Zechariahchapter 14
21 verses · Zechariah · 520 to 518 BC · The Twelve
Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Introduction
Zechariah, The Twelve, Zechariah Overview.
This is the last chapter of Zechariah and one of the fullest pictures of the day of the LORD in the prophets. It was written for people who had come back to a ruined city and wanted to know how the story of Jerusalem would end. The chapter states the worst plainly, and it places the coming of the LORD after the city has already suffered. Listen for the phrase on that day, which marks each new scene, and for the places named, from the Mount of Olives to the two seas. Read it for its ending, where holiness reaches the most ordinary objects in the city.
Context
- Who
- A people who wanted to know how the story ends
- What
- The last vision of the book: Jerusalem captured, the LORD standing on the Mount of Olives, living water flowing from the city, and the nations keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.
- Where
- Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to its east, with the land from Geba to Rimmon made a plain and water running to the Eastern and Western Seas.
- When
- Undated, and usually placed after the book's dated oracles of 520 to 518 BC, either late in Zechariah's life or in the fifth century BC or after.
- Why
- To assure Judah that the LORD will become King over all the earth and that holiness will reach every part of the life of Jerusalem.
Historical context
The chapter starts with the worst outcome stated plainly: the city taken, the houses looted, the women violated, half the city going into captivity. Zechariah does not skip to the good part.
Show the rest of the historical context, 5 more paragraphs
Then the LORD goes out and fights, and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, the ridge directly east of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley, the hill you climb to look down on the temple. It splits east and west, making a valley to escape through.
An earthquake is remembered here "like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah." That quake was famous enough to date events by; Amos opens his book by it, and archaeologists have found eighth-century destruction layers at several sites often connected with it. Zechariah's audience knew the reference.
Living waters go out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea (the Dead Sea) and half to the western (the Mediterranean), in summer and winter alike. Judah's streams were seasonal, many ran only in the rainy months, so a river that flows in summer was itself a small miracle.
The nations that survive come up year after year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, the harvest festival of booths, and those who do not come get no rain.
The book's last image is domestic. "HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD", the exact words engraved on the gold plate on the high priest's turban, will be written on the bells of the horses, and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be as holy as the bowls at the altar.
Significance
For the first hearers, the ending said God's rescue arrives after the worst has already happened, not instead of it. That was the honest version, and the version their own history had trained them to expect.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The last picture was the sweetest one. The holiness that had been locked in one room, on one man's forehead, once a year, ends up on horse harness and kitchen pots. Nothing left common. That was the future promised to people who had just spent sixteen years unable to finish one building.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed no weekly portion and no Haftarah from this chapter, and no festival reading for the book. That table carries the Haftarah of each of the fifty-four weekly portions and the books read whole at the feasts. It carries nothing for the special Sabbaths, the festival days or the fast days, so this card names no public reading of chapter 14 and leaves that question to a source that holds those readings.
The chapter itself names a feast, and the corpus ties it to practice. Rashi reads the call on the nations to keep the festival of Tabernacles through Avodah Zarah 3a, where the sukkah is called an easy commandment (Rashi on Zechariah 14:16:1). He explains the rain of the seventeenth verse by the feast's own rites. "the four species of the lulav and the water libation are to appease God for water" (Rashi on Zechariah 14:17:1). Egypt is named apart because the Nile waters its land (Rashi on Zechariah 14:18:1). Under the first verse the corpus carries Megillah 31a:14.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries. He is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer.
Rashi reads the day of the Lord as "A day dear to the Lord" (Rashi on Zechariah 14:1:1). The nations are allowed to take half the city so that they have no excuse to say they came to worship rather than to fight (Rashi on Zechariah 14:2:1). The Lord fights "Like the day He waged war on the Red Sea" (Rashi on Zechariah 14:3:1).
The splitting of the Mount of Olives and the stopping of the valley he reads with Jonathan and the lie of the hills around the city (Rashi on Zechariah 14:5:1). The one day of the seventh verse is a day of the Holy One, known as the day set for the preparing of salvation (Rashi on Zechariah 14:7:1). At the ninth verse the Lord is one "For all the nations shall abandon their vanities and acknowledge Him" (Rashi on Zechariah 14:9:1). At the tenth the earth is made a plain and Jerusalem a mountain above it (Rashi on Zechariah 14:10:1).
