Zechariah 14
New King James Version
The Day of the Lord(A)
14 Behold, (B)the day of the Lord is coming,
And your [a]spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For (C)I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses [b]rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand (D)on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
(E)Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the (F)earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The [d]lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day
(I)Which is known to the Lord—
Neither day nor night.
But at (J)evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.
8 And in that day it shall be
That living (K)waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward [e]the eastern sea
And half of them toward [f]the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
9 And the Lord shall be (L)King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
(M)“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.
10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. [g]Jerusalem shall be raised up and (N)inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, (O)and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
11 The people shall dwell in it;
And (P)no longer shall there be utter destruction,
(Q)But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:
Their flesh shall [h]dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
13 It shall come to pass in that day
That (R)a great panic from the Lord will be among them.
Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,
And raise (S)his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.
(T)And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
Shall be gathered together:
Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
15 (U)Such also shall be the plague
On the horse and the mule,
On the camel and the donkey,
And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.
So shall this plague be.
The Nations Worship the King
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall (V)go up from year to year to (W)worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep (X)the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 (Y)And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of (Z)Egypt will not come up and enter in, (AA)they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This shall be the [i]punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
20 In that day (AB)“HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The (AC)pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, [j]every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a (AD)Canaanite (AE)in the house of the Lord of hosts.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 14:1 plunder or booty
- Zechariah 14:2 Or plundered
- Zechariah 14:5 Or you; LXX, Tg., Vg. Him
- Zechariah 14:6 Lit. glorious ones
- Zechariah 14:8 The Dead Sea
- Zechariah 14:8 The Mediterranean Sea
- Zechariah 14:10 Lit. She
- Zechariah 14:12 Lit. decay
- Zechariah 14:19 Lit. sin
- Zechariah 14:21 Or on every pot . . . shall be engraved “HOLINESS TO THE LORD OF HOSTS”
Zechariah 14
Lexham English Bible
Zechariah’s Apocalyptic Vision
14 Look! A day is coming for Yahweh, when your plunder will be divided in your midst. 2 I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, like when he fights[a] on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,[b] which faces Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives[c] will be split in half,[d] from east to west, by a very great valley; and half of the mountain will withdraw toward the north, and the other half toward the south. 5 And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, because the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.[e]
6 And then[f] on that day there will not be light,[g] the precious things will congeal.[h] 7 There shall be continuous day—it is known to Yahweh—not day and not night; and at evening time there will be light.
8 And then[i] on that day, living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea,[j] and the other half to the western sea;[k] it will happen both in the summer and in the winter. 9 And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be one and his name one. 10 All the land will be transformed into a desert plateau[l] from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But it[m] will rise up high and it will stay[n] in its place from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, up to the Corner Gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And they[o] will dwell in it, and there will be no more ban imposed,[p] and Jerusalem will dwell in security.
12 And this will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples that fight against Jerusalem: their[q] flesh will rot while they[r] are standing on their[s] feet; their[t] eyes will rot in their sockets, and their[u] tongues[v] will rot in their mouths.[w] 13 And then[x] on that day a great panic from Yahweh will fall[y] on them, and they will seize one another’s hand,[z] and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of another.[aa] 14 And Judah also will fight at[ab] Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—gold and silver, and garments in great abundance.[ac] 15 Like this plague[ad] will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, and the donkey, and every kind of animal in those camps.
