Another description of the final battle
1 The day of Yahweh will come when people will divide spoils in your
midst.
2 I will let all the nations come against Jerusalem to attack it. The
city will be taken and houses pillaged, women violated. Half of the city
will be deported but the rest will not be removed.
3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against the nations as he does on
the day of battle.
4 On that day his feet will rest on the mount of Olives, facing
Jerusalem on the east and the mount of Olives will be split in two from
east to west by a deep valley leaving half of the mountain to the north
and half to the south.
5 You will flee through my mountain valley for it will extend as far as
Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah, king of Judah, and Yahweh will come and all his holy ones with
him.
6 On that day there will be no cold or frost.
7 It will be a unique day, known to Yahweh, without day or night and
when evening comes there will still be light.
8 On that day living water will flow from Jeru salem, half to the sea in
the east, half to the sea in the west; it will never dry up in summer or
in winter.
9 Yahweh will be king of all the earth. On that day there will be Yahweh
alone and only his Name.
10 All the land will be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon in the
Negeb, but Jerusalem shall be outstanding on its heights, from the
Benjamin Gate to the First Gate, to the Corner Gate and from the tower
of Hananel to the royal winepress.
11 Its people shall no longer fear any disaster. Jerusalem shall be
inhabited and secure.
12 And this is how Yahweh will punish all the nations that made war on
Jeru salem: each one¡¯s flesh will rot even as he stands, and their eyes
will rot in their sockets, their tongue in their mouth. 15 A similar
plague shall strike the horses, mules, camels and donkeys, and all the
animals in their camps.
13 On that day Yahweh will cause great panic among them: they will take
hold of one another and attack one another
14 while the men of Judah fight in Jerusalem. The wealth of all the
neighboring nations will be left in that place, gold, silver and
garments in great quantities.
16 The survivors of all the nations that fought against Jerusalem will
come, year by year, to worship Yahweh, God of hosts and celebrate the
feast of Tabernacles.
17 If any peo ples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the
King Yahweh, God of hosts, they will have no rain.
18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they too will be
afflicted with the plague destined for those who do not go up to
celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
19 That shall be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations who do
not go up to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
20 On that day, even the bells of the horses shall be inscribed:
¡°Consecrated to Yahweh.¡±
21 The cooking pots of the Temple will be as sacred as the bowls of
offering that are used for the altar, and even the ordinary cooking pots
of the people of Jeru salem and Judah will be consecrated to Yahweh, God
of hosts. So everyone who offers sacrifice may use them for cooking.
Still more: from that day, there will no longer be merchants in the
House of Yahweh, God of hosts.
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Comments Zechariah, Chapter 14
• 14.1 This chapter describes with amazing images the coming of the
kingdom of God after the great trial. A vision of the heavenly Jerusalem
which the apostle John will amplify in Revelation. All the nations of
the world have found the living God and they come to adore him. This is
similar to the end of chapter 66 of Isaiah.
Yahweh will come and all his holy ones with him (v. 5). These are his
angels, responsible for his works, just as in Psalms 89:6; 138:2; 149:1.
See Matthew 16:27.
In the new Jerusalem, religion will not be an activity apart from other
human activities: men and women will no longer be believers merely at
Mass on Sundays, and the rest of the week act the same as everybody
else, mediocre and sinful. Rather everything will be holy. Zecha riah
says this by using images peculiar to his time (vv. 20-21).