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The Lord Will Be King Over the Whole Earth

14 The day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem. At that time your enemies will steal everything your people own. They will divide it up within your walls.

The Lord will gather all the nations together. They will fight against Jerusalem. They’ll capture the city. Its houses will be robbed. Its women will be raped. Half of the people will be taken away as prisoners. But the rest of them won’t be taken. Then the Lord will march out and fight against those nations. He will fight as on a day of battle. On that day he will stand on the Mount of Olives. It’s east of Jerusalem. It will be split in two from east to west. Half of the mountain will move north. The other half will move south. A large valley will be formed. The people will run away through that mountain valley. It will reach all the way to Azel. They’ll run away just as they ran from the earthquake when Uzziah was king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come. All the holy ones will come with him.

There won’t be any sunlight on that day. There will be no cold, frosty darkness either. It will be a day unlike any other. It will be a day known only to the Lord. It won’t be separated into day and night. After that day is over, there will be light again.

At that time water that gives life will flow out from Jerusalem. Half of it will run east into the Dead Sea. The other half will go west to the Mediterranean Sea. The water will flow in summer and winter.

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord. His name will be the only name.

10 The whole land south of Jerusalem will be changed. From Geba to Rimmon it will become like the Arabah Valley. But Jerusalem will be raised up high. It will be raised from the Benjamin Gate to the First Gate to the Corner Gate. It will be raised from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. And it will remain in its place. 11 People will live in it. Jerusalem will never be destroyed again. It will be secure.

12 The Lord will punish all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. He’ll strike them with a plague. It will make their bodies rot while they are still standing on their feet. Their eyes will rot in their heads. Their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day the Lord will fill people with great panic. They will grab one another by the hand. And they’ll attack one another. 14 Judah will also fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected. Huge amounts of gold, silver and clothes will be gathered up. 15 The same kind of plague will strike the horses, mules, camels and donkeys. In fact, it will strike all the animals in the army camps.

16 But some people from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will still be left alive. All of them will go up there to worship the King. He is the Lord who rules over all. Year after year these people will celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 Some nations might not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King. If they don’t, they won’t have any rain. 18 The people of Egypt might not go up there to take part. Then they won’t have any rain either. That’s the plague the Lord will send on the nations that don’t go to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 Egypt will be punished. So will all the other nations that don’t celebrate the feast.

20 On that day “Holy to the Lord” will be carved on the bells of the horses. The cooking pots in the Lord’s temple will be just like the sacred bowls in front of the altar for burnt offerings. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be set apart to the Lord. All those who come to offer sacrifices will get some of the pots and cook in them. At that time there won’t be any Canaanites in the Lord’s temple. He is the Lord who rules over all.

God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Foes

14 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you (Jerusalem) will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured and the houses plundered and the women ravished; and half of the city will be exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from the east to the west by a very large valley, and half of the mountain will move toward the north and half of it toward the south.(A) You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; and you will flee just as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my [a]God will come, and all the holy ones (believers, angels) with Him.(B)

In that day there will be no light; the glorious ones (heavenly bodies) shall be darkened. But it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord—not day and not night, but at evening time there will be light.

And in that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea (Dead Sea) and half of them to the western sea (the Mediterranean); it will be in summer as well as in winter.

God Will Be King over All

And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be the only one [worshiped], and His name the only one.

10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon, [the Rimmon that is] south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain [lifted up] on its site from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 It will be inhabited, for there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.(C)

12 Now this will be the plague with which the Lord shall strike all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 In that day a great panic and dismay from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together—gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15 So like this plague [on men] there will be the plague on the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the livestock in those camps.

16 Then everyone who is left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of Egypt does not go up [to Jerusalem] and present themselves, then no rain will fall on them. It will be the plague with which the Lord will strike the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 19 This will be the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of Egypt, and the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles).

20 In that day there will be written on the little bells on the horses, “[b]HOLY TO The Lord.” And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be [holy to the Lord] like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in [all the houses in] Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take them and boil [their sacrifices] in them. And in that day there will no longer be a Canaanite [that is, any godless or spiritually unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts.(D)

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 14:5 The second coming of Christ to the earth is taught many times in Scripture. See Deut 30:3; Zech 14:3, 4; Matt 16:27; 24:3-14, 27, 36-39; 25:31, 32; 26:64; Luke 21:25-28; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor 1:7, 8; 4:5; 1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 4:1; Titus 2:13; Heb 9:28; 1 John 2:28; Rev 3:11; 16:15; 22:7, 20.
  2. Zechariah 14:20 What had previously been reserved for the most sacred occasions now will adorn common objects, thus eliminating the difference between the sacred and the secular.