The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

  Behold, nyour King is coming to you;

  He is just and having salvation,

  Lowly and riding on a donkey,

  A colt, the foal of a donkey.

  10I owill cut off the chariot from Ephraim

  And the horse from Jerusalem;

  The pbattle bow shall be cut off.

  He shall speak peace to the nations;

  His dominion shall be q‘from sea to sea,

  And from the River to the ends of the earth.’

  God Will Save His People

  11“As for you also,

  Because of the blood of your covenant,

  I will set your rprisoners free from the waterless pit.

  12Return to the stronghold,

  s You prisoners of hope.

  Even today I declare

  That I will restore tdouble to you.

  13For I have bent Judah, My bow,

  Fitted the bow with Ephraim,

  And raised up your sons, O Zion,

  Against your sons, O Greece,

  And made you like the sword of a mighty man.”

  14Then the LORD will be seen over them,

  And uHis arrow will go forth like lightning.

  The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet,

  And go vwith whirlwinds from the south.

  15The LORD of hosts will wdefend them;

  They shall devour and subdue with slingstones.

  They shall drink and roar as if with wine;

  They shall be filled with blood like 3basins,

  Like the corners of the altar.

  16The LORD their God will xsave them in that day,

  As the flock of His people.

  For ythey shall be like the 4jewels of a crown,

  z Lifted like a banner over His land—

  17For ahow great is 5its goodness

  And how great its bbeauty!

  c Grain shall make the young men thrive,

  And new wine the young women.

  Zechariah 10

  Restoration of Judah and Israel

  1Ask athe LORD for brain

  In cthe time of the 1latter rain.

  The LORD will make 2flashing clouds;

  He will give them showers of rain,

  Grass in the field for everyone.

  2For the didols3 speak delusion;

  The diviners envision elies,

  And tell false dreams;

  They fcomfort in vain.

  Therefore the people wend their way like gsheep;

  They are 4in trouble hbecause there is no shepherd.

  3“My anger is kindled against the ishepherds,

  j And I will punish the 5goatherds.

  For the LORD of hosts kwill visit His flock,

  The house of Judah,

  And lwill make them as His royal horse in the battle.

  4From him comes mthe cornerstone,

  From him nthe tent peg,

  From him the battle bow,

  From him every 6ruler together.

  5They shall be like mighty men,

  Who otread down their enemies

  In the mire of the streets in the battle.

  They shall fight because the LORD is with them,

  And the riders on horses shall be put to shame.

  6“I will strengthen the house of Judah,

  And I will save the house of Joseph.

  p I will bring them back,

  Because I qhave mercy on them.

  They shall be as though I had not cast them aside;

  For I am the LORD their God,

  And I rwill hear them.

  7Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man,

  And their sheart shall rejoice as if with wine.

  Yes, their children shall see it and be glad;

  Their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.

  8I will twhistle for them and gather them,

  For I will redeem them;

  u And they shall increase as they once increased.

  9“Iv will 7sow them among the peoples,

  And they shall wremember Me in far countries;

  They shall live, together with their children,

  And they shall return.

  10x I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt,

  And gather them from Assyria.

  I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,

  y Until no more room is found for them.

  11z He shall pass through the sea with affliction,

  And strike the waves of the sea:

  All the depths of 8the River shall dry up.

  Then athe pride of Assyria shall be brought down,

  And bthe scepter of Egypt shall depart.

  12“So I will strengthen them in the LORD,

  And cthey shall walk up and down in His name,”

  Says the LORD.

  Zechariah 11

  Desolation of Israel

  1Open ayour doors, O Lebanon,

  That fire may devour your cedars.

  2Wail, O cypress, for the bcedar has fallen,

  Because the mighty trees are ruined.

  Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

  c For the thick forest has come down.

  3There is the sound of wailing dshepherds!

  For their glory is in ruins.

  There is the sound of roaring lions!

  For the 1pride of the Jordan is in ruins.

  Prophecy of the Shepherds

  4Thus says the LORD my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter,

  5“whose owners slaughter them and efeel no guilt; those who sell them fsay, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do gnot pity them.

  6“For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall 2attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

  7So I fed the flock for slaughter, 3in particular hthe poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called 4Beauty, and the other I called 5Bonds; and I fed the flock.

  8I 6dismissed the three shepherds iin one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

  9Then I said, “I will not feed you. jLet what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.”

  10And I took my staff, 7Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

  11So it was broken on that day. Thus kthe8 poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.

  12Then I said to them, “If it is 9agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they lweighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

  13And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the mpotter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.

  14Then I cut in two my other staff, 10Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

  15And the LORD said to me, n“Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd.

  16“For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in opieces.

  17“Woep to the worthless shepherd,

  Who leaves the flock!

  A sword shall be against his arm

  And against his right eye;

  His arm shall completely wither,

  And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

  Zechariah 12

  The Coming Deliverance of Judah

  1The 1burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, awho stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and bforms the spirit of man within him:

  2“Behold, I will make Jerusalem ca cup of 2d
runkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.

  3d“And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem ea very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

  4“In that day,” says the LORD, f“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

  5“And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’

  6“In that day I will make the governors of Judah glike a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

  7“The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.

  8“In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them.

