Bible Strands
Ezekiel 39:18
You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord God addresses Ezekiel, commanding the prophet to summon every bird and field beast to a sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel. This occurs during a prophetic vision detailing the final defeat of Gog and his allied forces.
The words — The text specifies גִּבּוֹרִים (gi.bo.Rim) as warriors and אֵילִים ('ei.Lim) as rams to frame the imagery of the feast. These terms ground the metaphor in concrete livestock and combatants to describe the coming slaughter.
The thread — The imagery of Bashan's cattle and slaughtered leaders echoes Psalms 22:12, Jeremiah 51:40, and Revelation 19:17. These passages consistently use the same agricultural and military vocabulary to depict divine judgment.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that conquered enemies are reduced to sacrificial meat for a divine banquet. It requires the reader to accept that God's justice operates through total, unambiguous defeat.
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
Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
Cross-references
- Psalms 22:12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
- Jeremiah 51:40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
- Revelation 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,
- Jeremiah 50:27 Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.
- Ezekiel 29:5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.
- Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
- Deuteronomy 32:14 with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
- Psalms 68:30 Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations, until it submits, bringing bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
- Isaiah 34:7 And the wild oxen will fall with them, the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be soaked with fat.
- Jeremiah 50:11 “Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,