16 And then[ae] every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year[af] to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths.[ag] 17 And then[ah] whoever of the clans of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, it will not rain on them. 18 And if the clan of Egypt will not go up and come in, on them will be that plague Yahweh inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
20 On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to Yahweh.” And the cooking pots in the house[ai] of Yahweh will be holy like the sacrificial basins[aj] before the altar. 21 And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts, and all those who sacrifice will come and will take from them, and will cook in them, and there will be no longer a trader[ak] in the house[al] of Yahweh of hosts on that day.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 14:3 Literally “the day of his fighting”
- Zechariah 14:4 Literally “the mountain of the olive trees”
- Zechariah 14:4 Literally “the mountain of the olive trees”
- Zechariah 14:4 Literally “from its half”
- Zechariah 14:5 Hebrew “you”; LXX has “him”
- Zechariah 14:6 Literally “And it will happen”
- Zechariah 14:6 Some suggest reading “flame” (= “heat”) here
- Zechariah 14:6 Or “the noble ones will congeal”; the Hebrew is difficult here
- Zechariah 14:8 Literally “And it will happen”
- Zechariah 14:8 That is, the Dead Sea
- Zechariah 14:8 That is, the Mediterranean Sea
- Zechariah 14:10 Or “will be changed like the Arabah”
- Zechariah 14:10 That is, Jerusalem
- Zechariah 14:10 Or “remain”
- Zechariah 14:11 That is, the people
- Zechariah 14:11 Literally “and there will not be a thing devoted to destruction” (that is, put under the ban of utter destruction)
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “his”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “he”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “his”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “his”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “his”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “tongue”
- Zechariah 14:12 Hebrew “mouth”
- Zechariah 14:13 Literally “And it will happen”
- Zechariah 14:13 Hebrew “will be”
- Zechariah 14:13 Literally “and a man will seize the hand of his neighbor”
- Zechariah 14:13 Literally “his neighbor”
- Zechariah 14:14 Or “against” (so NAB, CEV)
- Zechariah 14:14 Literally “as far as the very multitude”
- Zechariah 14:15 Literally “And so”
- Zechariah 14:16 Literally “And it will happen”
- Zechariah 14:16 Or “from year to year”; or “yearly”
- Zechariah 14:16 That is, Succoth (or Tabernacles)
- Zechariah 14:17 Literally “And it will happen”
- Zechariah 14:20 Or “temple”
- Zechariah 14:20 That is, the ceremonial bowls used by the priests for sprinkling blood
- Zechariah 14:21 Literally “Canaanite” (Canaanites, especially Phoenicians, were merchants and traders)
- Zechariah 14:21 Or “temple”
Zechariah 14
EasyEnglish Bible
The Lord comes
14 There will be a day when your enemies will take away everything. They will take away everything that is yours. They will each have some of your things.
2 I will bring soldiers from all countries to fight against Jerusalem. They will go into the city and they will rob the houses. They will have sex with the women. They will lead away half the people to other countries. They will let the other half stay in Jerusalem.
3 Then the Lord will go out. And he will fight against the people from those countries as in past years.
4 On that day, the Lord's feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. This mountain is east of Jerusalem. It will break in two from east to west and it will make a wide valley. Half of the mountain will move north and half of the mountain will move south.
5 In the time of Uzziah, king of Judah, you ran away when the earth moved. You will do this again. Then the Lord will come. And all those who are holy will come with him.[a]
6 On that day, it will not be light in some places and dark in other places.
7 It will be a day like no other day. There will be no night. When it is evening, there will still be light. Only the Lord himself will know that day.
8 On that day, water will come out from Jerusalem. Half of this water will go towards the sea in the east. Half of this water will go towards the sea in the west. This will go on during summer and winter.
9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day, there will be only one Lord and he will have only one name.
10 All the land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become flat. But Jerusalem will rise and it will be high in its place. The city will be from the Gate of Benjamin to the Corner Gate and to the High Building of Hananel. The place where the servants of the king make his wine will be in it too.
11 Jerusalem will be safe. People will live there. Nobody will destroy Jerusalem ever again.
12 The Lord will make the people sick that fought against Jerusalem. Their bodies will become bad as they stand on their feet. Their eyes will become bad and they will fall out. And their tongues will become bad in their mouths.
13 On that day, the Lord will make men so afraid that each man will attack the man next to him.
14 Judah also will go to Jerusalem and they will fight. They will take every good thing from all the countries. There will be a lot of expensive metals and many rich clothes.
15 The horses and all the other animals will be sick. And they will die as the soldiers died.
16 Some of the soldiers from the countries that attacked Jerusalem will not die. They will go to Jerusalem year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty. They will worship him at the Feast of Huts.[b]
17 All the people on the earth will have to go to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty. If any people on the earth do not go, they will have no rain.
18 If the people from Egypt do not go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, they will have no rain. And the Lord will make them sick. If the people from other countries will not go to Jerusalem, the Lord will make them sick. They will die.
19 This will happen to the people from Egypt. This will happen to the people from all the countries that do not go up to Jerusalem at that time.
20 On that day, men will write the words, ‘This is for the Lord’ on the bells of the horses. The pots that anyone uses to cook with in the house of the Lord will be special. They will be as special as the dishes in front of the altar.
21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be for the Lord Almighty. All the people who come to offer animals to the Lord will cook in those pots. On that day, nobody who sells things will come into the house of the Lord Almighty.
Footnotes
- 14:5 We are not sure what ‘those who are holy’ means. Some students think that these are people. And some students think that they are angels.
- 14:16 During the Feast of Huts, the Jews remember that the Lord was kind to his people when they left Egypt many years ago. See Leviticus 23:34.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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