Zechariah 9:14
in Zechariah 9Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah shall be seen over them; and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.
KJV
And 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.
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This verse in Zechariah 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 14) And the Lord God will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning, and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and He will go in the whirlwind of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them. LXX: And the Lord God will appear over them; and He will go forth like a lightning arrow: and the Lord God Almighty will sound the trumpet, and He will go in the commotion of His terror. The Lord Almighty will protect them.
This site's exposition
raised up thy sons, O Zion
on Zechariah 9:13-17
Judah bent as the bow and Ephraim as its arrow, and thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece: the readings are named, the Maccabean victories over the Seleucid Greeks as the near horizon most of the bench gives, and the wider day-of-the-Lord horizon others hear, positions with holders and no verdict. The Lord seen over them, the arrow as lightning, the trumpet blown: the theophany fights for the sons it armed. The close turns from war to harvest, the flock saved in that day as the stones of a crown lifted as an ensign, and the last line is pure delight, for how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty, corn and new wine cheering the young, the oracle ending at a table rather than a battlefield.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): The Lord shall be seen over them; he shall make it appear that he presides in their affairs, and that in all their motions they are under his direction, as apparently, though not as sensibly, as he was seen over Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire when he led them through the wilderness. [1.] Is their army to be raised, or mustered, and brought into the field?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Shall be seen - Shall manifestly appear for them. His arrow - His judgments, swift, irresistible, and sudden. As the lightning - Which breaks forth with violence, and runs from east to west in a moment.
And the Lord shall be seen over them,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The Lord shall be seen over them - Shadowing and refreshing them, as the cloud did the camp in the wilderness. His arrow shall go forth as the lightning - They shall be conquered in a way that will show that God fights for his followers. The description here is very sublime; we have a good imitation of it in Nonnus: - Και τοτε γαιαν ἁπασαν επεκλυσεν ὑετιος Ζευς, Πυκνωσας νεφεεσσιν ὁλον πολον· ουρανιη γαρ Βρονταιοις παταγοισι Διος μυκησατο σαλπιγξ. Nonn. Dionys., lib.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And the Lord shall be seen over them - o “He will reveal himself,” protecting them. Cyril: “He says plainly, that the Lord God will be with them and will fight in serried array with them and will with them subdue those who resist them.” It is as if he would say, “When they go forth and preach everywhere, the Lord shall work with them and confirm the word with signs following” Mar 16:20. “And His arrow shall go forth as the lightning.” Habakkuk directly calls the lightnings the arrows of God: “at the light of Thine arrows they went” . Here it is probably of an invisible agency, and so compared to that awful symbol of His presence, the lightning. And the Lord God shall blow with the trumpet - As their Commander, ordering their goings. The blowing of the trumpet by the priests in war was commanded, as a reminiscence of themselves before God, “If ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies” Num 10:9. Abijah said, “God Himself is with us for our captain, and His priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you” 2Ch 13:12. And shall go with whirlwinds of the south - As being the most vehement and destructive. So Isaiah, “As whirlwinds in the south sweep by, He cometh from a desert, from a terrible land” Isa 21:1. Such smote the four corners of the house where Job’s children were , and they perished.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And the Lord shall appear over them In the book of Josippon (chap. 18), we find that at that time a sign appeared to the people of Jerusalem.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For I bend Judah for Me Eventually, the Greeks will wrest the kingdom from the Persian kings and inflict harm upon you, and I will bend Judah to be a war bow for me; and Judah will wage war against the Greeks in the days of the Hasmoneans.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיהוָה֙ | vayahweh | and Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶ֣ם | ʾaleihem | over them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יֵֽרָאֶ֔ה | yeraeh | he will appear | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וְיָצָ֥א | veyatza' | and it will go forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| כַבָּרָ֖ק | khabarak | like <the> lightning | H1300 → | |
| חִצּ֑וֹ | chitzo | arrow his | H2671 → | |
| וַֽאדֹנָ֤י | vadonai | and [the] Lord | H136 → | |
| יְהֹוִה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | |
| בַּשּׁוֹפָ֣ר | bashofar | on the ram's horn | H7782 → | |
| יִתְקָ֔ע | yitka' | he will give a blast | H8628 → | |
| וְהָלַ֖ךְ | vehalakh | and he will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| בְּסַעֲר֥וֹת | besaarot | in [the] storm winds of | H5591 → | |
| תֵּימָֽן׃ | teiman | [the] south | H8486 → |
וַֽיהוָה֙and Yahweh
vayahwehH3068 →6520 times
עֲלֵיהֶ֣םover them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
יֵֽרָאֶ֔הhe will appear
yeraehH7200 →1300 times
וְיָצָ֥אand it will go forth
veyatza'H3318 →1067 times
כַבָּרָ֖קlike <the> lightning
khabarakH1300 →
חִצּ֑וֹarrow his
chitzoH2671 →
וַֽאדֹנָ֤יand [the] Lord
vadonaiH136 →
יְהֹוִה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3069 →
בַּשּׁוֹפָ֣רon the ram's horn
bashofarH7782 →
יִתְקָ֔עhe will give a blast
yitka'H8628 →
וְהָלַ֖ךְand he will go
vehalakhH1980 →1546 times
בְּסַעֲר֥וֹתin [the] storm winds of
besaarotH5591 →
תֵּימָֽן׃[the] south
teimanH8486 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Zechariah 2:5For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’”
it leads to
- Isaiah 4:5
Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there…
- Psalms 3:3
But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.
- Zechariah 9:8
But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of those who march to and fro, and never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I keep watch with…
- Isaiah 60:18–19
No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. But you will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
- Revelation 21:23
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.
- Isaiah 4:5
Through
Isaiah 66:15For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:33
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a…
- 2 Peter 3:10–12
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6–9
After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
- Isaiah 30:33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zechariah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.