# Zechariah 9.1-5 **Book:** [Zechariah](/codex/zechariah/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > **1. The burden of the word of Jehovah upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be its resting-place (for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Jehovah); 2. and Hamath, also, which bordereth thereon; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise. 3. And Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. 4. Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. 5. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also, and shall be sore pained; and Ekron, for her expectation shall be put to shame; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.** > > 6. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also shall be a remnant for our God; and he shall be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. (Zechariah 9:1-7, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > **1. A revelation. Yahweh’s word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh; 2. and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise. 3. Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets. 4. Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire. 5. Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.** > > 6. Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7. I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. (Zechariah 9:1-7, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > **1. The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD. 2. And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. 3. And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. 4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. 5. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.** > > 6. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. blood: Heb. bloods (Zechariah 9:1-7, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > **1. The burden of a word of Jehovah against the land of Hadrach, and Demmeseh, his place of rest: (When to Jehovah [is] the eye of man, And of all the tribes of Israel.) 2. And also Hamath doth border thereon, Tyre and Zidon, for, very wise! 3. And Tyre doth build a bulwark to herself, And doth heap silver as dust, And gold as mire of out-places. 4. Lo, the Lord doth dispossess her, And He hath smitten in the sea her force, And she with fire is consumed. 5. See doth Ashkelon and fear, Also Gaza, and she is exceedingly pained, Also Ekron, for her expectation dried up, And perished hath a king from Gaza, And Ashkelon doth not remain,** > > 6. And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod, And I have cut off the excellency of the Philistines. 7. And turned aside his blood from his mouth, His abominations from between his teeth, And he hath remained, even he, to our God, And he hath been as a leader in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite. (Zechariah 9:1-7, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** the prophetic voice of the book, in an oracle (*massa*) carrying no date formula - **Audience:** Judah and Jerusalem, with the cities of Syria, Phoenicia and Philistia named as the objects of the oracle - **Location:** the lands north and west of Judah, from Hadrach and Damascus down the coast to Gaza - **Time period:** undated. Chapters 9-14 stand apart from the dated material of 1-8, and their date and composition are disputed; the reading below rests on the text rather than on a settled dating ## Theological reading "The burden of the word of Jehovah upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be its resting-place ... And Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire." The second half of the book opens with a "burden" (*massa*), the heading for an oracle laid on a prophet. It moves from north to south along the route an invader would take: Hadrach and Damascus, Hamath, then the Phoenician coast at Tyre and Sidon, then the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron. Tyre gets the most attention. It is "very wise" (v. 2), it built itself a stronghold, and it piled up silver and gold until they were as common as dust and street mud. Ezekiel had made the same charge: "by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches" (Ezekiel 28:4). The city was an island fortress, and its defenses were real. Verse 4 does not argue with them. The Lord will dispossess her, strike her power in the sea, and burn her. Tyre's fall sends fear down the coast (v. 5). Ashkelon sees it and fears, Gaza is sore pained, Ekron's expectation is put to shame, and the king perishes from Gaza. Many interpreters have connected the sequence with Alexander the Great's campaign of 332 BC, which took Tyre after a long siege and then Gaza, though the chapter names no conqueror and its date is disputed. The parenthesis of v. 1 is easily missed. As the ASV renders it, "the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Jehovah." The Hebrew is compressed and has also been read as Jehovah's eye being upon mankind. On either reading, the cities named are not outside his sight, and the oracle that begins among foreign capitals ends with God encamping about his own house (v. 8). ## Key words _Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._ - [H0136 - adonai](/codex/h0136-adonai/), *adonai*, Strong's H0136 - [H0120 - adam](/codex/h0120-adam/), *adam*, Strong's H0120 - [H1697 - dabar](/codex/h1697-dabar/), *dabar*, Strong's H1697 - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), *YHWH*, Strong's H3068 ## Quoted in **Concepts:** - [Biblical Prophecy](/codex/biblical-prophecy/) ## Notes _Your annotations._ ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.