Zechariah 2:9

2:9 “I am about to punish them ¹  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

Zechariah 9:8

9:8 Then I will surround my temple ²  to protect it like a guard ³  from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

Zechariah 9:14-15

9:14 Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Lord God will blow the trumpet and will sally forth on the southern storm winds. 9:15 The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards, ⁴  full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar. ⁵ 

Zechariah 14:17

14:17 But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem ⁶  to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, they will get no rain.

¹ tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

² tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

³ tn Though a hapax legomenon, the מִצָּבָה (mitsavah) of the MT (from נָצַב, natsav, “take a stand”) is preferable to the suggestion מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “pillar”) or even מִצָּבָא (mitsava’, “from” or “against the army”). The context favors the idea of the Lord as a protector.

³ tn Heb “they will drink and roar as with wine”; the LXX (followed here by NAB, NRSV) reads “they will drink blood like wine” (referring to a figurative “drinking” of the blood of their enemies).

⁴ sn The whole setting is eschatological as the intensely figurative language shows. The message is that the Lord will assume his triumphant reign over all the earth and will use his own redeemed and renewed people Israel to accomplish that work. The imagery of v. 15 is the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of God’s enemies, that is, Israel’s complete mastery of them. Like those who drink too much wine, the Lord’s warriors will be satiated with the blood of their foes and will exult as though drunk.

⁴ sn The reference to any…who refuse to go up to Jerusalem makes clear the fact that the nations are by no means “converted” to the Lord but are under his compulsory domination.