Scythian cultivators, who grow corn, not for their own use, but for sale. 8 Still higher up are the Neuri. 9 Northwards of the Neuri the continent, as far as it is known to us, is uninhabited. These are the nations along the course of the river Hypanis, west of the Borysthenes. 10 Across the Borysthenes, the first country after you leave the coast is Hylaea (the Woodland).11 Above this dwell the Scythian Husbandmen, whom the Greeks living near the Hypanis call Borysthenites, while they call themselves Olbiopolites. 12 These Husbandmen extend eastward a distance of three days’ journey to a river bearing the name of Panticapes, while northward the country is theirs for eleven days’ sail up the course of the Borysthenes. 13 Further inland there is a vast tract which is uninhabited. 14 Above this desolate region dwell the Cannibals, who are a people apart, much unlike the Scythians. 15 Above them the country becomes an utter desert; not a single tribe, so far as we know, inhabits it.

16 Crossing the Panticapes, and proceeding eastward of the Husbandmen, we come upon the wandering Scythians, who neither plough nor sow. 17 Their country, and the whole of this region, except Hylaea, is quite bare of trees. 18 They extend towards the east a distance of fourteen’ days’ journey, occupying a tract which reaches to the river Gerrhus.

19 On the opposite side of the Gerrhus is the Royal district, as it is called: here dwells the largest and bravest of the Scythian tribes, which looks upon all the other tribes in the light of slaves. 20 Its country reaches on the south to Taurica, on the east to the trench dug by the sons of the blind slaves, the mart upon the Palus Maeotis, called Cremni (the Cliffs), and in part to the river Tanais. 21 North of the country of the Royal Scythians are the Melanchaeni (Black-Robes), a people of quite a different race from the Scythians. 22 Beyond them lie marshes and a region without inhabitants, so far as our knowledge reaches.

23 When one crosses the Tanais, one is no longer in Scythia; the first region on crossing is that of the Sauromatae, who, beginning at the upper end of the Palus Maeotis, stretch northward a distance of fifteen days’ journey, inhabiting a country which is entirely bare of trees, whether wild or cultivated. 24 Above them, possessing the second region, dwell the Budini, whose territory is thickly wooded with trees of every kind.

25 Beyond the Budini, as one goes northward, first there is a desert, seven days’ journey across; after which, if one inclines somewhat to the east, the Thyssagetae are reached, a numerous nation quite distinct from any other, and living by the chase. 26 Adjoining them, and within the limits of the same region, are the people who bear the name of Iyrcae; they also support themselves by hunting, which they practise in the following manner. 27 The hunter climbs a tree, the whole country abounding in wood, and there sets himself in ambush; he has a dog at hand, and a horse, trained to lie down upon its belly, and thus make itself low; the hunter keeps watch, and when he sees his game, lets fly an arrow; then mounting his horse, he gives the beast chase, his dog following hard all the while. 28 Beyond these people, a little to the east, dwells a distinct tribe of Scyths, who revolted once from the Royal Scythians, and migrated into these parts.

29 As far as their country, the tract of land whereof I have been speaking is all a smooth plain, and the soil deep; beyond you enter on a region which is rugged and stony. 30 Passing over a great extent of this rough country, you come to a people dwelling at the foot of lofty mountains, who are said to be all- both men and women- bald from their birth, to have flat noses, and very long chins. These people speak a language of their own, the dress which they wear is the same as the Scythian. 31 They live on the fruit of a certain tree, the name of which is Ponticum; in size it is about equal to our fig-tree, and it bears a fruit like a bean, with a stone inside. 32 When the fruit is ripe, they strain it through cloths; the juice which runs off is black and thick, and is called by the natives “aschy.” They lap this up with their tongues, and also mix it with milk for a drink; while they make the lees, which are solid, into cakes, and eat them instead of meat; for they have but few sheep in their country, in which there is no good pasturage. 33 Each of them dwells under a tree, and they cover the tree in winter with a cloth of thick white felt, but take off the covering in the summer-time.34 No one harms these people, for they are look ed upon as sacred- they do not even possess any warlike weapons. When their neighbors fall out, they make up the quarrel; and when one flies to them for refuge, he is safe from all hurt. They are called the Argippaeans.

35 Up to this point the territory of which we are speaking is very completely explored, and all the nations between the coast and the bald-headed men are well known to us.36 For some of the Scythians are accustomed to penetrate as far, of whom inquiry may easily be made, and Greeks also go there from the mart on the Borysthenes, and from the other marts along the Euxine. 37 The Scythians who make this journey communicate with the inhabitants by means of seven interpreters and seven languages.

