Zechariah 14:18 BSB

Zechariah 14:18

And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, neither shall it be upon them; there shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

KJV

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

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Commentary

2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

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.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

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.

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

23 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וְאִם־	ve.'im-	and if	H518 →
מִשְׁפַּ֨חַת	mish.Pa.chat	[the] clan of	H4940 →
מִצְרַ֧יִם	mitz.Ra.yim	Egypt	H4714 →
לֹֽא־	lo'-	not	H3808 →
תַעֲלֶ֛ה	ta.'a.Leh	it will go up	H5927 →
וְלֹ֥א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
בָאָ֖ה	va.'Ah	[is] going	H935 →
וְלֹ֣א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם	'a.lei.Hem	on them	H5921 →
תִּֽהְיֶ֣ה	tih.Yeh	it will be	H1961 →
הַמַּגֵּפָ֗ה	ha.ma.ge.Fah	the plague	H4046 →
אֲשֶׁ֨ר	'a.Sher	which	H834 →
יִגֹּ֤ף	yi.Gof	he will strike	H5062 →
יְהוָה֙	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הַגּוֹיִ֔ם	ha.go.Yim	the nations	H1471 →
אֲשֶׁר֙	'a.Sher	which	H834 →
לֹ֣א	lo'	not	H3808 →
יַֽעֲל֔וּ	ya.'a.Lu	they will go up	H5927 →
לָחֹ֖ג	la.Chog	to celebrate a festival	H2287 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
חַ֥ג	chag	[the] festival of	H2282 →
הַסֻּכּֽוֹת׃	ha.su.Kot	<the> Tabernacles	H5521 →

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

The walk

The walk6

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
Zechariah 14:12
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…
leads to
- Ezekiel 39:17–20
  And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all…
- Isaiah 66:15–16
  For 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.
- Micah 4:11–13
  But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”
- Psalms 110:5–6
  The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.
- Psalms 90:11
  Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.
Through
Zechariah 14:15
And a similar plague will strike the horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
leads to
- Zechariah 14:12
  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…