Zechariah 14 is the fourteenth (and the last) chapter in the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible and the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible.Zechariah, Book of

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet

Zechariah Zechariah most often refers to: * Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah * Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to: People *Zechariah ...

, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This chapter is a part of a section (so-called "Second Zechariah") consisting of

Zechariah 9 Zechariah 9 is the ninth of the total 14 chapters in the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.chapters 12– 13 about the 'war preceding peace for Jerusalem in the eschatological future.' It is written almost entirely in third-person prophetic discourse, with seven times references to the phrase 'that day'.

Text

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the

Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...

(from year 895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...

(930), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 4Q76 (4QXII^a; mid 2nd century BCE) with extant verses 18.Dead sea scrolls – Zechariah
/ref> There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

The Day of the Lord (14:1–15)

This section describes God gathering the nations to lay siege to Jerusalem and when half of the population has been exiled, God comes to deliver the city (2–3), defeating those opposing Jerusalem (verses 12–15).

Verse 4

* " Mount of Olives": This mount lay on the east of Jerusalem, separated by the deep Kidron Valley, rising to a height of some 600 feet, and intercepting the view of the wilderness of Judaea and the Jordan ghor. It rises 187 feet above

Mount Zion Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...

, 295 feet above Mount Moriah, 443 feet above

Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

, and lies between the city and the wilderness toward the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

and around its northern side, wound the road to Bethany and the Jordan. This verse is the only place in the Hebrew Bible (= Old Testament) where the name is exactly spelled, although it is often alluded to (e.g. 2 Samuel 15:30; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13, where it is called "the mount of corruption", etc.).Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors)
On "Zechariah 14".
In: ''The

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entrie ...

''. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019. There "upon the mountain, which is on the east side of the city, the glory of the Lord stood," when it had "gone up from the midst of the city" (Ezekiel 11:23). Barnes, Albert
''Notes on the Bible'' - Zechariah 14
James Murphy (ed). London: Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998. The place of Jesus' departure at the time of ascension is located here and the same as the place of his return (in a similar "manner", ). Coming "from the east" (), Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (; cf. , with , "from the way of the east"). * "Shall cleave in the midst thereof": The cleaving of the mount in two is by a fissure or valley (a prolongation of the "valley of Jehoshaphat" or "valley of decision" (), Gill, John
''Exposition of the Entire Bible''. "Zechariah 14".
Published in 1746-1763. extending from Jerusalem on the west towards Jordan River, eastward. It results in an opening to escape for the besieged (cf. ). Half the divided mount is thereby forced northward, half southward; the valley running between.Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, Andrew Robert; Brown, David. '' Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible''
"Zechariah 14"
1871.

Verse 5

* "The earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah": related to the one occurred two years before Amos prophesied in 8th century BCE ( Amos 1:1) at the time when King Uzziah was stricken with a leprosy for invading the priest's office, according to Josephus. Josephus wrote that at a place near the city called Eroge, half part of the mountain towards the west was broken, rolled then stood half a mile towards the eastern part, up to the king's gardens.

Verse 10

*"Corner Gate": was to the northwest of Jerusalem (; Jeremiah 31:38), a part of expansion to the northwest side of the city under Uzziah and Hezekiah.. Quotes: ''Jehoash of Israel destroyed 400 cubits of the wall from the Ephraim Gate to the corner gate (II Kings xiv. 13). It seems probable that the wall was repaired under Uzziah; at least, according to II Chron. xxvi. 9,... The coming of Sennacherib (701) caused the rebuilding of some portion of the wall ... Hezekiah is mentioned as having done this repairing.... Where the towers Hananeel and Ha-Meah or Meah stood can not be ascertained. They are mentioned in Jer. xxxi. 38; Zech. xiv. 10; Neh. iii. 1, xii. 39. The former seems to have marked the northeast corner of the city;... The "old gate" or "gate of the old pool"—referring perhaps to the Patriarch's Pool northwest of the city—is called also "Sha'ar ha-Rishon" (Zech. xiv. 10) and "Sha'ar ha-Pinnah" (II Kings xiv. 13; Jer. xxxi. 38; "ha-Poneh," IIChron. xxv. 23; "ha-Pinnim," Zech. xiv. 10).'' *"

Tower of Hananeel The Tower of Hananeel (or Hananel; ''hanan'e-el'', ''chanan'-el'', " El (God) is gracious") is a tower in the walls of Jerusalem, adjoining the Tower of Meah (or Hammeah: "the Tower of the Hundred") to the east connecting to the "sheep gate". It i ...

": a well-known landmark, which is mentioned also in Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 12:39; Jeremiah 31:38, standing midway between "the sheep gate" and "the fish gate", at the northeast corner of Jerusalem, then from this point, the wall which had run northwestern from the sheep gate now turned to west.