  9“It shall be in that day that I will seek to hdestroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

  Mourning for the Pierced One

  10i“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will jlook on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him kas one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

  11“In that day there shall be a great lmourning in Jerusalem, mlike the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of 3Megiddo.

  12n“And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of oNathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

  13“the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves;

  14“all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

  Zechariah 13

  Idolatry Cut Off

  1“In that aday ba fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for cuncleanness.

  2“It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will dcut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause ethe prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.

  3“It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall fnot live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who begot him gshall thrust him through when he prophesies.

  4“And it shall be in that day that hevery prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear ia robe of coarse hair to deceive.

  5j“But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’

  6“And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your 1arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

  The Shepherd Savior

  7“Awake, O sword, against kMy Shepherd,

  Against the Man lwho is My Companion,”

  Says the LORD of hosts.

  m“Strike the Shepherd,

  And the sheep will be scattered;

  Then I will turn My hand against nthe little ones.

  8And it shall come to pass in all the land,”

  Says the LORD,

  “That otwo-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,

  p But one-third shall be left in it:

  9I will bring the one-third qthrough the fire,

  Will rrefine them as silver is refined,

  And test them as gold is tested.

  s They will call on My name,

  And I will answer them.

  t I will say, ‘This is My people’;

  And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’ ”

  Zechariah 14

  The Day of the LORD

  (cf. Ezek. 38; 39; Mark 13; Rev. 20—22)

  1Behold, athe day of the LORD is coming,

  And your 1spoil will be divided in your midst.

  2For bI will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;

  The city shall be taken,

  The houses 2rifled,

  And the women ravished.

  Half of the city shall go into captivity,

  But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

  3Then the LORD will go forth

  And fight against those nations,

  As He fights in the day of battle.

  4And in that day His feet will stand con the Mount of Olives,

  Which faces Jerusalem on the east.

  And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,

  From east to west,

  d Making a very large valley;

  Half of the mountain shall move toward the north

  And half of it toward the south.

  5Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,

  For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.

  Yes, you shall flee

  As you fled from the eearthquake

  In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

  f Thus the LORD my God will come,

  And gall the saints with 3You.

  6It shall come to pass in that day

  That there will be no light;

  The 4lights will diminish.

  7It shall be one day

  h Which is known to the LORD—

  Neither day nor night.

  But at ievening time it shall happen

  That it will be light.

  8And in that day it shall be

  That living jwaters shall flow from Jerusalem,

  Half of them toward 5the eastern sea

  And half of them toward 6the western sea;

  In both summer and winter it shall occur.

  9And the LORD shall be kKing over all the earth.

  In that day it shall be—

  l“The LORD is one,”

  And His name one.

  10All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. 7Jerusalem shall be raised up and minhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, nand from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

  11The people shall dwell in it;

  And ono longer shall there be utter destruction,

  p But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

  12And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

  Their flesh shall 8dissolve while they stand on their feet,

  Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,

  And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

  13It shall come to pass in that day

  That qa great panic from the LORD will be among them.

  Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,

  And raise rhis hand against his neighbor’s hand;

  14Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.

  s And the wealth of all the surrounding nations

  Shall be gathered together:

  Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.

  15t Such also shall be the plague

  On the horse and the mule,

  On the camel and the donkey,

  And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.

  So shall this plague be.

  The Nations Worship the King

  16And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall ugo up from year
to year to vworship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep wthe Feast of Tabernacles.

  17xAnd it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.

  18If the family of yEgypt will not come up and enter in, zthey shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

  19This shall be the 9punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

  20In that day a“HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The bpots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.

  21Yes, 10every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a cCanaanite din the house of the LORD of hosts.

  Zechariah Commentaries

  Zechariah 1

  1:1–6 The opening 6 verses provide an introduction to the entire prophecy in which the prophet calls upon the people to repent and never again repeat the past sins of their fathers (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11).

  1:1 eighth month of the second year of Darius. Ca. Oct./Nov. 520 B.C. See Introduction: Author and Date. Zechariah began his ministry two months after the start of Haggai’s ministry (cf. Hag. 1:1) and the resumption of the rebuilding of the temple (cf. Hag. 1:12–15). Most OT prophets who dated their prophecies did so according to the reign of a king in Israel, Judah, or both. Haggai and Zechariah date their prophecies according to the reign of the Gentile king, indicating that the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) had begun. Zechariah. See Introduction: Author and Date.

  1:2 The LORD has been very angry. This actually means “to break out in long-controlled indignation,” reminding the people of the severity of God’s wrath and the necessity of His judgment on their past sins in pre-Exilic times.

  1:3 the LORD of hosts. This frequently used name for God shows His might as the commander of the hosts, whether they are the armies of Israel (cf. 2 Chr. 26:11), the armies of the heathen nations (cf. Judg. 4:2), or the heavenly inhabitants (cf. 1 Kin. 22:19). Return to Me. Though primarily a book of consolation, the prophet begins with a call to repentance, to preclude any false security on the part of Israel, i.e., thinking that God would bless His chosen people regardless of their spiritual condition. This expresses the ongoing desire of God (cf. Gen. 17:7; Lev. 26:12; Ezek. 37:27; 2 Cor. 6:16; James 4:8; Rev. 21:3), and the constant condition for blessing.