Ezekiel 38:11

11 And you will say, 'I will go up against a land of open country; I will come [to] the [people] being at rest {in safety}, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and {without doors},

Ezekiel 38:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 38:11

And thou shall say
What came into his mind, and what he thought of; this he shall say to his privy counsellors and ministers of state; or to the generals and officers of his army; or to his confederates and allies, and even to them all, to have their opinion and approbation of it; and to encourage them to join him, and go with him: I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;
a land which has nothing but villages in it, and those no walls about them to protect them: this he said by way of contempt; and the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "the abject land"; and to observe how easily he could conquer it, there being nothing in his way to hinder him, or give him trouble: I will go to them that are at rest, and dwell safely:
as the Jews will do in the latter day, when they shall own and acknowledge the Messiah, ( Jeremiah 23:5 Jeremiah 23:6 ) , and dwell in their own land, where they will be quiet and peaceable, and think and do no harm to any, nor mistrust their neighbours doing any harm to them; but shall live in the utmost tranquillity and security; and which Gog or the Turks will take the advantage of; and from hence promise themselves an easy conquest of them: all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;
no walls to their cities; no gates to walls; nor bars to gates; but without either; being under the protection of God, and putting their trust in him, who is a wall of fire round about his people; and is better to them, than gates with bars.

Ezekiel 38:11 In-Context

9 And you will advance like a storm; you will come, [and] you will be like a cloud {covering} the land, and all of your troops and many nations [along] with you."

10 " 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{And then} on that day, things will come up on your mind, and you will devise evil plans.

11 And you will say, 'I will go up against a land of open country; I will come [to] the [people] being at rest {in safety}, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and {without doors},

12 to loot loot, and to plunder plunder, {to assail} inhabited ruins and [a] people gathered together from [various] peoples [and who are] acquiring livestock and goods [and] dwelling at the center of the world.

13 Sheba and Dedan and traders of Tarshish and all its strong lions, they [will] ask you, 'To loot loot are you coming? To plunder plunder [have] you summoned your assembly, to take away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, to loot great amounts of loot?" '

Footnotes

• [a] Or "go"
• [b] Literally "with confidence"
• [c] Or "walls"
• [d] Hebrew "crossbar"
• [e] Literally "and doors there are not for them"