The threatenings of the Gentiles. 9 The coming of Christ.

The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of [a]Hadrach: and Damascus shall be his [b]rest: when the [c]eyes of man, even of all the tribes of Israel shall be toward the Lord.

And Hamath also shall border [d]thereby: Tyre also and Sidon, though they be [e]very wise.

For Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and gold as the mire of the streets.

Behold, the Lord will spoil her, and he will smite her [f]power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.

Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, and Gaza also shall be very sorrowful, and Ekron: for her countenance shall be ashamed, and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

And the [g]stranger shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his [h]teeth: but he that remaineth, even he shall be for our God, and he shall be as a prince in Judah, but [i]Ekron shall be as a Jebusite.

And I will camp about [j]mine House against the army, against him that passeth by, and against him that returneth, and no oppressor shall come upon them anymore: for now [k]have I seen with mine eyes.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion: shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: [l]he is just, and saved himself, poor and riding upon an [m]ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

10 And I will cut off the [n]chariots from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem: the bow of the battle shall be broken, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen, and his dominion shall be from [o]sea unto sea, and from the [p]River to the end of the land.

11 [q]Thou also shall be saved through the blood of thy covenant. I have loosed thy [r]prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

12 Turn you to the [s]stronghold, ye [t]prisoners of hope: even today do I declare, that I will render the [u]double unto thee.

13 For Judah have I bent as a [v]bow for me: Ephraim’s hand have I filled, and I have raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and have made thee as a giant’s sword.

14 And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall come forth with the whirlwinds of the South.

15 The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour them, [w]and subdue them with sling stones, and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine, and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the horns of the Altar.

16 And the Lord their God shall deliver them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the [x]stones of the crown lifted up upon his land.

17 For how great is his goodness! and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 9:1 Whereby he meaneth Syria.
  2. Zechariah 9:1 God’s anger shall abide upon their chief city, and not spare so much as that.
  3. Zechariah 9:1 When the Jews shall convert and repent, then God will destroy their enemies.
  4. Zechariah 9:2 That is, by Damascus: meaning, that Hamath or Antioch should be under the same rod and plague.
  5. Zechariah 9:2 He secretly showeth the cause of their destruction, because they deceived all others by their craft and subtlety, which they cloaked with this name of wisdom.
  6. Zechariah 9:4 Though they of Tyre think themselves invincible by reason of the sea that compass them round about, yet they shall not escape God’s judgments.
  7. Zechariah 9:6 Meaning, that all should be destroyed, save a very few, that should remain as strangers.
  8. Zechariah 9:7 He promiseth to deliver the Jews when he shall take vengeance on their enemies for their cruelty and wrongs done to them.
  9. Zechariah 9:7 As the Jebusites had been destroyed, so should Ekron and all the Philistines.
  10. Zechariah 9:8 He showeth that God’s power only shall be sufficient to defend his Church against all adversaries be they never so cruel, or assemble their power never so often.
  11. Zechariah 9:8 That is, God hath now seen the great injuries and afflictions wherewith they have been afflicted by their enemies.
  12. Zechariah 9:9 That is, he hath righteousness and salvation in himself for the use and commodity of his Church.
  13. Zechariah 9:9 Which declareth that they should not look for such a king as should be glorious in the eyes of man, but should be poor, and yet in himself have all power to deliver his: and this is meant of Christ, as Matt. 21:5.
  14. Zechariah 9:10 No power of man or creature shall be able to let this kingdom of Christ, and he shall peaceably govern them by his word.
  15. Zechariah 9:10 That is, from the red sea, to the sea, called Syriacum: and by these places which the Jews knew, he meant an infinite space and compass over the whole world.
  16. Zechariah 9:10 That is, from Euphrates.
  17. Zechariah 9:11 Meaning, Jerusalem, or the Church which is saved by the blood of Christ whereof the blood of the sacrifices was a figure, and is here called the covenant of the Church, because God made it with his Church: and left it with them for the love that he bare unto them.
  18. Zechariah 9:11 God showeth that he will deliver his Church out of all dangers, seem they never so great.
  19. Zechariah 9:12 That is, into the holy land where the city and the Temple are, where God will defend you.
  20. Zechariah 9:12 Meaning the faithful, which seemed to be in danger of their enemies on every side, and yet lived in hope that God would restore them to liberty.
  21. Zechariah 9:12 That is, double benefits and prosperity, in respect of that which your fathers enjoined from David’s time to the captivity.
  22. Zechariah 9:13 I will make Judah and Ephraim, that is, my whole Church, victorious against all enemies, which he here meaneth by the Greecians.
  23. Zechariah 9:15 He promiseth that the Jews shall destroy their enemies, and have abundance and excess of all things, as there is abundance on the altar when the sacrifice is offered: Which things are not to move them to intemperancy, but to sobriety, and a thankful remembrance of God’s great liberality.
  24. Zechariah 9:16 The faithful shall be preserved, and reverenced of all, that the very enemies shall be compelled to esteem them: for God’s glory shall shine in them, as Josephus declareth of Alexander the great when he met Jadi the high Priest.

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