11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria
for the remnant of his people, 1
just as there was for Israel,
when 2 they went up from the land of Egypt.
19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 3 19:24 At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing 4 in the earth. 5 19:25 The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, 6 “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, 7 Israel!”
19:2 “I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, 8
brothers will fight with each other,
as will neighbors,
cities, and kingdoms. 9
17:6 There will be some left behind,
like when an olive tree is beaten –
two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
says the Lord God of Israel.
9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt;
they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.
11:11 They will return in fear and trembling 10
like birds from Egypt,
like doves from Assyria,
and I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.
1 tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”
2 tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).
3 tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.
5 tn Heb “will be a blessing” (so NCV).
6 tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB).
7 tn Heb “which the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will bless [it], saying.” The third masculine singular suffix on the form בֵּרֲכוֹ (berakho) should probably be emended to a third feminine singular suffix בֵּרֲכָהּ (berakhah), for its antecedent would appear to be the feminine noun אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) at the end of v. 24.
8 tn Or “my inheritance” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
9 tn Heb I will provoke Egypt against Egypt” (NAB similar).
10 tn Heb “and they will fight, a man against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.” Civil strife will extend all the way from the domestic level to the provincial arena.
11 tn For the meaning of חָרַד (harad, “to tremble”) with prepositions of direction, see 11:10 above.
13 tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.
15 sn I will bring them back from Egypt…from Assyria. The gathering of God’s people to their land in eschatological times will be like a reenactment of the exodus, but this time they will come from all over the world (cf. Isa 40:3-5; 43:1-7, 14-21; 48:20-22; 51:9-11).
17 tn Heb “he,” in which case the referent is the
18 tn Heb “scepter,” referring by metonymy to the dominating rule of Egypt (cf. NLT).
19 tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the
20 tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.