The bells of the horses close the book in holiness. Rashi says they too will be consecrated to make service vessels, basins for the blood and pots for the flesh of the sacrifices, and cites Pesachim 50a (Rashi on Zechariah 14:20:1). The trafficker who is gone from the house he reads two ways. They will need no trade, or in another explanation, "There is no poor man here" (Rashi on Zechariah 14:21:1).
The corpus carries 3 further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted here. Ibn Ezra on Zechariah is cited at 14:2:1, 14:3:1 and 14:19:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here and none is quoted. The verse numbers are the corpus's own.
At 14:1 it holds Kohelet Rabbah 5:7:1, Megillah 31a:14 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 6:2. At 14:2 it holds Midrash Tehillim 18:4, Otzar Midrashim, Chuppah of Eliyahu, Chuppat Eliyahu Rabbah 91 and Otzar Midrashim, Keri & K'tiv, Introduction 4. At 14:3 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 54:1, Esther Rabbah 7:23 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:11. At 14:4 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:6, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 21 and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 17. At 14:5 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 9:3, Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:2:4 and Kohelet Rabbah 1:11:1.
At 14:6 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 19:6, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Pesakhim 3:4 and Ein Yaakov, Pesakhim 3:5. At 14:7 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 2:3 and Bereshit Rabbah 34:11. At 14:8 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:11 and Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:24. At 14:9 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 44:22 and Devarim Rabbah 5:11. At 14:10 it holds Bava Batra 75b:5 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 5:29.
At 14:12 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 2:2 and Kohelet Rabbah 9:12:1. At 14:13 it holds Midrash Shmuel 13:3 and Midrash Tehillim 18:13. At 14:15 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 5:1:2 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 9:1. At 14:16 it holds Midrash Tehillim 87:5 and Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 16:1. At 14:18 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Miketz 28.
At 14:19 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 52:10. At 14:20 it holds Ein Yaakov, Pesakhim 3:6 and Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 3:8:2. At 14:21 it holds Pesachim 50a:14 and Sifrei Devarim 306:20.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Zechariah 14:1:1 to 14:21:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Zechariah 14:2:1, 14:3:1 and 14:19:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no text it may quote; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/zechariah/14.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane through haftarahUsesForChapter("zechariah", 14) and festivalReadingForBook("zechariah").
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
His feet on the Mount of Olives, and the mountain splits
Zechariah 14:1-2
a day of the LORD is coming: The chapter opens on “a day of the LORD” that begins badly for Jerusalem, as the nations gather, “the city will be captured”. The last clause holds the turn, for “the rest of the people will not be removed from the city”. The text gives this day no date.
Zechariah 14:1
“Behold the Day of the Lord cometh - Literally, “a day cometh, the Lord’s,” in which He Himself shall be Judge, and no longer leave man to fulfill his own will, and despise God’s; in which His glory and holiness and the righteousness of all His ways shall be revealed. And thy spoil shall be in the midst of thee - Jerome: “How great will the strait be, that the spoils should be divided in the midst of her.”
Half of the city will go into exile: God Himself gathers the nations. Albert Barnes links this gathering of all nations to Joel 3 and Ezekiel 38. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown compare the half of the city here with the third of the land in 13:8.
Zechariah 14:2
“I will gather all nations - The Romans, whose armies were composed of all the nations of the world. In this verse there is a pitiful account given of the horrible outrages which should be committed during the siege of Jerusalem, and at its capture. The residue of the people shad not be cut off - Many were preserved for slaves, and for exhibition in the provincial theatres.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:2
“He presently changes his way, and appears for Jerusalem; for, though judgment begin at the house of God, yet, as it shall not end there, so it shall not make a full end there, Jer. iv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 14:2
“But difficulties do not set aside revelations: the event will clear up seeming difficulties. Compare the complicated movements, Da 11:1-45. half . . . the residue--In Zec 13:8, 9, it is "two-thirds" that perish, and "the third" escapes. There, however, it is "in all the land"; here it is "half of the city." Two-thirds of the "whole people" perish, one-third survives.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 14:3-5
in the day of battle: The LORD goes out to fight, and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, which splits to form “a great valley”. They flee as they “fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah”. Keil and Pusey note the Hebrew reads with you, where the Berean reads “with Him”.
