After the persecutions of the church shall follow great prosperity. Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all that will not serve God in his church.

¹ Behold, the days of the Lord will arrive, and your spoils will be divided in your midst.

² And I will gather all the Gentiles in battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, and the houses will be ravaged, and the women will be violated. And the central part of the city will go forth into captivity, and the remainder of the people will not be taken away from the city.¹²

1. 14:2The ‘Gentiles’ in the context of the Church today, refers to unbelievers, not to non-Jews. The ‘central part of the city’ could also be translated as ‘half of the city,’ (but half in the looser sense, not a literal one half).(Conte)
2. 14:2I will gather, etc: This seems to be a prophecy of what was done by Antiochus.(Challoner)

³ Then the Lord will go forth, and he will fight against those Gentiles, just as when he fought in the day of conflict.

⁴ And his feet will stand firm, in that day, upon the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem towards the East. And the mount of Olives will be divided down its center part, towards the East and towards the West, with a very great rupture, and the center of the mountain will be separated towards the North, and its center towards the Meridian.¹

1. 14:4The ‘center’ could also be translated as ‘half.’ The ‘Meridian’ is often translated as ‘South,’ but this is a less accurate translation, because there is another word in Latin ‘Auster,’ that means ‘South.’ Words for direction, when used to refer to a region rather than a mere direction, are capitalized, e.g.: travel south for many days, and then you will enter the land of the South.(Conte)

⁵ And you will flee to the valley of those mountains, because the valley of the mountains will be joined all the way to the next. And you will flee, just as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the Lord my God will arrive, and all the saints with him.

⁶ And this shall be in that day: there will not be light, only cold and frost.¹

1. 14:6No light: Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.(Challoner)

⁷ And there will be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day and not night. And in the time of the evening, there will be light.¹

1. 14:7In the time of the evening there shall be light: An unexpected light shall arise by the means of the Machabees, when things shall seem to be at the worst.(Challoner)

⁸ And this shall be in that day: the living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them towards the East sea, and half of them towards the furthest sea. They will be in summer and in winter.¹

1. 14:8Living waters: Viz., the gospel of Christ.(Challoner)

⁹ And the Lord will be King over all the earth. In that day, there will be one Lord, and his name will be one.

¹⁰ And all the land will return even to the desert, from the hill of Rimmon to the South of Jerusalem. And she will be exalted, and she will dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners, and from the tower of Hananel even to the pressing room of the king.¹²

1. 14:10The word ‘torcularia’ refers to a winepress or an oil press or a pressing room.(Conte)
2. 14:10All the land shall return, etc: This, in some measure, was verified by the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema of destruction, or God’s curse.(Challoner)

¹¹ And they will dwell in it, and there will be no further anathema, but Jerusalem shall sit securely.

¹² And this will be the plague by which the Lord will strike all the Gentiles that have fought against Jerusalem. The flesh of each one will waste away while they are standing on their feet, and their eyes will be consumed in their sockets, and their tongue will be consumed in their mouth.¹²

1. 14:12Compare the verb ‘tabescet’ to the verb ‘contabescent;’ the latter has the prefix ‘con’ which intensifies the verb. Their flesh wastes away, but not completely. Their eyes and tongue completely waste away.(Conte)
2. 14:12The flesh of every one shall consume, etc: Such judgments as these have often fallen upon the persecutors of God’s church, as appears by many instances in history.(Challoner)

¹³ In that day, there will be a great tumult from the Lord among them. And a man will take the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will be clasped upon the hand of his neighbor.

¹⁴ And even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. And the riches of all the Gentiles will be gathered together around them: gold, and silver, and more than enough garments.¹

1. 14:14Even Juda, etc: The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join in persecuting the church.(Challoner)

¹⁵ And, like the ruin of the horse, and the mule, and the camel, and the donkey, and all the beasts of burden, which will have been in those encampments, so will be this ruination.¹²

1. 14:15The word ‘castris’ often has a military connotation, as in a military encampment. The ruin of beast of burden, in the modern context, probably refers to the ruin of machinery (the modern-day beasts of burden), including the machinery used by the military.(Conte)
2. 14:15Shall be like this destruction: That is, the beasts shall be destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their leaders.(Challoner)

¹⁶ And all those who will be the remnant of all the Gentiles that came against Jerusalem, will go up, from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.¹²

1. 14:16They that shall be left, etc: That is, many of them that persecuted the church shall be converted to its faith and communion.(Challoner)
2. 14:16To keep the feast of tabernacles: This feast was kept by the Jews in memory of their sojourning forty years in the desert, in their way to the land of promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all such Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are continually advancing toward their true home, the heavenly Jerusalem; by the help of the sacraments and sacrifice of the church. And they that neglect this must not look for the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to their souls.(Challoner)

¹⁷ And this shall be: whoever will not go up, from the families of the earth to Jerusalem, so as to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no showers upon them.

¹⁸ But if even the family of Egypt will go not up, nor approach, neither will it be upon them, but there will be ruin, by which the Lord will strike all the Gentiles, who will not go up to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.

¹⁹ This will be the sin of Egypt, and this will be the sin of all the Gentiles, who will not go up to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.

²⁰ In that day, that which is on the bridle of the horse will be holy to the Lord. And even the cooking pots in the house of the Lord will be like holy vessels before the altar.¹²

1. 14:20The word ‘lebetes’ refers to a kettle or a cooking pot or a sink or a wash basin. Clearly, this word refers to common vessels, not to holy containers used on an altar. Yet even these will be considered holy.(Conte)
2. 14:20That which is upon the bridle, etc: The golden ornaments of the bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in the house of God. And there shall be an abundance of caldrons and phials for the sacrifices of the temple; by which is meant, under a figure, the great resort there shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ, and her sacrifice.(Challoner)

The Prophecy of Zechariah

²¹ And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be sanctified to the Lord of hosts. And all those who make sacrifices will come and take from them, and will cook with them. And the merchant will no longer be in the house of the Lord of hosts, in that day.¹

1. 14:21The merchant shall be no more, etc: Or, as some render it, The Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the profane and unbelievers shall have no title to be in the house of the Lord. Or there shall be no occasion for buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the temple.(Challoner)