Zacarias 14

ARC · Chapter 14/14

1Eis que o dia do Senhor vem; repartir-se-hão no meio de ti os teus despojos.

2Porque eu ajuntarei todas as nações para a peleja contra Jerusalem; e a cidade será tomada, e as casas serão saqueadas, e as mulheres forçadas; e metade da cidade sairá para o captiveiro, mas o resto do povo não será extirpado da cidade.

3E o Senhor sairá, e pelejará contra estas nações, como no dia em que pelejou no dia da batalha.

4E n'aquelle dia estarão os seus pés sobre o monte das Oliveiras, que está defronte de Jerusalem para o oriente; e o monte das Oliveiras será fendido pelo meio, para o oriente e para o occidente, n'um valle muito grande; e metade do monte se apartará para o norte, e a outra metade d'elle para o sul.

5E fugireis ao valle dos meus montes (porque o valle dos montes chegará até Asel), e fugireis assim como fugistes de diante do terremoto nos dias de Uzias, rei de Judah: então virá o Senhor meu Deus, e todos os sanctos comtigo, ó Senhor.

6E será que n'aquelle dia não haverá preciosa luz nem espessa escuridão.

7Mas será um dia o qual é conhecido do Senhor; nem dia nem noite será: e acontecerá que no tempo da tarde haverá luz.

8N'aquelle dia tambem acontecerá que sairão de Jerusalem aguas vivas, metade d'ellas para o mar oriental, e metade d'ellas até ao mar occidental: no estio e no inverno succederá isto.

9E o Senhor será rei sobre toda a terra: n'aquelle dia um só será o Senhor, e um só será o seu nome

10Toda a terra ao redor se tornará em planicie, desde Geba até Rimmon, da banda do sul de Jerusalem, e será exalçada, e habitada no seu logar, desde a porta de Benjamin até ao logar da primeira porta, até á porta da esquina, e desde a torre de Hananeel até aos logares do rei.

11E habitarão n'ella, e não haverá mais anathema, porque Jerusalem habitará segura.

12E esta será a praga com que o Senhor ferirá a todos os povos que guerrearam contra Jerusalem: fará consumir a carne, estando elles em pé, e lhes apodrecerão os olhos nas suas covas, e lhes apodrecerá a lingua de cada um na sua bocca

13N'aquelle dia tambem acontecerá que haverá uma grande perturbação do Senhor entre elles; porque pegará cada um na mão do seu companheiro, e alçar-se-ha a mão de cada um contra a mão do seu companheiro.

14E tambem Judah pelejará contra Jerusalem, e se ajuntarão em redor as riquezas de todas as nações, oiro e prata e vestidos em grande abundancia.

15Assim tambem será a praga dos cavallos, dos mulos, dos camelos e dos jumentos, e de todos os animaes que estiverem n'aquelles exercitos, como foi a praga d'elles.

16E será que, todos os que restarem de todas as nações que vieram contra Jerusalem, subirão de anno em anno para adorarem o Rei, o Senhor dos Exercitos, e celebrarem a festa das cabanas.

17E acontecerá que, se alguma das familias da terra não subir a Jerusalem, para adorar o Rei, o Senhor dos Exercitos, não virá sobre elles a chuva.

18E, se a familia dos egypcios, sobre os quaes não vem a chuva, não subir, nem vier, virá sobre elles a praga com que o Senhor ferirá as nações que não subirem a celebrar a festa das cabanas.

19Este será o peccado dos egypcios e o peccado de todas as nações que não subirem a celebrar a festa das cabanas.

20N'aquelle dia será inscripto sobre as campainhas dos cavallos: sanctidade ao Senhor; e as panellas na casa do Senhor serão como as bacias diante do altar.

21E todas as panellas em Jerusalem e Judah serão sanctas ao Senhor dos Exercitos, e todos os que sacrificarem virão, e d'ellas tomarão, e n'ellas cozerão: e não haverá mais cananita na casa do Senhor dos Exercitos n'aquelle dia.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The book closes with an apocalyptic vision of the 'Day of the Lord': Jerusalem will be attacked, but the Lord will intervene personally, His feet touching the Mount of Olives, which will be split in two; in the end, all nations will worship the King in Jerusalem.

