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 Ezekiel 47:12 and Zechariah 14:8

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Ezekiel describes a future where a river flows from the temple, bringing life, monthly fruit, and healing leaves. Zechariah echoes this image with waters flowing from Jerusalem and connects it to Sukkot and its focus on rain and fertility.

Passages

Ezekiel 47:12

Hebrew Bible
10 Fishermen will stand beside it; from En Gedi to En Eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. 12 On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” 13 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Here are the borders you will observe as you allot the land to the 12 tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.) 14 You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; this land will be assigned as your inheritance.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Zechariah 14:8

Hebrew Bible
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.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... The sign of the nation’s acceptance of Yahweh’s kingship will be their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Sukkot. The selection of Sukkot is due to several factors: (1) more than any other of the pilgrimage festivals, Sukkot, was associated with the temple. Zechariah presents a utopia with idealized worship at an idealized temple. Consequently, the idealized temple requires the performance of most temple oriented of all pilgrimage festivals – Sukkot. (2) Sukkot is associated with the dedication or rededication of the temple. In 1 Kings, Solomon dedicates the first temple during the festival of Sukkot. Ezra 3:1-6 links the return to regular sacrifices at the second Temple with Sukkot. These previous associations of Sukkot with either a new temple or renewed worship at a new temple probably influenced the selection of Sukkot as the appropriate festival for Zechariah’s new form of universal worship. (3) Mishna Sukkah 4:14 refers to the performance of a water libation, a rainmaking ritual, every day during the festival of Sukkot. This reference combined with the idea of waters flowing from Jerusalem or the Temple (Zechariah 14:6; compare Ezekiel 47) and the withholding of rain from nations who do not participate in Sukkot (Zechariah 14:8) may provide an additional rationale for the choice of Sukkot. (4) Sukkot is a fall festival; therefore, there is a connection with the fertility of land. This is one of the other major benefits described in chapter 14 ..."
Anne Moore, Moving beyond Symbol and Myth: Understanding the Kingship of God of the Hebrew Bible through Metaphor, StBibLit 99 (New York: Peter Lang, 2009), 178–179.

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

Your feedback

Ezekiel 47:12 and Zechariah 14:8

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library