Zechariah’s Apocalyptic Vision

¹ 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⌟¹ on a day of battle.

1. Literally “the day of his fighting”

⁴ On that day his feet will stand on ⌞the Mount of Olives⌟,¹ which faces Jerusalem on the east; and ⌞the Mount of Olives⌟² will be split ⌞in half⌟,³ 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.

1. Literally “the mountain of the olive trees”
2. Literally “the mountain of the olive trees”
3. Literally “from its half”

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.¹

1. Hebrew “you”; LXX has “him”

⁶ ⌞And then⌟¹ on that day there will not be light,² the precious things will congeal.³

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Some suggest reading “flame” (= “heat”) here
3. Or “the noble ones will congeal”; the Hebrew is difficult here

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⌟¹ on that day, living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea,² and the other half to the western sea;³ it will happen both in the summer and in the winter.

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. That is, the Dead Sea
3. That is, the Mediterranean Sea

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 plateau¹ from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But it² will rise up high and it will stay³ 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.

1. Or “will be changed like the Arabah”
2. That is, Jerusalem
3. Or “remain”

¹¹ And they¹ will dwell in it, and ⌞there will be no more ban imposed⌟,² and Jerusalem will dwell in security.

1. That is, the people
2. Literally “and there will not be a thing devoted to destruction” (that is, put under the ban of utter destruction)

¹² And this will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples that fight against Jerusalem: their¹ flesh will rot while they² are standing on their³ feet; their⁴ eyes will rot in their sockets, and their⁵ tongues⁶ will rot in their mouths.⁷

1. Hebrew “his”
2. Hebrew “he”
3. Hebrew “his”
4. Hebrew “his”
5. Hebrew “his”
6. Hebrew “tongue”
7. Hebrew “mouth”

¹³ ⌞And then⌟¹ on that day a great panic from Yahweh will fall² on them, and ⌞they will seize one another’s hand⌟,³ and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of ⌞another⌟.⁴

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Hebrew “will be”
3. Literally “and a man will seize the hand of his neighbor”
4. Literally “his neighbor”

¹⁴ And Judah also will fight at¹ Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—gold and silver, and garments ⌞in great abundance⌟.²

1. Or “against” (so NAB, CEV)
2. Literally “as far as the very multitude”

¹⁵ ⌞Like this plague⌟¹ will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, and the donkey, and every kind of animal in those camps.

1. Literally “And so”

¹⁶ ⌞And then⌟¹ every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year² to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths.³

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Or “from year to year”; or “yearly”
3. That is, Succoth (or Tabernacles)

¹⁷ ⌞And then⌟¹ 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.

1. Literally “And it will happen”

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 house¹ of Yahweh will be holy like the sacrificial basins² before the altar.

1. Or “temple”
2. That is, the ceremonial bowls used by the priests for sprinkling blood

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⌟¹ in the house² of Yahweh of hosts on that day.

1. Literally “Canaanite” (Canaanites, especially Phoenicians, were merchants and traders)
2. Or “temple”