Zechariah 9
Authorized (King James) Version
9 The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus shall be the rest thereof:
when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord.
2 And Hamath also shall border thereby;
Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold,
and heaped up silver as the dust,
and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out,
and he will smite her power in the sea;
and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear;
Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful,
and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed;
and the king shall perish from Gaza,
and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth,
and his abominations from between his teeth:
but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God,
and he shall be as a governor in Judah,
and Ekron as a Jebusite.
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army,
because of him that passeth by,
and because of him that returneth:
and no oppressor shall pass through them any more:
for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold, thy King cometh unto thee:
he is just, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow shall be cut off:
and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:
and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea,
and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant
I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope:
even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
13 when I have bent Judah for me,
filled the bow with Ephraim,
and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece,
and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
14 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.
15 The Lord of hosts shall defend them;
and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones;
and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine;
and they shall be filled like bowls,
and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the Lord their God shall save them in that day
as the flock of his people:
for they shall be as the stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness,
and how great is his beauty!
corn shall make the young men cheerful,
and new wine the maids.
Zechariah 9
New Living Translation
Judgment against Israel’s Enemies
9 This is the message[a] from the Lord against the land of Aram[b] and the city of Damascus, for the eyes of humanity, including all the tribes of Israel, are on the Lord.
2 Doom is certain for Hamath,
near Damascus,
and for the cities of Tyre and Sidon,
though they are so clever.
3 Tyre has built a strong fortress
and has made silver and gold
as plentiful as dust in the streets!
4 But now the Lord will strip away Tyre’s possessions
and hurl its fortifications into the sea,
and it will be burned to the ground.
5 The city of Ashkelon will see Tyre fall
and will be filled with fear.
Gaza will shake with terror,
as will Ekron, for their hopes will be dashed.
Gaza’s king will be killed,
and Ashkelon will be deserted.
6 Foreigners will occupy the city of Ashdod.
I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will grab the bloody meat from their mouths
and snatch the detestable sacrifices from their teeth.
Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God
and become like a clan in Judah.[c]
The Philistines of Ekron will join my people,
as the ancient Jebusites once did.
8 I will guard my Temple
and protect it from invading armies.
I am watching closely to ensure
that no more foreign oppressors overrun my people’s land.
Zion’s Coming King
9 Rejoice, O people of Zion![d]
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,[e]
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
10 I will remove the battle chariots from Israel[f]
and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
and from the Euphrates River[g] to the ends of the earth.[h]
11 Because of the covenant I made with you,
sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
from death in a waterless dungeon.
12 Come back to the place of safety,
all you prisoners who still have hope!
I promise this very day
that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.
13 Judah is my bow,
and Israel is my arrow.
Jerusalem[i] is my sword,
and like a warrior, I will brandish it against the Greeks.[j]
14 The Lord will appear above his people;
his arrows will fly like lightning!
The Sovereign Lord will sound the ram’s horn
and attack like a whirlwind from the southern desert.
15 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect his people,
and they will defeat their enemies by hurling great stones.
They will shout in battle as though drunk with wine.
They will be filled with blood like a bowl,
drenched with blood like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people,
just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
17 How wonderful and beautiful they will be!
The young men will thrive on abundant grain,
and the young women will flourish on new wine.
Footnotes
- 9:1a Hebrew An Oracle: The message.
- 9:1b Hebrew land of Hadrach.
- 9:7 Hebrew like a leader in Judah.
- 9:9a Hebrew O daughter of Zion!
- 9:9b Hebrew and is being vindicated.
- 9:10a Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:13.
- 9:10b Hebrew the river.
- 9:10c Or the end of the land.
- 9:13a Hebrew Zion.
- 9:13b Hebrew the sons of Javan.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
