Table of Contents
Zechariah 14
Zechariah 14
1 Behold, 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 Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's 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 Lord's 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.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>Behold! A day of the Lord is coming</b> A day dear to the Lord. <b>and your plunder shall be shared within you</b> Those dwelling within you shall share the plunder that you shall plunder [from] the enemies. And so does Jonathan render: And the house of Israel shall share the wealth of the peoples in your midst, O Jerusalem.</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>and the rest of the people</b> Not all of them will be exiled. Now, why will He permit them [i.e., the gentile nations] to exile half of them and to plunder the houses? So that they should not have an excuse, saying, “We have not come for war, but we have come to prostrate ourselves.”</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>like the day he waged war on the day of battle</b> Like the day He waged war on the Red Sea.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>in the midst thereof</b> lit., from its half <b>toward the east and toward the west</b> From east to west, as he goes on and concludes. <b>and half the mountain shall move to the north, etc.</b> The northern half shall move from its place and draw toward the north, and so… <b>and half of it to the south</b> Toward the south; and the valley between them will have its beginning to the east and its end to the west.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains</b> Jonathan renders. And the valley of the mountains shall be stopped up. Since Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains, and there is a valley between the mountains in the north and the Mount of Olives, and [this is also] so in the south, when half of the Mount of Olives draws toward the mountain in the north, the valley between them will be stopped up. [This will also be] so in the south. <b>shall reach</b> The height of the valley that will be between the mountains. <b>to Azal</b> To the height of the mountaintops that are from either side. So did Menahem classify this (Machbereth p. 32), with (Isa. 41:9) “and from its nobles I called you.” Its meaning is an expression of height. <b>and you shall flee</b> when you see this great wonder. <b>as you fled because of the earthquake</b> [Isa. 6:4] “And the doorposts quaked” on the day that Uzziah was stricken with zaraath. <b>all holy ones</b> Angels.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>there shall be no light, only disappearing light and thick darkness</b> Jonathan renders. There shall not be light, only light that passes away, and thickness, i.e., there shall not be splendrous light, only יְקָרוֹת and קִפָּאוֹן shall [there] be. יְקָרוֹת An expression similar to (Ps. 37:20), “like the disappearing light over the plains.” Like a sort of light that appears in the morning over the mountains and disappears little by little.
h.וְקִפָּאוֹן Congealed and dark and thick, like ice that is congealed and frozen, as in (Job 10: 10), “And like cheese You curdled me.”</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>And it shall be one day</b> And this thing shall be one day of the day of the Holy One, blessed be He. That day shall be known, that it is for the preparation of the salvation by the Holy One, blessed be He. <b>neither day</b> Neither [will it be] a light of splendor, like the light of the world to come, as it is stated (Isa. 30:26): “The light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of the seven days.” <b>nor night</b> Nor a time of trouble, like the trouble of the preceding subjugation by the kingdoms, shall [these days] be, for they will be the days of the Messiah, and there shall be no subjugation during these days. <b>and it shall come to pass that at eventide</b> Before the thousand years are up there shall be a splendrous light, and all the good promised to Israel [will come]. And so did Jonathan translate: Not like the light of day and not like the darkness of night.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>And it shall come to pass on that day</b> when the Mount of Olives will split from east to west. <b>spring water shall come forth from Jerusalem</b> and flow to the east by way of the crevice to… <b>the eastern sea</b> which is to the east of the world; and half of it will turn to the west, to the western sea. This is the spring concerning which Joel (4:18) prophesied: “And a spring shall emanate from the house of the Lord.” That is the spring concerning which Ezekiel (47:3) prophesied: “And he measured a thousand cubits and he made me pass through the water.”</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>shall the Lord be one</b> For all the nations shall abandon their vanities and acknowledge Him, that He is one, and [that] no strange deity is with Him. <b>and His name one</b> That His name shall be mentioned by everyone.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>The whole earth shall be changed</b> The whole earth shall be changed to be like a plain. The mountains will be lowered, and the whole world will be a plain; and Jerusalem will be a mountain, so that it should appear higher than everything [else in the world]. <b>from the hill of Rimmon</b> We learned in Tosefta of Sotah (11:14): South of Jerusalem is a plain, and the hill of Rimmon is rocks and clods. Rather, so is [the] interpretation [of this phrase]: From the hill of Rimmon, which is a mountainous place from there [the mountains of the world] will begin to be changed, to [be] a plain; and they will be like the south of Jerusalem, which is a plain. <b>but it will be elevated high</b> Since its entire environs are a plain, it will appear high. <b>and remain in its old place</b> in its place <b>until the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel</b> which will also be in its place; and from there shall extend the length of the city <b>until the king’s wine-cellars</b> Jonathan renders: the pits off the king, fosec in Old French. [This is] like [a word in] Baba Kamma 50b, “trenches and caves.” And so, all wine cellars in Scripture are expressions of trenches, referring to the pit that is before the wine press, into which the wine flows. And the Midrash Aggadah (Pesikta d’Rav Kahana p. 143a; Song Rabbah 7:4, cf. Mattenoth Kehunnah, Radal) [identifies] the pits of the king with the ocean: that Jerusalem will reach the end of the whole world, the pits dug out by the supreme King of kings.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>and there shall be no more destruction</b> The city shall no longer be in ruins.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>his flesh will waste away while he still stands</b> This denotes the falling off of the limbs.</html>
Verse 13
<html><b>there will be great consternation, sent by the Lord upon them</b> to confuse their wisdom, to bring them about to madness. <b>each one will seize the hand of the other</b> He will seize him to slay him. <b>and his hand shall rise up</b> Whoever is stronger is victorious.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>Yea, even Judah</b> against their will shall fight against Jerusalem.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>similar to this plague</b> which is delineated above, that his flesh shall waste away.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>the festival of Tabernacle</b> As our Sages explained in tractate Avodah Zarah (3a): I have an easy commandment named Sukkah, as is stated in the first halachic discussion.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>rain</b> Actual rain to cause the produce of their land to grow. Now, what reason did He have for decreeing upon them the withholding of rain? That the commandments of the festival are based on the rains: the four species of the lulav and the water libation are to appease God for water. Since the festival of Tabernacles is the time of the rains of the year, no rain will fall on those who entertain doubts concerning the festival of Tabernacles. This is learned in the Tosefta of Sukkah (4:7).</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>And if the family of Egypt does not go up</b> and they do not require rain, for the Nile comes up and waters it [i.e., the land of Egypt]. <b>it shall not [rain] upon them</b> Their rain shall not be upon them; i.e., the Nile will not water them, and so did Jonathan render: The Nile shall not ascend upon them. <b>the plague will be</b> The plague of famine. <b>with which the Lord will plague</b> This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations, as He states. “upon them there shall be no rain.”</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>there will be upon the bells of the horses</b> On the bells that are hung on the horse for beauty between its eyes (Pesachim 50a). Those, too, will be consecrated to make service vessels: sprinkling basins for the blood and pots to cook the flesh of the many sacrifices. <b>Yea, every pot…will be</b> All those that are used to remove the ashes, they too will be of gold and of silver, like the sprinkling basins that are before the altar. <b>the bells of the horses</b> tentinonc in Old French.</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>and there will no longer be a trafficker</b> They will not require trafficking, as in (Isa. 23:8): “whose traffickers were the honored of the earth.” Another explanation: There is no poor man here.</html>