38 Thus far, therefore, the land is known; but beyond the bald-headed men lies a region of which no one can give any exact account. Lofty and precipitous mountains, which are never crossed, bar further progress. The bald men say, but it does not seem to me credible, that the people who live in these mountains have feet like goats; and that after passing them you find another race of men, who sleep during one half of the year. This latter statement appears to me quite unworthy of credit. 39 The region east of the bald-headed men is well known to be inhabited by the Issedonians, but the tract that lies to the north of these two nations is entirely unknown, except by the accounts which they give of it.

40 The Issedonians are said to have the following customs. When a man’s father dies, all the near relatives bring sheep to the house; which are sacrificed, and their flesh cut in pieces, while at the same time the dead body undergoes the like treatment. The two sorts of flesh are afterwards mixed together, and the whole is served up at a banquet. The head of the dead man is treated differently: it is stripped bare, cleansed, and set in gold. It then becomes an ornament on which they pride themselves, and is brought out year by year at the great festival which sons keep in honor of their fathers’ death, just as the Greeks keep their Genesia. 41 In other respects the Issedonians are reputed to be observers of justice: and it is to be remarked that their women have equal authority with the men. 42 Thus our knowledge extends as far as this nation.

of the Scythes 1 The regions beyond are known only from the accounts of the Issedonians, by whom the stories are told of the one-eyed race of men and the gold-guarding griffins. 2 These stories are received by the Scythians from the Issedonians, and by them passed on to us Greeks: whence it arises that we give the one-eyed race the Scythian name of Arimaspi, “arima” being the Scythic word for “one,” and “spu” for “the eye.” 3 The whole district whereof we have here discoursed has winters of exceeding rigour. During eight months the frost is so intense that water poured upon the ground does not form mud, but if a fire be lighted on it mud is produced. The sea freezes, and the Cimmerian Bosphorus is frozen over. At that season the Scythians who dwell inside the trench make warlike expeditions upon the ice, and even drive their waggons across to the country of the Sindians. 4 Such is the intensity of the cold during eight months out of the twelve; and even in the remaining four the climate is still cool. 5 The character of the winter likewise is unlike that of the same season in any other country; for at that time, when the rains ought to fall in Scythia, there is scarcely any rain worth mentioning, while in summer it never gives over raining; and thunder, which elsewhere is frequent then, in Scythia is unknown in that part of the year, coming only in summer, when it is very heavy. Thunder in the winter-time is there accounted a prodigy; as also are earthquakes, whether they happen in winter or summer.
6 To me it seems that the cold may likewise be the cause which prevents the oxen in Scythia from having horns. 7 There is a line of Homer’s in the Odyssey which gives a support to my opinion:- Libya too, where horns hud quick on the foreheads of lambkins. He means to say what is quite true, that in warm countries the horns come early. 8 So too in countries where the cold is severe animals either have no horns, or grow them with difficulty- the cold being the cause in this instance. 9 Here I must express my wonder- additions being what my work always from the very first affected- that in Elis, where the cold is not remarkable, and there is nothing else to account for it, mules are never produced. The Eleans say it is in consequence of a curse; and their habit is, when the breeding-time comes, to take their mares into one of the adjoining countries, and there keep them till they are in foal, when they bring them back again into Elis. 9 With respect to the feathers which are said by the Scythians to fill the air, and to prevent persons from penetrating into the remoter parts of the continent, even having any view of those regions, my opinion is that in the countries above Scythia it always snows- less, of course, in the summer than in the wintertime. Now snow when it falls looks like feathers, as every one is aware who has seen it come down close to him. 10 These northern regions, therefore, are uninhabitable by reason of the severity of the winter; and the Scythians, with their neighbours, call the snow-flakes feathers because, I think, of the likeness which they bear to them. I have now related what is said of the most distant parts of this continent whereof any account is given.

