Zechariah 9

This is the heavy message that the LORD spoke against the land of Hadrach, and against Damascus, where it comes to rest. For the eyes of all people, and of all the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD.

1The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.

Note"Heavy message" translates a Hebrew word (massa) that means both a load carried on the back and a formal pronouncement from a prophet; the wordplay is deliberate. Hadrach was a small kingdom in northern Syria, known from Assyrian records but mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. Damascus was the chief city of Syria, north-east of Israel. "Where it comes to rest" is deliberately open: the message settles on Damascus the way a burden is set down, or the way a bird lands. Also note the printing convention used throughout: LORD in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, while "Lord" in ordinary letters (as in verse 4) is the general word for master.

2The message is also against Hamath, which sits on the border there, and against Tyre and Sidon, even though they are very clever.

2And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.

NoteHamath was a city on the Orontes river in Syria, often named as the northern limit of Israelite territory. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician port cities on the coast of what is now Lebanon, the great trading and shipping powers of the region. "Clever" is the same Hebrew word usually translated "wise"; here it carries the sense of commercial shrewdness, the skill that made these cities rich.

3Tyre built herself a fortress. She piled up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud in the streets.

3And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

NoteThere is a pun in the Hebrew that English cannot carry: the city's name is Tsor and the word for fortress is matsor. Tyre's main city stood on an island half a mile offshore, which made it famously difficult to capture.

4Look, the Lord will take away what she owns and throw her riches into the sea. She herself will be burned up by fire.

4Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

5Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza will see it and twist in pain, and so will Ekron, because what she hoped for has failed. Gaza will lose its king, and no one will live in Ashkelon.

5Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

NoteAshkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod in the next verse were four of the five cities of the Philistines, the coastal people south-west of Judah who had been Israel's rivals for centuries. "Twist in pain" translates a word used of a woman in labor.

6A people of mixed blood will live in Ashdod, and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.

6And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "a people of mixed blood" (mamzer) appears only twice in the Bible and its exact sense is disputed. It means someone born outside a proper marriage, or of mixed descent; here it points to a foreign or mongrel population moving into a city whose own people are gone.

7I will take the blood out of their mouths and the disgusting food from between their teeth. Those who are left will belong to our God. They will be like a leading family in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

7And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

NoteBlood in the mouth and "disgusting food" between the teeth describe eating meat with the blood still in it and eating food offered to other gods, both forbidden to Israelites. The picture is of the Philistines being made fit to belong to Israel's God. "A leading family" translates a word for a clan chief; the point is that the survivors are absorbed into Judah with standing, not as slaves. The Jebusites were the original inhabitants of Jerusalem; after David captured the city they were not wiped out but absorbed into the population.

8I will set up camp around my house to guard it against any army, against anyone who marches past or marches back. No one will ever crush my people again, because now I am watching with my own eyes.

8And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

Note"My house" is the temple in Jerusalem. "Anyone who marches past or marches back" refers to armies using the coastal road through the region on their way to and from campaigns elsewhere.

9Be very glad, city of Zion! Shout out loud, city of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He does what is right, and he has been rescued. He is humble, and he rides on a donkey, on a colt, the young of a donkey.

9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

NoteZion was originally the hill on which Jerusalem's citadel stood, and the name came to stand for the city as a whole. "City of Zion" translates "daughter of Zion," a standard way of addressing a city and its inhabitants as though speaking to a woman. "He brings rescue" renders a form that can be read either actively (he saves) or passively (he has been saved, or vindicated, by God); the Hebrew allows both. A king riding a donkey rather than a warhorse was arriving in peace, not at the head of an army.

10I will take away the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will speak peace to the nations. He will rule from one sea to the other, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

10And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

NoteEphraim was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, and its name is used here for the north as a whole, paired with Jerusalem for the south. Chariots and horses were the heavy weapons of ancient armies; removing them from your own side means war itself is over. "From one sea to the other" and "from the River to the ends of the earth" were stock phrases for the whole world; "the River" without qualification always means the Euphrates.

11As for you, because of the blood of the agreement I made with you, I am setting your prisoners free from the pit that has no water in it.

11As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

NoteAgreements between God and his people, like treaties between nations, were sealed by killing animals and using the blood in the ceremony, hence "the blood of the agreement." Water was stored in bottle-shaped cisterns cut into rock; an empty one made a ready-made prison you could not climb out of, and both Joseph and Jeremiah were held in one.

12Come back to the fortress, you prisoners who still have hope. Today I am telling you that I will pay you back twice as much as you lost.

12Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

Note"Twice as much" draws on two legal customs: the double share of an inheritance that went to a firstborn son, and the doubled repayment a thief owed his victim.

13For I will bend Judah like a bow, and I will fit Ephraim to it like an arrow. I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and I will make you like the sword of a strong fighter.

13When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

NoteJudah and Ephraim are the southern and northern parts of the nation. "Greece" translates Hebrew Yavan, that is Ionia, the general name for the Greek world to the west.

14Then the LORD will be seen above them, and his arrow will fly out like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the ram's horn and will march out in the storm winds from the south.

14And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

NoteThe ram's horn (shofar) was blown to sound an alarm, signal the start of a battle, or announce the arrival of a king. The "storm winds from the south" are the violent squalls that blow up off the desert south of Judah.

15The LORD of Armies will protect them. They will destroy their enemies and beat them down with stones from slings. They will drink and roar as if full of wine. They will be full like the bowls used at the altar, wet like its corners.

15The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.

NoteThe sling was a serious battlefield weapon, not a toy; slingers formed regular units in ancient armies. The bowls were the basins used to catch the blood of sacrificed animals, which was then thrown or smeared against the altar. "Its corners" refers to the horn-shaped projections at the altar's four corners, which were regularly drenched with blood in the ritual. The image is of soldiers as soaked as those vessels.

16On that day the LORD their God will rescue them, since they are the flock that belongs to him. They will be like the jewels of a crown, lifted high like a flag over his land.

16And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is difficult, and translators differ: the stones may be jewels set in a crown, and the last phrase may mean they are raised like a signal flag over the land, or that they sparkle across it. A flag here means a standard raised on a hilltop to rally troops or summon people, not a national emblem.

17How great his goodness is, and how great his beauty! Grain will make the young men strong, and new wine will do the same for the young women.

17For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

NoteWhose goodness and beauty is meant is left open in the Hebrew, God's, or that of the people and land just described. "New wine" is the fresh juice of the just-picked grape harvest, still fermenting; grain and new wine together were the standard shorthand for a year of plenty.