Ezekiel 38:4

I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army—your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all brandishing their swords.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord GOD addresses Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, at the moment of mobilizing his coalition before the campaign begins.

The words — The Hebrew noun חַחִים (chachim) means "hooks," used with the verb שׁוֹבַבְתִּי (shovavti) "I will turn around" to describe a forced redirection of the enemy's advance.

The thread — The supplied notes connect this imagery to Ezekiel 29:4 against Pharaoh and 2 Kings 19:28 where God places a hook in the nose of an arrogant king, while Daniel 11:40 is listed only for its description of a military surge without hook references.

Why it lands — The text states that God physically controls the movement of hostile armies before they strike, requiring the reader to acknowledge divine sovereignty over human military strategy.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

Cross-references

Ezekiel 29:4 But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.
Daniel 11:40 At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.
2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Ezekiel 38:15 And you will come from your place out of the far north—you and many peoples with you, all riding horses—a mighty horde, a huge army.
Ezekiel 39:2 I will turn you around, drive you along, bring you up from the far north, and send you against the mountains of Israel.
1 Chronicles 12:8 Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the wilderness. They were mighty men of valor, trained for battle, experts with the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were as swift as gazelles on the mountains:
2 Chronicles 25:5 Then Amaziah gathered the people of Judah and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and of hundreds. And he numbered those twenty years of age or older throughout Judah and Benjamin and found 300,000 chosen men able to serve in the army, bearing the spear and shield.
Isaiah 37:29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Jeremiah 46:9 Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
Ezekiel 23:12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men.