Zechariah 14:3
“And every former day of battle, which God has made to his people a day of triumph, as it is an engagement to God to appear for his people, because he is the same, so it is an encouragement to them to trust in him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the Mount of Olives: faces Jerusalem from the east. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Jesus entered the city from this hill and suffered His agony at its foot. John Wesley reads the split as a new road opened for God's people.
Zechariah 14:4
“But it might happen that he should sit upon a foal; give us rather a sign where the king who enters will stand. Give us a sign not far from the city, that it may not be unknown to us; give us a sign nearby and clearly visible, that being in the city we may behold the place. Again the prophet answers, saying, "That day his feet shall rest upon the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem to the east." Is it possible for anyone standing within the city not to behold the place?”
Cyril of Jerusalem · written before 386 · Catechetical Lecture 12:11patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:4
“And his feet shall stand - He shall appear in full possession of the place, as a mighty conqueror. And the mount of Olives shall cleave - God shall display his miraculous power as fully in the final restoration of the Jews, as he did when he divided the Red Sea that their forefathers might pass through dry-shod. Some refer this to the destruction of the city by the Romans. It was on the mount of Olives that Titus posted his army to batter Jerusalem. Here the tenth legion that came to him from Jericho was placed. Joseph.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 14:4
“He shall probably "come from the east" (Mt 24:27). He so made His triumphal entry into the city from the Mount of Olives from the east (Mt 21:1-10). This was the scene of His agony: so it shall be the scene of His glory.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the earthquake in the days of Uzziah: The earthquake under Uzziah was remembered for generations, and Amos 1:1 dates his preaching by it. The people will flee through the new valley. John Wesley reads the valley as a place God provides for their safety.
Zechariah 14:5
“The valley of the mountains - A place provided of God for their safety. O Lord my God - As if it were said, though it will, O Lord, put us into fear; yet without such wonderful works we shall not see thy salvation; therefore, O Lord my God come, and bring thy holy ones with thee.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:5
“And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains - Rather, along the valley of My mountains namely, of those mountains, which God had just formed by dividing the mount of Olives. “For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal, that is, Azel,” the same word which enters into Beth-Azel of Micah, where the allusion probably is to its firm-rootedness. It is more probable that the name of a place should have been chosen with an allusive meaning, as in Micah, than that an unusual appellative should have been chosen to express a very common meaning.”
Zechariah 14:5
Yet learn that the Son knows the day of judgment. We read in Zechariah: "And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him. In that day there shall not be light but cold and frost, and it shall be one day, and that day is known to the Lord." This day, then, was known unto the Lord, who shall come with his saints to enlighten us by his second advent. But let us continue the point that we have commenced concerning the Spirit: "He shall glorify me."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 2.11.119-20patristic
Living waters, and one LORD over all the earth
Zechariah 14:6-7
there will be no light: On that day “there will be no light”, and it will be “a day known only to the LORD”. Then “when evening comes, there will be light”, and the usual order is reversed. The older commentators set the verse beside the city that needs no sun in Revelation.
Zechariah 14:6
“The light shall not be clear, nor dark - Metaphorically, there will be a mixture of justice and mercy in all this; or a bright light and darkness. Mercy shall triumph over judgment. There shall be darkness - distress, etc.; but there shall be more light - joy and prosperity - than darkness.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
when evening comes, there will be light: Evening normally brings darkness, and here it brings light instead. Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on this verse under the title Light at Evening Time. Matthew Henry notes that the church's affairs are usually a mixture of good and bad, as in a twilight.
Zechariah 14:7
“And in another place: "And I was reckoned with the transgressors." Then there was darkness for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, and again light in the evening; as it is written: "It shall not be day or night, and at the evening there shall be light." All [these] things, when those malefactors saw that they were crucified with him, the one of them reproached him as though he was weak and unable to deliver himself.”
