Go to Related Reading
About this book

Zechariah

About this book
Chapter 14

1 A day of the Lord is about to come when your possessions will be divided as plunder in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped.⁠ Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. 3 Then the Lord will go to battle and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days.⁠ 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward.⁠ 5 Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.⁠ 6 On that day there will be no light—the sources of light in the heavens will congeal. 7 It will happen in one day—a day known to the Lord—not in the day or the night, but in the evening there will be light.⁠ 8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem,⁠ half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea;⁠ it will happen both in summer and in winter.⁠ 9 The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name. 10 All the land will change and become like the rift valley from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. 11 And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination—Jerusalem will dwell in security.⁠ 12 But this will be the nature of the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will decay while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot away in their sockets, and their tongues will dissolve in their mouths. 13 On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently. 14 Moreover, Judah will fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered up—gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance. 15 This is the kind of plague that will devastate horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in those camps. 16 Then all who survive from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up annually to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to observe the Feast of Shelters.⁠ 17 But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, they will get no rain. 18 If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain—instead there will be the kind of plague that the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters. 20 On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription “Holy to the Lord.” The cooking pots in the Lord’s temple will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will become holy in the sight of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, so that all who offer sacrifices may come and use some of them to boil their sacrifices in them. On that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 7:2 and Zechariah 14:11

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Deuteronomy commands the total destruction of the Canaanites as a ban imposed on the land. Zechariah envisions a future when this ban is lifted and Jerusalem is secure, describing a time when the threat of destruction no longer applies.

Passages

Deuteronomy 7:2

Hebrew Bible
1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Zechariah 14:11

Hebrew Bible
9 The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name. 10 All the land will change and become like the rift valley from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. 11 And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination—Jerusalem will dwell in security. 12 But this will be the nature of the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will decay while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot away in their sockets, and their tongues will dissolve in their mouths. 13 On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... The book of Zechariah calls the postexilic inhabitants of Judah to repent and renew their relationship with YHWH. The second half of the book concludes with a glorious picture of the coming day of YHWH and his defeat of Jerusalem’s enemies. The nations will gather against Jerusalem to besiege it, but YHWH will fight for them as “he fights on the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3). He will stand on the Mount of Olives and split it into two when he comes with his holy ones (Zechariah 14:4–5), recalling Ezekiel’s description of the departure of YHWH from Jerusalem to stand “on the mountain that is to the east of the city” (Ezekiel 11:23) and his prophecy that YHWH would return from the east in the future (Ezekiel 43:2). The natural disturbances continue with the lack of cold or frost (Zechariah 14:6). The coming of YHWH will cause living water to flow from Jerusalem and bring life to the surrounding lands (Zechariah 14:8). YHWH will reign as king over the earth, and all nations will recognize that he alone is God (Zechariah 14:9), a reference to the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4). A decree will never be declared over the land, as no Canaanite will live in the land. Unlike the time of the judges, the people would no longer act like Canaanites but would follow YHWH (Zechariah 14:11, 21). YHWH would strike the enemies of Jerusalem with a plague and throw them into a panic, causing them to bring their wealth to Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:12–14). All the nations that had fought Jerusalem would now come to worship YHWH the king at Jerusalem; those who do not will die by the plague (Zechariah 14:16–19) ..."
Charlie Trimm, "YHWH Fights for Them!": The Divine Warrior in the Exodus Narrative (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2014), 33–34.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Deuteronomy 7:2 and Zechariah 14:11

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library