Zechariah 14


Zechariah 14 is the fourteenth and final chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book contains the prophecies during the sixth century BCE attributed to the prophet Zechariah. In the Hebrew Bible it is part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This chapter is a part of a section—so-called "Second Zechariah"—consisting of Zechariah 9–14. It continues the theme of chapters 12 and 13 about the "war preceding peace for Jerusalem in the eschatological future'" It is written almost entirely in third-person prophetic discourse, with seven references to "that day".

Text

The original text was written in the Biblical Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 4Q76 with extant verses 18.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

Themes

The phrase "that day" occurs seven times in this chapter, having also been used several times in chapters 12 and 13. Biblical scholar Katrina Larkin notes that the phrase has a range of biblical uses, but in Zechariah its meaning is eschatological. Albert Barnes notes that in this chapter, the wording refers back to verse 1, where a literal translation states that "a day is coming, the 's". Typically, English translations states that "a day is coming for the ".
Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, is singled out in this chapter from among the Three Pilgrimage Festivals of Judaism, highlighting its status in the Jewish calendar. The prophet's interest in the fate of the nations who opposed Jerusalem is revealed in the section from verse 12 to verse 19.

The Day of the Lord (verses 1–15)

This section describes God gathering the nations to lay siege to Jerusalem. When half of the population has been exiled, God comes to deliver the city, defeating those opposing Jerusalem.

Verse 4

  • "Mount of Olives": This mount lay to the east of Jerusalem, separated by the deep Kidron Valley, rising to a height of some 600 feet, and intercepting the view of the wilderness of Judaea and the Jordan ghor. It rises 187 feet above Mount Zion, 295 feet above Moriah, 443 feet above Gethsemane, and lies between the city and the wilderness toward the Dead Sea and around its northern side, wound the road to Bethany and the Jordan. This verse is the only place in the Hebrew Bible in which the name is exactly spelled, although it is often alluded to. There "upon the mountain, which is on the east side of the city, the glory of the stood," when it had "gone up from the midst of the city". In Christianity, Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem and his ascension to Heaven are believed to have occurred around the Mount of Olives; his prospective Second Coming may occur there, as well.
  • "Shall cleave in the midst thereof": The cleaving of the mountain in two is by a fissure or valley, extending from Jerusalem on the west towards the Jordan River, eastward. It provides an escape route for the besieged. Half the divided mountain is thereby forced northward, half southward; the valley running between.

    Verse 5

prophesied in the 8th century BCE, two years before "the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah". This event was related to the one in which King Uzziah was stricken with leprosy for entering the priest's office, according to Josephus. Josephus wrote that at a place near the city called Eroge, half of the mountain towards the west was broken, rolled then stood half a mile towards the eastern part, up to the king's gardens.

Verse 10

  • "Corner Gate": was to the northwest of Jerusalem, a part of the expansion to the northwest side of the city under Kings Uzziah and Hezekiah.
  • "Tower of Hananeel": a well-known landmark that is mentioned also in Nehemiah 3:1, Nehemiah 12:39, and Jeremiah 31:38, standing midway between "the sheep gate" and "the fish gate", at the northeast corner of Jerusalem, then from this point, the wall which had run northwestern from the sheep gate now turned to west.

    The nations worship the king, the of hosts (verses 16–19)

In the end times, the survivors among the gentile nations are called upon to come annually to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Those who do not come will be punished with no rain and with plague.

The sanctification of all things (verses 20–21)

According to the final words of the book, the prophet "foresees the sanctification of everything in the land of Israel". These verses depict a "sanctified Jerusalem in ritual sense".

Jewish

  • Hebrew with 1917 JPS English translation at Mamre Institute
  • Hebrew with 2023 JPS English translation
  • Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary translated by A.J. Rosenberg. New York, Judaica Press, 1998 at Chabad.org

    Catholic

  • . Vulgate in Latin with the Douay-Rheims Bible English translation at latinvulgate.com
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