Zechariah 14 KJV
The Lord Comes and Reigns
Zechariah Chapter 14: The Lord Comes and Reigns
The splitting of the Mount of Olives creates an escape route for Jerusalem's remnant that deliberately echoes the Red Sea and Jordan crossings, framing the chapter's eschatological deliverance as a new exodus under Yahweh's direct leadership.
1ehold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjaminโs gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the kingโs winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORDโs house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
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Did You Know?
The splitting of the Mount of Olives creates an escape route for Jerusalem's remnant that deliberately echoes the Red Sea and Jordan crossings, framing the chapter's eschatological deliverance as a new exodus under Yahweh's direct leadership.
Zechariah 14:8's promise of living waters flowing eastward and westward from Jerusalem year-round contrasts with the seasonal Kidron and other wadis, theologically positioning the city as the new cosmic source of Edenic life rather than merely a restored temple stream.
By mandating that surviving Gentile nations observe the Feast of Tabernacles or suffer drought, the chapter transforms an exclusively Israelite agricultural festival into an international covenant obligation, anticipating the inclusion of the nations without erasing Israel's cultic calendar.
The inscription of 'Holiness Unto the LORD' on horses' bells and ordinary cooking pots extends the high priest's forehead plate (Exodus 28) to the most mundane objects, envisioning a future in which the entire created order functions as sacred temple space.
The closing prohibition against any 'Canaanite' in the house of the LORD exploits the word's double meaning of both ethnic outsider and merchant-trader, thereby excluding commercial activity from the eschatological temple and fulfilling earlier prophetic critiques of temple profiteering.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain day of the Lord โ in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked and then saving His elect people (Joe 2:31; 3:14; Mal 4:1, 5). thy spoil... divided in the midst oโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Zechariah 14 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Last struggle with the hostile world-powers: messiah-Jehovah saves Jerusalem and destroys the foe, of whom the remnant turns to the Lord reigning at Jerusalem.
- 1
- day of the Lord โ in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked and then saving His elect people (Joe 2:31; 3:14; Mal 4:1, 5). thy spoil... divided in the midst of thee โ by the foe; secure of victory, they shall not divide the spoil taken from thee in their camp outside, but "in the midst" of the city itself.
- 2
- gather all nations, &c. โ The prophecy seems literal (compare Joe 3:2). If Antichrist be the leader of the nations, it seems inconsistent with the statement that he will at this time be sitting in the temple as God at Jerusalem (2Th 2:4); thus Antichrist outside would be made to besiege Antichrist within the city. But difficulties do not set aside revelations: the event will clear up seeming difficulties. Compare the complicated movements, Da 11:1-45. half... the residue โ In Zec 13:8, 9, it is "two-thirds" that perish, and "the third" escapes. There, however, it is "in all the land"; here it is "half of the city." Two-thirds of the "whole people" perish, one-third survives. One-half of the citizens are led captive, the residue are not cut off. Perhaps, too, we ought to translate, "a (not 'the') residue."
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