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 Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Joel describes a future when streams will flow from Jerusalem, turning dry places fertile, language echoed in Zechariah where living water flows out from the city. Both passages use water as a symbol of future renewal and abundance.

Passages

Joel 3:18

Hebrew Bible
16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel. 17 “You will be convinced that I, the Lord, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy— conquering armies will no longer pass through it. 18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. 19 Egypt will be desolate, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure from one generation to the next.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joel

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 feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem centered on a water-pouring ritual whereby priests, having drawn water from the pool of Siloam, would pour out those waters upon the altar. As a prayer for abundant rainfall to make Zion fertile and fruitful, the ritual symbolized the outpouring of the Spirit upon God’s people. The imagery, once more, derived from Isaiah ... Noting the parallelism between water and Spirit, and between the thirsty land and God’s people, the later divine invitation of Isaiah, in terms of thirst, is clarified: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters!” (Isaiah 55:1). Israel’s liturgy, the psalms, also uses the imagery of dry land for a person’s spiritual thirst for God—“my soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1), “my soul is as a thirsty land for you” (Psalm 143:6)—a motif that uncovers the deep significance of the feast of Tabernacles for Israel. Other prophets also proclaimed the blessings of the outpoured Spirit as life-yielding waters, flowing into the symbolism of the feast. “On that day,” declared Zechariah, “living waters will flow out from Jerusalem” (Zechariah 14:8). So, too, Joel announced “a fount will come forth from the house of Yahweh” (Joel 3:18), and Ezekiel described waters issuing forth from the house of Yahweh, eastward, and wherever the river flows, it brings life and healing to creation (Ezekiel 47; note also Psalms 36:8; 46:4; 65:9) ..."
L. Michael Morales, Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 238–239.

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

Your feedback

Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library