Zechariah 14:17 BSB

Zechariah 14:17

And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And it shall be, that whoso of all the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

KJV

And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

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Commentary

3 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Zechariah (420)

(Verse 17) And it shall be that those who do not go up from the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. LXX: And it shall be that those who do not go up from the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, there will be consequences for them.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

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.

Voices on this verse

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Hebraic traditional view

The feast with a future

Of all the feasts, Zechariah gives Tabernacles (Sukkot, the autumn booth-feast) the widest horizon: the surviving nations come up to Jerusalem year by year to keep it. The sages noticed the feast's reach toward the nations from the Torah itself: the seventy bulls offered across Sukkot's seven days (Numbers 29) were read in the Talmud as offerings on behalf of the seventy nations of the world (Sukkah 55b). The feast Israel keeps in a backyard booth carries, in both Testaments' reception, the whole world in view.

Sources: Sukkah 55b (the seventy bulls for the seventy nations) · Numbers 29:12–34 (the seventy bulls, counted)

Original language & word study

17 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְ֠הָיָה	Ve.ha.yah	and it will be	H1961 →
אֲשֶׁ֨ר	'a.Sher	[one] who	H834 →
לֹֽא־	lo'-	not	H3808 →
יַעֲלֶ֜ה	ya.'a.Leh	he will go up	H5927 →
מֵאֵ֨ת	me.'Et	from with	H854 →
מִשְׁפְּח֤וֹת	mish.pe.Chot	[the] clans of	H4940 →
הָאָ֙רֶץ֙	ha.'A.retz	the earth	H776 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם	ye.Ru.sha.Lim	Jerusalem	H3389 →
לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֹ֔ת	le.hish.ta.cha.Vot	to bow down	H7812 →
לְמֶ֖לֶךְ	le.Me.lekh	to [the] king	H4428 →
יְהוָ֣ה	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
צְבָא֑וֹת	tze.va.'ot	of hosts	H6635 →
וְלֹ֥א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם	'a.lei.Hem	on them	H5921 →
יִהְיֶ֥ה	yih.Yeh	it will be	H1961 →
הַגָּֽשֶׁם׃	ha.Ga.shem	<the> rain	H1653 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

H4940mishpechot[the] clans of303×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
James 5:17
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
leads to
- 1 Kings 17:1
  Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in…
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Luke 4:25
  But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all…
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- 1 Kings 18:1
  After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of…
- Revelation 11:6
  These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with…
- Acts 14:15
  “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made…
Through
Isaiah 60:12
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly destroyed.
leads to
- Isaiah 54:15
  If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you.
- Zechariah 14:12–19
  And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in…
Through
Jeremiah 14:4
The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
leads to
- Joel 1:11
  Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.