Zechariah 14:3-11

14:3 Then the Lord will go to battle ¹  and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. ²  14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which 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. ³  14:5 Then you will escape ⁴  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ⁵  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ⁶  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him. 14:6 On that day there will be no light – the sources of light in the heavens will congeal. ⁷  14:7 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  14:8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, ⁹  half of them to the eastern sea ¹⁰  and half of them to the western sea; ¹¹  it will happen both in summer and in winter.

14:9 The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name. ¹²  14:10 All the land will change and become like the Arabah ¹³  from Geba to Rimmon, ¹⁴  south of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate ¹⁵  and on to the Corner Gate, ¹⁶  and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. ¹⁷  14:11 And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination – Jerusalem will dwell in security.

[14:3]  ¹ sn The statement the Lord will go to battle introduces the conflict known elsewhere as the “battle of Armageddon,” a battle in which the Lord delivers his people and establishes his millennial reign (cf. Joel 3:12, 15-16; Ezek 38–39; Rev 16:12-21; 19:19-21).

[14:3]  ² tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:4]  ³ sn This seismic activity provides a means of escape from Jerusalem so that the Messiah (the Lord), whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, may destroy the wicked nations in the Kidron Valley (the v. of Jehoshaphat, or of “judgment of the Lord”) without harming the inhabitants of the city.

[14:5]  ⁴ tc For the MT reading נַסְתֶּם (nastem, “you will escape”) the LXX presupposes נִסְתַּם (nistam, “will be stopped up”; this reading is followed by NAB). This appears to derive from a perceived need to eliminate the unexpected “you” as subject. This not only is unnecessary to Hebrew discourse (see “you” in the next clause), but it contradicts the statement in the previous verse that the mountain will be split open, not stopped up.

[14:5]  ⁵ sn Azal is a place otherwise unknown.

[14:5]  ⁶ sn The earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, also mentioned in Amos 1:1, is apparently the one attested to at Hazor in 760 b.c.

[14:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the splendid will congeal.” This difficult phrase (MT יְקָרוֹת יְקִפָּאוֹן, yÿqarot yÿqippa’on) is not clarified by the LXX which presupposes וְקָרוּת וְקִפָּאוֹן (vÿqarut vÿqippa’on, “and cold and ice,” a reading followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). Besides the fact that cold and ice do not necessarily follow the absence of light, the idea here is that day will be night and night day. The heavenly sources of light “freeze up” as it were, and refuse to shine.

[14:7]  ⁸ sn In the evening there will be light. The normal pattern is that light breaks through in the morning (Gen 1:3) but in the day of the Lord in judgment it would do so in the evening. In a sense the universe will be “de-created” in order to be “recreated.”

[14:8]  ⁹ sn Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem. Ezekiel sees this same phenomenon in conjunction with the inauguration of the messianic age (Ezek 47; cf. Rev 22:1-5; also John 7:38).

[14:8]  ¹⁰ sn The eastern sea is a reference to the Dead Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[14:8]  ¹¹ sn The western sea is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[14:9]  ¹² sn The expression the Lord will be seen as one with a single name is an unmistakable reference to the so-called Shema, the crystallized statement of faith in the Lord as the covenant God of Israel (cf. Deut 6:4-5). Zechariah, however, universalizes the extent of the Lord’s dominion – he will be “king over all the earth.”

[14:10]  ¹³ tn Or “like a plain” (similar KJV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT); or “like a steppe”; cf. CEV “flatlands.” The Hebrew term עֲרָבָה (’aravah) refers to an arid plain or steppe, but can be used specifically as the name of the rift valley running from the Sea of Galilee via the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.

[14:10]  ¹⁴ sn The expression from Geba to Rimmon is a way of indicating the extent of all Judah from north (2 Kgs 23:8) to south (Job 15:32; 19:7). Since Geba (Heb. גֶּבַע) means “hill” and Rimmon resembles the word for height (Heb. רָמָה, ramah), this could be a play on words suggesting that all the high country will be made low, like the great Arabah valley.

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “old gate” (NLT); or “former gate” (NRSV).

[14:10]  ¹⁶ sn From the Benjamin Gate…on to the Corner Gate marks the northern wall of the city of Jerusalem from east to west.

[14:10]  ¹⁷ sn From the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses indicates the extent of Jerusalem from north to south.