1 Of the Hyperboreans nothing is said either by the Scythians or by any of the other dwellers in these regions, unless it be the Issedonians. 2 But in my opinion, even the Issedonians are silent concerning them; otherwise the Scythians would have repeated their statements, as they do those concerning the one-eyed men. Hesiod, however, mentions them, and Homer also in the Epigoni, if that be really a work of his. 3 But the persons who have by far the most to say on this subject are the Delians. They declare that certain offerings, packed in wheaten straw, were brought from the country of the Hyperboreans into Scythia, and that the Scythians received them and passed them on to their neighbor’s upon the west, who continued to pass them on until at last they reached the Adriatic. 4 From hence they were sent southward, and when they came to Greece, were received first of all by the Dodonaeans. 5 Thence they descended to the Maliac Gulf, from which they were carried across into Euboea, where the people handed them on from city to city, till they came at length to Carystus. 6 The Carystians took them over to Tenos, without stopping at Andros; and the Tenians brought them finally to Delos. Such, according to their own account, was the road by which the offerings reached the Delians. 7 Two damsels, they say, named Hyperoche and Laodice, brought the first offerings from the Hyperboreans; and with them the Hyperboreans sent five men to keep them from all harm by the way; these are the persons whom the Delians call “Perpherees,” and to whom great honours are paid at Delos. 8 Afterwards the Hyperboreans, when they found that their messengers did not return, thinking it would be a grievous thing always to be liable to lose the envoys they should send, adopted the following plan:- they wrapped their offerings in the wheaten straw, and bearing them to their borders, charged their neighbours to send them forward from one nation to another, which was done accordingly, and in this way the offerings reached Delos. 9  I myself know of a practice like this, which obtains with the women of Thrace and Paeonia. They in their sacrifices to the queenly Diana bring wheaten straw always with their offerings. Of my own knowledge I can testify that this is so. 10 The damsels sent by the Hyperboreans died in Delos; and in their honour all the Delian girls and youths are wont to cut off their hair. 11 The girls, before their marriage-day, cut off a curl, and twining it round a distaff, lay it upon the grave of the strangers. 12 This grave is on the left as one enters the precinct of Diana, and has an olive-tree growing on it. The youths wind some of their hair round a kind of grass, and, like the girls, place it upon the tomb. Such are the honours paid to these damsels by the Delians.

13 They add that, once before, there came to Delos by the same road as Hyperoche and Laodice, two other virgins from the Hyperboreans, whose names were Arge and Opis. Hyperoche and Laodice came to bring to Ilithyia the offering which they had laid upon themselves, in acknowledgment of their quick labours; but Arge and Opis came at the same time as the gods of Delos,’ and are honoured by the Delians in a different way. 14  For the Delian women make collections in these maidens’ names, and invoke them in the hymn which Olen, a Lycian, composed for them; and the rest of the islanders, and even the Ionians, have been taught by the Delians to do the like. 15 This Olen, who came from Lycia, made the other old hymns also which are sung in Delos. 16 The Delians add that the ashes from the thigh-bones burnt upon the altar are scattered over the tomb of Opis and Arge. 17 Their tomb lies behind the temple of Diana, facing the east, near the banqueting-hall of the Ceians. 18 Thus much then, and no more, concerning the Hyperboreans.

19 As for the tale of Abaris, who is said to have been a Hyperborean, and to have gone with his arrow all round the world without once eating, I shall pass it by in silence. Thus much, however, is clear: if there are Hyperboreans, there must also be Hypernotians.

As the other Scythians have a peculiarity of shape, and do not resemble any other, the same observation applies to the Egyptians, only that the latter are oppressed by heat and the former by cold. What is called the Scythian desert is a prairie, rich in meadows, high-lying, and well watered; for the rivers which carry off the water from the plains are large. There live those Scythians which are called Nomades, because they have no houses, but live in wagons. The smallest of these wagons have four wheels, but some have six; they are covered in with felt, and they are constructed in the manner of houses, some having but a single apartment, and some three; they are proof against rain, snow, and winds. The wagons are drawn by yokes of oxen, some of two and others of three, and all without horns, for they have no horns, owing to the cold. In these wagons the women live, but the men are carried about on horses, and the sheep, oxen, and horses accompany them; and they remain on any spot as long as there is provender for their cattle, and when that fails they migrate to some other place. They eat boiled meat, and drink the milk of mares, and also eat hippace, which is cheese prepared from the milk of the mare. Such is their mode of life and their customs.

