זכריה ט

A pronouncement: The word of GOD.
[God] will reside in the land of Hadrach and Damascus;
For mortals will turn their eyes to GOD—
Like all the tribes of Israel—

Including Hamath, which borders on that land,
And Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

Tyre has built herself a fortress;
She has amassed silver like dust,
And gold like the mud in the streets.

But my Sovereign will impoverish her;
Her forces shall be defeated at sea,
And she herself shall be consumed by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and be frightened,
Gaza shall tremble violently,
And Ekron, at the collapse of her hopes.
Kingship shall vanish from Gaza,
Ashkelon shall be without inhabitants,

And a mongrel people; cf. note at Deut. 23.3. shall settle in Ashdod.
I will uproot the grandeur of Philistia.

But I will clean out the blood from its mouth,
And the detestable things from between its teeth.
Its survivors, too, shall belong to our God:
They shall become like a clan in Judah,
And Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

And I will encamp in My House against armies,
Against any that come and go,
And no oppressor shall ever overrun them again;
For I have now taken note with My own eyes.

Rejoice greatly, Fair Zion;
Raise a shout, Fair Jerusalem!
Lo, your king is coming to you.
He is victorious, triumphant,
Yet humble, riding on a donkey,
On a jackass foaled by a jenny.

He shall banish chariots from Ephraim
And horses from Jerusalem;
The warrior’s bow shall be banished.
He shall call on the nations to surrender,
And his rule shall extend from sea to sea
And from ocean to land’s end.

You, for your part, have released as a second-person singular feminine form, with Septuagint; cf. Judg. 5.7 with note.
Your prisoners from the dry pit, in Heb.).
For the sake of the blood of your covenant,

[Saying], “Return to Bizzaron,).
You prisoners of hope.”
In return [I] announce this day:
I will repay you double.

For I have drawn Judah taut,
And applied [My hand] to Ephraim as to a bow,
And I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
Against your sons, O Javan,
And make you like a warrior’s sword.

And GOD will be made manifest to Judah,
With arrows that flash like lightning;
My Sovereign GOD shall sound the ram’s horn
And advance in a stormy tempest. in the sense of wind, cf. Job 9.9; 39.26.

GOD of Hosts will protect them
With slingstones that devour and conquer;
They shall drink, shall rage as with wine,
And be filled [with it] like a dashing bowl,
Like the corners of an altar.

The ETERNAL their God shall make them prosper
On that day,
[Pasturing] this covenanted people like sheep.
[They shall be] like crown jewels glittering on God’s soil.

How lovely, how beautiful they shall be,
Producing young men like new grain,
Young women like new wine!