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 5:3.14patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:7
“One day - One continued day, no setting of the sun to make it quite night: God will always act in order to the full salvation of his spiritual Jerusalem.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
living water will flow out from Jerusalem: On that day “living water will flow out from Jerusalem”, and it flows “in summer and winter alike”. The older commentators set the verse beside Ezekiel's river from the temple threshold (Ezekiel 47:1-12). The river of the water of life in Revelation's last chapter carries the picture furthest.
Zechariah 14:8
“Living waters shall go out - There shall be a wide diffusion of Divine knowledge, and of the plan of human salvation, which shall go out by apostles and preachers, first from Jerusalem, then to Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, the isles of the sea, Britain, etc. The former sea, and - the hinder sea - The Dead Sea and the Mediterranean; see on Joe 2:20 (note). These are metaphors. In summer - In time of drought; or in the countries where there was no knowledge of God, there shall these waters flow.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:8
“In that day - When the days of ignorance, and idolatry shall end. Living waters - The quickening, saving truths of the gospel, with all its ordinances in purity. From Jerusalem - The church of Christ, the true Jerusalem.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The book builds to this verse: “the LORD will become King over all the earth”, with “the LORD alone, and His name alone”. The older commentators hear in it the Shema's confession that the LORD is one. Readers divide on whether that reign stands now or awaits a visible enthronement.
Zechariah 14:9
“He is, and ever was, so of right, and in the sovereign disposals of his providence his kingdom does rule over all and none are exempt from his jurisdiction; but it is here promised that he shall be so by actual possession of the hearts of his subjects; he shall be acknowledged King by all in all places; his authority shall be owned and submitted to, and allegiance sworn to him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 14:10-11
will be turned into a plain: “All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem will be turned into a plain”, but “Jerusalem will be raised up”. Its landmarks include “the Corner Gate” and “the Tower of Hananel”, the pair Jeremiah names in his promise of the city's rebuilding (Jeremiah 31:38).
Zechariah 14:10
“All the land shall be turned as a plain - Or rather, “He shall encompass the whole land as a plain.” He shall cast his defence all around it; from Geba, in Benjamin, north of Jerusalem, (Jos 21:17), to Rimmon in Judah, to the south of Jerusalem, Jos 15:32. It shall be lifted up - The city shall be exalted. And inhabited in her place - Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt In the very place in which it originally stood.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:10
“Some think this denotes particular favour to the people of the Jews, and points at their conversion and restoration in the latter days; but it is rather to be understood figuratively of the gospel-church, typified by Judah and Jerusalem, and it signifies the abundant graces with which the church shall be crowned, and the fruitfulness of its members, and the vast numbers of them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 14:10
“The same as Ephraim's gate, the north boundary of the city (2Ki 14:13). the first gate--west of the city [GROTIUS]. "The place of," &c. implies that the gate itself was then not in existence.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
never again will there be an utter destruction: The Hebrew behind utter destruction is the word for a thing devoted to destruction, the ban. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown translate it no more curse. Albert Barnes reads the city as the one God has chosen, against which hell cannot prevail.
Zechariah 14:11
“And they shall dwell in it - In peace, going forth from it, neither into “captivity,” nor in flight Zec 14:2, Zec 14:5; for God should exempt from curse the city which He had chosen, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, and He says of the heavenly Jerusalem, “there shall be no more curse” Rev 22:3.”
A plague on everyone who fought against Jerusalem
Zechariah 14:12-15
Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet: The plague on those “who have warred against Jerusalem” rots flesh, eyes and tongues “while they stand on their feet”. A “great panic from the LORD” follows, as at Gideon's rout of Midian (Judges 7:22), a parallel the older commentators draw. The plague strikes “all the animals in those camps”.
Zechariah 14:12
“The organs of speech, the outlets of sin, their tongue, shall consume away in their mouth, whereby God will reckon with them for all their blasphemies against himself and invectives against his people. Thus their own tongues shall fall upon them, and their punishment shall be legible in their sin, as his was whose tongue was tormented in hell-flames.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:12
“And this shall be the plague - All her enemies shall be destroyed. Their flesh shall consume away - These are the effects of famine which are described in this verse.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a great panic from the LORD: God throws the enemy into confusion. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite 1 Samuel 14:15 to 20, where the Philistines struck one another. Adam Clarke reads it as the enemies of the church destroying each other.
