Zechariah 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Late sixth or fifth century BC, after the return from exile in Babylon, with the later chapters possibly compiled somewhat afterward
Location
Jerusalem, with the message sweeping across Syria to the north, the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon, and the Philistine cities on the coastal plain
Audience
Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon and were rebuilding Jerusalem under Persian rule
Situation
The chapter announces judgment on the surrounding nations along the trade routes north and west of Israel, then pictures a king coming to Jerusalem humbly, riding a donkey and bringing peace. It closes with promises that God will arm his people and restore what they lost.
Key Background
Tyre was a fortified island port famous for wealth from sea trade, and its fall was a standard example of proud power brought down, which gives force to the oracle against it. In the ancient Near East a ruler entering a city on a donkey came in peace, while a horse meant war, so the humble king riding a donkey is a deliberate reversal of a conquering entrance. Judah at this time was a small province with no army of its own, so promises of restored territory and strength spoke directly to people who had none.
A on the The word of has come against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is where it comes to rest, for every Yahweh, and so do all the tribes of Israel.
and against Hamath on the same border, and against and Sidon, clever as they are.
Tyre up a around herself and shoveled silver into heaps dust, gold the in the
Watch. The Lord will strip her bare. He will knock her wealth into the sea, and fire will eat what is left.
Ashkelon will it and be afraid. Gaza will double over in pain, and Ekron with her, because what she watched for has withered. The king will be gone from Gaza, and nobody will live in Ashkelon.
A will settle in Ashdod, and I will cut down the pride of the Philistines.
I will take the blood out of his mouth and the he should have from between his teeth. Then he too will be left over for our God, like more in Judah, and Ekron will belong the the did.
I will camp around my house as a guard against any army marching through, going out or coming back. No will cross their land again, because now I have seen it with my own eyes.
Rejoice with everything in you, of Zion. Shout, of Jerusalem. Look, your king is coming to you. He is just, and he has been rescued. He is on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a
I will cut the chariot out of Ephraim and the warhorse out of Jerusalem. The battle bow will be broken, and this king will speak to the nations. His rule will run from sea to sea, from the out to the ends of the earth.
And you. Because of the blood of the I with you, I am sending your prisoners up out of the with no in it.
Come back to the stronghold, you who have hope. Today I am telling you I will pay you back double.
I have bent Judah as my bow. I have laid Ephraim on the string. Zion, I will wake your sons against the sons of Greece, and swing you like a soldier's sword.
Then Yahweh will show himself over them and his arrow will go out like lightning. The Lord Yahweh will sound the horn and march in the the
who will hold his shield over them. They will eat, and grind the slingstones underfoot. They will drink and roar like men on wine, full as the the is in, wet as the corners of the altar.
On that day Yahweh their God will rescue them, the flock that is his own people. They will be the of a crown, catching the light all over his land.
How good he is, and how beautiful. Grain will make the young men grow, and the young women.