You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land: Gog’s advance on Israel will be like the shadow of a large thundercloud covering the land (see Ezek 38.9). Come up against may be rendered “go toward” or “attack.”

In the latter days refers to the same time as “in the latter years” in verse 8. This phrase may be translated “When that time comes” (similarly Good News Translation).

I will bring you against my land: As in verse 4, God is the one who causes Gog to do what he does. God describes Israel as my land. This clause may be expressed as “I will bring you to attack my land” or “I will make you attack my land.”

The reason God will do this is so that the nations may know me. The terminology here is slightly different from the usual recognition formula, but there is no difference in meaning between the nations may know me and “the nations will know that I am the LORD” (see 36.23). The nations will recognize that Yahweh is God.

When through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes means “I will use you to show them how holy I am” (New International Reader’s Version). For discussion on this expression, see 36.23. If the word in a language for holiness has the sense of “taboo” or “forbidden,” then translators may render this clause as “when I use you to show them that I am the God that people should worship.” As in verse 2, O Gog is a vocative, showing that God is addressing him directly. Translators may omit the vocative if it is unnatural in their language, or if they have put this verse into indirect speech.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .