For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB Seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
- KJV And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
- NKJV For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
- NASB For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
- NLT It will take seven months for the people of Israel to bury the bodies and cleanse the land.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
It takes Israel seven months to bury the dead and cleanse the land. The scale of judgment and the concern for purity are both immense.
Overview
For seven full months the house of Israel buries the slain in order to cleanse the land of defilement. Under the Mosaic law contact with corpses caused uncleanness, so removing them restores the land's holiness. The lengthy task highlights both the magnitude of the enemy's defeat and God's enduring concern that His dwelling-place among His people be holy, a holiness fully realized in the cleansing accomplished by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
- Ezek 39:14And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.
- Ezek 39:16(Even the city will be named Hamonah.) And so they will cleanse the land.
- Num 19:16Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 39:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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