Zechariah 14:13
“A great tumult - And panic fear, such as God said He would send upon the Canaanites before Israel Deu 7:23, or on Israel itself, if disobedient Deu 28:20; or which fell on the Philistines after Jonathan’s capture of the garrison at Michmash, when every man’s “sword was against his fellow” .”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:13
“As they are the sin of those that raise them they are not from the Lord, but from the wicked one, and from men's own lusts; but, as they are the punishment of those that suffer by them, they are from the Lord, who serves his own purposes, and carries on his intentions, by the sins, and follies, and restless spirits, of men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Judah will also fight at Jerusalem: Readers divide on whether Judah fights for Jerusalem or against it. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that Judah fights the enemy at Jerusalem, as the context requires. Matthew Henry notes the other reading.
the horses and mules, camels and donkeys: The plague on the enemy reaches their animals as well. Adam Clarke compares the plagues on the cattle of Egypt. Matthew Henry notes that lesser creatures often suffer in the judgments that sin brings on people.
Zechariah 14:15
“And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass,.... The flesh of the horse is said to be eaten, Rev 19:18, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague, their beasts shall perish in like manner as themselves.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:15
“And so shall be the plague of the Lord ... - Dionysius: “So, when God sendeth the plague, all the irrational animals of antichrist and his satellites shall perish as the aforesaid men, who used them, perished. For, for the sins of men, God, to their greater confusion, sometimes slays their beasts, sometimes also for their loving correction.” “The imagery is from the Mosaic law of the ban.”
All nations keep the feast, and even the pots are holy
Zechariah 14:16-19
will go up year after year: The nations' survivors are drawn in, going up “year after year to worship the King” and keep the Feast of Tabernacles, the ingathering feast. Families that stay away get no rain, and Egypt meets the same plague. Readers divide between a future, literal worship and a figure of worldwide worship.
Zechariah 14:16
“That is left - That escapes the stroke. To worship - By a ceremonial usage which shadowed out a better worship, the prophet foretells the constant zeal of the converted Gentiles to worship the Lord. The feast of tabernacles - One solemn festival is by a figure, put for all the days consecrated to God for holy worship.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:16
“Shall even go up from year to year - The Jews had three grand original festivals, which characterized different epochs in their history, viz.: - 1. The feast of the passover, in commemoration of their departure from Egypt. 2. The feast of pentecost, in commemoration of the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai. 3. The feast of tabernacles, in commemoration of their wandering forty years in the wilderness.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 14:16
“They shall go up to worship at Jerusalem, because that was the place which God had chosen, and there the temple was, which was a type of Christ and his mediation. Converting grace sets us right, 1.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the rain will not fall on them: Rain was life in a land without great rivers. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that drought brought famine and disease with it. Matthew Henry reads it as grace withheld from those who refuse the means of grace.
Zechariah 14:17
“Whoso will not go up - Cyril: “To those who ‘go not up,’” he threatens the same punishment as persecutors would endure. For enemies, and they who will not love, shall have the same lot. This is, I think, what Christ Himself said, ‘Whoso is not with Me is against Me, and whoso gathereth not with Me scattereth’ Luk 11:23.” Upon them there shall be no rain - Rain was the most essential of God’s temporal gifts for the temporal well-being of His people.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:17
“God will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon them. Note, It is a righteous thing with God to withhold the blessings of grace from those that do not attend the means of grace, to deny the green pastures to those that attend not the shepherd's tents.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
if the people of Egypt will not go up: Egypt relied on the Nile flood rather than on rain, so a threat of drought seems not to touch it. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Albert Barnes both take up the difficulty. Their answer is that Egypt will face a plague of its own.
