Zakharia 14:1

The Sovereignty of the Lord

14:1 A day of the Lord ¹  is about to come when your possessions ²  will be divided as plunder in your midst.

Zakharia 14:3

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

Zakharia 14:5

14:5 Then you will escape ⁵  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ⁶  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ⁷  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

[14:1]  ¹ sn The eschatological day of the Lord described here (and through v. 8) is considered by many interpreters to refer to the period known as the great tribulation, a seven year time of great suffering by God’s (Jewish) people culminating in the establishing of the millennial reign of the Lord (vv. 9-21). For other OT and NT references to this aspect of the day of the Lord see Amos 9:8-15; Joel 1:15–2:11; Isa 1:24-31; 2:2-4; 4:2-6; 26:16–27:6; 33:13-24; 59:1–60:22; 65:13-25; Jer 30:7-11; 32:36-44; Ezek 20:33-44; Dan 11:40; 12:1; Matt 24:21, 29; 25:31-46; Rev 19:11-16.

[14:1]  ² tn Heb “your plunder.” Cf. NCV “the wealth you have taken.”

[14:3]  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).

[14:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:5]  ⁵ tc For the MT reading נַסְתֶּם (nastem, “you will escape”) the LXX presupposes נִסְתַּם (nistam, “will be stopped up”; this reading is followed by NAB). This appears to derive from a perceived need to eliminate the unexpected “you” as subject. This not only is unnecessary to Hebrew discourse (see “you” in the next clause), but it contradicts the statement in the previous verse that the mountain will be split open, not stopped up.

[14:5]  ⁶ sn Azal is a place otherwise unknown.

[14:5]  ⁷ sn The earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, also mentioned in Amos 1:1, is apparently the one attested to at Hazor in 760 b.c.