The Nations Worship the King (14:16–21)

The survivors among the nations will come annually to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, while those who don't come will be punished with no rain and plague. Verses 20–21 depict a 'sanctified Jerusalem in ritual sense.'

Eighth century BC earthquake

Creationist geologist Steven A. Austin and colleagues suggested in 2000 that widely separated archaeological excavations in the countries of Israel and Jordan contain late Iron Age (Iron IIb) architecture bearing damage from a great earthquake.Austin, S.A., G. W. Franz, and E. G. Frost. 2000. ''Amos's Earthquake: An extraordinary Middle East seismic event of 750 B.C.'' International Geology Review. 42 (7): 657-671. Earthquake debris at six sites ( Hazor, Deir 'Alla, Gezer, Lachish, Tell Judeideh, and 'En Haseva), is tightly confined stratigraphically to the middle of the 8th century BC, with dating errors of ~30 years. Excavations by archaeologist Yigael Yadin in Hazor's Stratum VI revealed southward tilted walls, inclined pillars, and collapsed houses, in even some of the strongest architecture, arguing that the earthquake waves were propagated from the north. The excavation in the city of Gezer revealed severe earthquake damage. The outer wall of the city shows hewn stones weighing tons that have been cracked and displaced several inches off their foundation. The lower part of the wall was displaced outward (away from the city), whereas the upper part of the wall fell inward (toward the city) still lying course-on-course, indicating the sudden collapse of the wall. A report in 2019 by geologists studying layers of sediment on the floor of the

further confirmed this particular seismic event.Fact-checking the Book of Amos: There Was a Huge Quake in Eighth Century B.C.E.
By Ruth Schuster Haaretz, Jan 03, 2019. Quote: "An earthquake that ripped apart Solomon’s Temple was mentioned in the Bible and described in colorful detail by Josephus – and now geologists show what really happened." Amos of Tekoa delivered a speech at the Temple of the Golden Calf in the city of

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

in the northern kingdom of Israel just "two years before the earthquake" ( Amos 1:1), in the middle of eighth century BC when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II was king of Israel. Amos spoke of the land being shaken (), houses being smashed (), altars being cracked (), and even the Temple at Bethel being struck and collapsing (). The Amos' Earthquake impacted Hebrew literature immensely. After the gigantic earthquake, no Hebrew prophet could predict a divine visitation in judgment without alluding to an earthquake. Just a few years after the earthquake, Isaiah wrote about the "Day of the Lord" when everything lofty and exalted will be abased at the time when the Lord "ariseth to shake terribly the earth" (). Then, Isaiah saw the Lord in a temple shaken by an earthquake (). Joel repeats the motto of Amos: "The Lord also will roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem," and adds the seismic theophany imagery "the heavens and the earth shall shake" ( Joel 3:16; compare Amos 1:2). After describing a future earthquake and panic during the "Day of the Lord" at Messiah's coming to the Mount of Olives,

says, "Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah" ( Zechariah 14:5). The panic caused by Amos' Earthquake must have been the topic of legend in Jerusalem, because

asked his readers to recall that terrifying event 230 years later.Ogden, K. 1992. The earthquake motif in the book of Amos. In Schunck, K., and M. Augustin, eds., Goldene apfel in silbernen schalen. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 69-80; Freedman, D.N., and A. Welch. 1994. Amos's earthquake and Israelite prophecy. In Coogan, M.D., J. C. Exum, and L. E. Stager, eds., Scripture and other artifacts: essays on the Bible, and archaeology in honor of Philip J. King. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 188-198. In 2005

Nicholas Ambraseys Nicholas Neocles Ambraseys FICE FREng (Greek: Νικόλαος Αμβράζης του Νεοκλή, 19 January 1929 – 28 December 2012) was a Greek engineering seismologist. He was emeritus professor of engineering seismology and senior rese ...

reviews the literature on historical earthquakes in Jerusalem and specifically the 'Amos' earthquake. He states that "Modern writers date the earthquake to 759 BC and assign to it a magnitude of 8.2, with an intensity in Jerusalem between VIII and IX." He believes that such an earthquake "should have razed Jerusalem to the ground" and states that there is no physical or textual evidence for this. Discussing Zechariah's mention of an earthquake, he suggests that it was a 5th or 4th century insertion and discusses various versions of the passage which describe the event in different ways. He suggests that the differences may be due to a confused reading of the Hebrew words for "shall be stopped up" (''ve-nistam''), and "you shall flee" (''ve-nastem'')" and that "by adopting the latter reading as more plausible in relation to the natural phenomenon described, it is obvious that there is no other explanation than a large landslide, which may or may not had been triggered by this or by another earthquake." He also states that a search for changes in the ground resembling those described in Zechariah revealed "no direct or indirect evidence that Jerusalem was damaged."

Notes and references

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish

Zechariah 14 Hebrew with Parallel EnglishZechariah 14 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

Zechariah 14 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zechariah 14 14