I Will give you a strong proof of the humidity (laxity?) of their constitutions. You will find the greater part of the Scythians, and all the Nomades, with marks of the cautery on their shoulders, arms, wrists, breasts, hip-joints, and loins, and that for no other reason but the humidity and flabbiness of their constitution, for they can neither strain with their bows, nor launch the javelin from their shoulder owing to their humidity and atony: but when they are burnt, much of the humidity in their joints is dried up, and they become better braced, better fed, and their joints get into a more suitable condition. They are flabby and squat at first, because, as in Egypt, they are not swathed (?); and then they pay no attention to horsemanship, so that they may be adepts at it; and because of their sedentary mode of life; for the males, when they cannot be carried about on horseback, sit the most of their time in the wagon, and rarely practice walking, because of their frequent migrations and shiftings of situation; and as to the women, it is amazing how flabby and sluggish they are. The Scythian race are tawny from the cold, and not from the intense heat of the sun, for the whiteness of the skin is parched by the cold, and becomes tawny.

Wesley says Magog are the Sycthes; “

2. Gog – some think-. And that it must intend those enemies of God’s church who descended from the Scythians, and are now masters of Cappadocia, Iberia, Armenia, or are in confederacy with the Tartars, and those northern heathens.

. Magog – Magog is, at least, part of Scythia, and comprehends Syria, in which was Hierapolis. taken by the Scythians, and called of them Scythopolis. It is that country, which now is in subjection to the Turks, and may be extended thro’ Asia minor, 6. Gomer – Inhabitants of Galatia. Togarmah – Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia. The north quarters – The more northern people, the numerous Tartars.

13. Sheba – This Sheba was southward, and contains all of that coast which assisted Gog. Dedan – By these are noted, the eastern nations that assisted. Tarshish – The inhabitants of the sea-coast westward, and Magog north.

15. The north parts – From Scythia, from the Euxine and Caspian seas, and countries thereabouts.”

Gog –(1.) A Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:4), the father of Shimei.

Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary “Gog”

(2.) The name of the leader of the hostile party described in Ezek. 38,39, as coming from the “north country” and assailing the people of Israel to their own destruction. This prophecy has been regarded as fulfilled in the conflicts of the Maccabees with Antiochus, the invasion and overthrow of the Chaldeans, and the temporary successes and destined overthrow of the Turks. But “all these interpretations are unsatisfactory and inadequate. The vision respecting Gog and Magog in the Apocalypse (Rev. 20:8) is in substance a renouncement of this prophecy of Ezekiel. It has been supposed to be the name of a district in the wild northeast steppes of Central Asia, north of the Hindu-Kush, now a part of Turkestan, a region about 2,000 miles north-east of Nineveh.

Magog

Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary “Magog”

region of Gog, the second of the “sons” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chr. 1:5). In Ezekiel (38:2; 39:6) it is the name of a nation, probably some Scythian or Tartar tribe descended from Japheth. They are described as skilled horsemen, and expert in the use of the bow. The Latin father Jerome says that this word denotes “Scythian nations, fierce and innumerable, who live beyond the Caucasus and the Lake Maeotis, and near the Caspian Sea,

 Jewish Encycl quotes Jerome “on Magog”

The Latin father Jerome says that this word denotes Scythian nations, fierce and innumerable, who live beyond the Caucasus and the Lake Maeotis, and near the Caspian Sea, and spread out even onward to India. Perhaps the name represents the Assyrian Mat Gugi, or country of Gugu, the Gyges of the Greeks (Sayces Races, etc.).

3.) Ideological phenomenom-When God says he is against thee it is because the basic tenet of that nation is to be against God. Russia is an atheistic nation that is against God.

 

 

 

39:1-“Son of man, prophecy against Gog and say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

39:2- 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.

39:4-On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals.

39:6-I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety, in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord.

39:7-I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profane, and the nations will know that  I the Lord am the Holy One of Israel.

39:9–Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

39:17-20-“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird and the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat until you are gluttoned and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind, ‘declares the Sovereign Lord.’ “

39:22-24-From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.

7 When the 1,000 years are over, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2″Son of man set your face against Gog, of the land  of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him 3 and say:’This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. “I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5 Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6 also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.

 7 ” ‘Get ready;  be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will  invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

10″ ‘ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, and to seize much plunder?” ‘

14″Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses,a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

17″ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18 This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. 19 In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and his troops, and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Collins, John.The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature.2nd ed. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans P. 1998 Collins, John. Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora.New York: Crossroad P. 1983.

Collins, John. Daniel: a Commentary on the Book of Daniel/by John J. Collins; with an essay “The influence of Daniel on the New Testament,” by Adela Yarbro Collins. Ed. Frank Moore Cross. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress P. 1993