Zechariah 9

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

9 An Oracle

The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
    and will rest upon Damascus.
For to the Lord belong the cities of Aram,^[a]
    even as all the tribes of Israel;
²Hamath also, which borders thereon,
    Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
³Tyre has built herself a rampart,
    and heaped up silver like dust,
    and gold like the mud of the streets.
⁴But lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
    and hurl her wealth into the sea,
    and she shall be devoured by fire.

⁵Ash′kelon shall see it, and be afraid;
    Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ash′kelon shall be uninhabited;
⁶a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod;
    and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.
⁷I will take away its blood from its mouth,
    and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
    it shall be like a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron shall be like the Jeb′usites.
⁸Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
    so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again overrun them,
    for now I see with my own eyes.

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
    triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on an ass,
    on a colt the foal of an ass.
¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from E′phraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.
¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.
¹³For I have bent Judah as my bow;
    I have made E′phraim its arrow.
I will brandish your sons, O Zion,
    over your sons, O Greece,
    and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord will appear over them,
    and his arrow go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet,
    and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
¹⁵The Lord of hosts will protect them,
    and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;^[b]
and they shall drink their blood^[c] like wine,
    and be full like a bowl,
    drenched like the corners of the altar.

¹⁶On that day the Lord their God will save them
    for they are the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
    they shall shine on his land.
¹⁷Yea, how good and how fair it shall be!
    Grain shall make the young men flourish,
    and new wine the maidens.

Footnotes

Zechariah 9:1 Cn: Heb the eye of Adam (or man)
Zechariah 9:15 Cn: Heb the slingstones
Zechariah 9:15 Gk: Heb be turbulent

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.