Ezekiel 38:12

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.

Ezekiel 38:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 38:12

To take a spoil, and to take a prey
These are the words of Gog continued; suggesting that he should have no occasion to fight; should have nothing else to do but to seize upon the goods and plunder the substance of these people: to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited:
such as were before desolate, and had lain long so, but now peopled and cultivated; these he would attack and demolish, and make a spoil and prey of: and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations;
a description of the Jews, as before; ( Ezekiel 38:8 ) which have gotten cattle and goods;
so that it should seem that Gog or the Turks will not immediately attack the Jews upon their possession of the land of Judea; but some time after, when they have settled in it, and have acquired much wealth and riches in cattle and goods, and then think to have a fine booty of them: that dwell in the midst of the land;
or, "the navel of the land" ^F16; which may design Jerusalem, situated in the midst of the land of Israel, and so called the navel of it, as that is in the midst of the body; as Enna is said by Cicero to be the navel of Sicily: or, as Kimchi thinks, the land of Israel itself is meant; which is in the midst of the world, and so the navel of it; though the former seems best.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (Urah rwbj le) (epi ton omfalon thv ghv) , Sept.; "in [vel] super umbilico terrae", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius.

Ezekiel 38:12 In-Context

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?" '

14 "Therefore prophesy, son of man, and you must say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will you not realize on that day when my people Israel are dwelling {in safety},

Footnotes

• [a] Or "for"
• [b] Or "war-booty"; this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
• [c] Or "seize"; this word is chosen because of the alliteration in Hebrew
• [d] Literally "to bring back your hand against"; NJPS, "to turn your hand against"