Zechariah 14:2-4

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem 1  to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. 2 

14:3 Then the Lord will go to battle 3  and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. 4  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. 5 

Zechariah 14:6

14:6 On that day there will be no light – the sources of light in the heavens will congeal. 6 

Zechariah 14:8-9

14:8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, 7  half of them to the eastern sea 8  and half of them to the western sea; 9  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. 10 

Zechariah 14:13

14:13 On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.

1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

2 tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”

3 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).

4 tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).

5 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.

6 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.

7 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).

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

9 sn The western sea is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

10 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.”