Zechariah 14:18
“This shall be the punishment --margin, This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all nations, that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. The same word signifies both sin and the punishment of sin, so close and inseparable is the connexion between them (as Gen. iv. 7 ), and sin is often its own punishment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:18
“Egypt go not up--specified as Israel's ancient foe. If Egypt go not up, and so there be no rain on them (a judgment which Egypt would condemn, as depending on the Nile's overflow, not on rain), there shall be the plague . . . . Because the guilty are not affected by one judgment, let them not think to escape, for God has other judgments which shall plague them.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 14:18
“If the family of Egypt - This may allude to those Jews who, flying from the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, settled in Egypt, and built a temple at Heliopolis, under the direction of Onias, son of the high priest. Josephus Antiq. lib. xiii., c. 6, and War, lib. vii., c. 36. If these do not rejoin their brethren, they shall have no rain, no interest in the favor of God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
This will be the punishment of Egypt: The word translated punishment is the Hebrew word for sin. Matthew Henry notes that the same word means both sin and its punishment, since the two are so closely joined. Adam Clarke adds that God will have His public worship kept everywhere.
Zechariah 14:19
“This shall be the punishment of Egypt,.... Or "sin" (d), as in the original text: rightly is the word rendered "punishment", as it is by the Targum: and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles; which will be one and the same; they shall have no rain, or what answers to it; they shall all have a famine; or it will be different, Egypt shall be punished with a consumption of their flesh, and the other nations with want of rain: the former sense seems best. (d) חטאת "peccatum", V. L.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 14:19
“This shall be the sin of Egypt and the sin of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles - For before the coming of the Saviour, good perhaps had been in part the excuse of the pagan, that they had been called by none. For no one had preached unto them.”
Zechariah 14:20-21
HOLY TO THE LORD: “HOLY TO THE LORD”, the words on Aaron's gold plate at Exodus 28:36, will be inscribed on the bells of the horses. The last clause, no “Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Hosts”, reads either as the enemy nation shut out or as the trader.
Zechariah 14:20
“Shall there be - Written as it were on every common thing. Holiness unto the Lord - Their persons shall bear the dedicating inscription of holiness to the Lord, and by their study of holiness they shall make good their motto. The pots - Which were used in the kitchens of the temple, and were not accounted so sacred as the utensils near the sacrifices, and altar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:20
“Upon the bells of the horses - They appear, formerly, to have had bells on horses, camels, etc., as we have now, to amuse the animals, and encourage them in their work. In some very fine Asiatic paintings now before me, I see bells both on horses, mules, and camels; little bells tied to their legs, and larger ones about their necks, particularly in the representation of a caravan passing through the valley of serpents, in the island of Serendib, now Ceylon. The margin reads bridles.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 14:20
“Real holiness shall be more diffused than it had been, because there shall be more powerful means of sanctification, more excellent rules, more cogent arguments, and brighter patterns of holiness, and because there shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of holiness and sanctification, after Christ's ascension than ever before.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy: John Wesley reads the pots as all worship and practice made acceptable to God. The word Canaanite can also mean a trader. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mention that reading, which recalls the traders Jesus drove from the temple.
Zechariah 14:21
“And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord - Everything is to be advanced in holiness. All the common utensils everywhere in the people of God shall not only be holy, but “holiness,” and capable of the same use as the vessels of the temple. And there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts - The actual Canaanite had long since ceased to be; the Gibeonites, the last remnant of them, had been absorbed among the people of God.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 14:21
“That sacrifice - So the prophet expresses all religious affections, practice, and worship, which shall be as pleasing to God, as were the sacrifices of his people offered up with divine warrant and approbation. Seethe therein - That part of the sacrifice which pertaineth to the priests, and to the offerer to feast on.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 14:21
“MAURER not so well translates "merchant" here, as in Pr 31:24. If a man would have the beginnings of heaven, it must be by absolute consecration of everything to God on earth. Let his life be a liturgy, a holy service of acted worship [MOORE].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The patterns in this chapter
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
The phrase on that day stands seven times in the chapter's twenty-one verses in the Berean Standard Bible, at verses 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 20 and 21, and it marks the scenes. Verses 1 to 5 describe the siege and the coming of the LORD, and verses 6 to 11 the changed city. Verses 12 to 15 describe the plague on its enemies, and verses 16 to 21 the nations at the feast and the holiness of the city. Across chapters 12 to 14 the phrase stands sixteen times.
Keep studying
Studies13
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.