Explanation

This final chapter functions as a cosmic climax to the entire book, combining battle, direct divine intervention, and a definitive geographic and spiritual transformation. The description of the Mount of Olives splitting in half when the Lord's feet touch down on it is one of the most literally dramatic images in all of biblical prophecy, creating a valley of escape for the survivors. The promise that 'the Lord shall be king over all the earth,' and that living waters will flow from Jerusalem toward both the eastern sea and the western sea, describes a total renewal of the world's geography and spiritual authority. The chapter closes with the striking insistence that even the most common household items in Jerusalem and Judah will be 'HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD,' showing that holiness will no longer be confined to special religious objects but will permeate all of everyday life. The application for today: the ultimate biblical hope is not merely to escape the world, but to see all of creation and all nations recognize and worship God.

Fun facts

  • The Mount of Olives, specifically mentioned in this chapter, is the same location from which, according to Acts 1:11-12, Jesus ascended into heaven and to which the angels said He would return — creating a direct geographic link between this prophecy and the Christian hope of the second coming.
  • The 'Feast of Tabernacles' (or Booths), mentioned as a celebration that all nations would be required to keep, was originally an Israelite festival commemorating God's protection during the forty years in the wilderness — its extension to all nations symbolizes the universal inclusion of every people in the worship of God.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Zacarias 14:1The book's final chapter opens announcing the 'day of the Lord,' when Jerusalem's spoil would be divided in the midst of the besieged city itself.
  2. Zacarias 14:2The scene of the final war against Jerusalem — houses plundered, part of the population led into captivity — describes a brutal siege before the divine intervention the chapter announces next.
  3. Zacarias 14:3After the city falls partially, the Lord Himself steps into action, fighting against the invading nations as He had done before in historic battles.
  4. Zacarias 14:4The Mount of Olives splitting in half is an apocalyptic image of God's direct geographic intervention; this same mountain appears much later in the Gospel accounts as a significant place, though that does not imply a direct link between the two texts.
  5. Zacarias 14:5The people flee through a valley opened by the earthquake, a scene compared to a real earthquake from the days of King Uzziah — and God arrives accompanied by all His holy ones.
  6. Zacarias 14:6On that extraordinary day, there would be neither clear light nor total darkness — a day outside the normal pattern, hard to describe in ordinary terms.
  7. Zacarias 14:7Only the Lord Himself knows exactly how that day will unfold: neither an ordinary day nor night, with light appearing even at evening time, when it would normally grow dark.
  8. Zacarias 14:8'Living waters' flowing out of Jerusalem in two directions is an image of restoration much like paradise, a land that would enjoy abundant water all year round.
  9. Zacarias 14:9'There shall be one Lord, and his name one' is the book's most direct statement about God's oneness being recognized by the whole earth.
  10. Zacarias 14:10The geography around Jerusalem becomes a single plain, while the city itself is lifted up and remains inhabited in its exact place, its gates and towers clearly identified.
  11. Zacarias 14:11Jerusalem will finally live in safety, no longer under the threat of the total destruction ('utter destruction') that hung over her so many times in history.
  12. Zacarias 14:12The plague striking Jerusalem's enemies is described graphically: their flesh rotting away while they are still standing — an image of severe, visible judgment.
  13. Zacarias 14:13In the midst of the chaos, God causes such great confusion among the enemies themselves that they end up attacking one another without realizing it.
  14. Zacarias 14:14Even Judah gets drawn into this wartime confusion, but the final outcome is the accumulation of wealth from all the nations — gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance — on the winning side.
  15. Zacarias 14:15The same plague that strikes the enemy soldiers also strikes their war animals — horses, mules, camels, donkeys — nothing in the army escapes.
  16. Zacarias 14:16The 'feast of tabernacles' was an Israelite agricultural harvest celebration; the vision of survivors from every nation going up year after year to celebrate it in Jerusalem broadens this local feast to a universal scale.
  17. Zacarias 14:17After the victory, a new rule takes effect: any nation that does not go up to Jerusalem every year to worship the King will be left without rain.
  18. Zacarias 14:18Egypt, which normally does not depend on rain for its agriculture (it uses the waters of the Nile), would receive an equivalent plague if it also failed to take part in the celebration.
  19. Zacarias 14:19This refusal to go up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of tabernacles is described as the specific sin that would bring punishment on both Egypt and any other nation.
  20. Zacarias 14:20Even the most ordinary details of daily life, like the bells on the horses, would come to bear the inscription 'HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD,' showing that holiness would reach all of life, not just the temple.
  21. Zacarias 14:21The book ends with an image of total holiness: even the cooking pots in Jerusalem and Judah would be fit for sacred use, and no unclean trader would ever again operate in the house of the Lord.

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