1. Tue: Jeremiah 52
  2. Wed: Nehemiah 8-13
  3. Thu: Revelation 15-17
Friday · Week 50
The Later Prophets

Zechariah 9-11

Week 50 · about 10 min
  1. Sat: Ecclesiastes 9-12
  2. Sun: Deuteronomy 29-31
  3. Mon: Acts 24-26

Zechariah sees a humble king coming, God gathering his scattered people, and a shepherd who is rejected and paid off.

Thy King Cometh, Riding a Donkey

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Zechariah 9:9 (KJV)

About five hundred years before Palm Sunday, Zechariah pictures a king riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He’s humble, he brings salvation, and he speaks peace to the nations. Matthew quotes this when Jesus rides in. God calls the exiles “prisoners of hope,” which is a great phrase. “Ask ye of the LORD rain.” In chapter 11 Zechariah acts out the role of a shepherd. The people pay him off with “thirty pieces of silver,” and God tells him to throw it “to the potter.” Matthew connects that to Judas and the potter’s field.

Reflect: Are you a prisoner of hope or a prisoner of despair right now?

Zechariah 9

1The 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.)

2And also Hamath doth border thereon, Tyre and Zidon, for -- very wise!

3And Tyre doth build a bulwark to herself, And doth heap silver as dust, And gold as mire of out-places.

4Lo, the Lord doth dispossess her, And He hath smitten in the sea her force, And she with fire is consumed.

5See 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,

6And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod, And I have cut off the excellency of the Philistines.

7And 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.

8And I have pitched for My house a camp, Because of the passer through, and of the returner, And pass not through against them again doth an exactor, For, now, I have seen with My eyes.

9Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo, thy King doth come to thee, Righteous -- and saved is He, Afflicted -- and riding on an ass, And on a colt -- a son of she-asses.

10And I have cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, Yea, cut off hath been the bow of battle, And he hath spoken peace to nations, And his rule is from sea unto sea, And from the river unto the ends of earth.

11Also thou -- by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent thy prisoners out of the pit, There is no water in it.

12Turn back to a fenced place, Ye prisoners of the hope, Even to-day a second announcer I restore to thee.

13For I have trodden for Me Judah, A bow I have filled with Ephraim, And I have stirred up thy sons, O Zion, Against thy sons, O Javan, And I have set thee as the sword of a hero.

14And Jehovah doth appear for them, And gone forth as lightning hath His arrow, And the Lord Jehovah with a trumpet bloweth, And He hath gone with whirlwinds of the south.

15Jehovah of Hosts doth cover them over, And they consumed, and subdued sling-stones, Yea, they have drunk, They have made a noise as wine, And they have been full as a bowl, As corners of an altar.

16And saved them hath Jehovah their God In that day, as a flock of His people, For stones of a crown are displaying themselves over His ground.

17For what His goodness! and what His beauty! Corn the young men, And new wine the virgins -- make fruitful!

Zechariah 10

1They asked of Jehovah rain in a time of latter rain, Jehovah is making lightnings, And rain in showers He doth give to them. To each -- the herb in the field.

2Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for there is no shepherd.

3Against the shepherds did Mine anger burn, And against the he-goats I lay a charge, For inspected hath Jehovah of Hosts His flock, the house of Judah, And set them as His beauteous horse in battle.

4From him is a corner-stone, From him a nail, from him a battle-bow, From him goeth forth every exactor together.

5And they have been as heroes, Treading in mire of out-places in battle, And they have fought, for Jehovah is with them, And have put to shame riders of horses.

6And I have made mighty the house of Judah, And the house of Joseph I do save, And I have caused them to dwell, for I have loved them, And they have been as if I had not cast them off, For I am Jehovah their God, And I answer them.

7And Ephraim hath been as a hero, And rejoiced hath their heart as wine, And their sons see, and they have rejoiced, Rejoice doth their heart in Jehovah.

8I hist for them, and I gather them, For I have redeemed them, And they have multiplied as they did multiply.

9And I sow them among peoples, And in far-off places they remember Me, And they have lived with their sons, And they have turned back.

10And I have brought them back from the land of Egypt, And from Asshur I do gather them, And unto the land of Gilead and Lebanon I do bring them in, And there is not found for them space.

11And He hath passed over through the sea, And hath pressed and smitten billows in the sea, And dried up have been all depths of a flood, And brought down hath been the excellency of Asshur, And the rod of Egypt doth turn aside.

12And I have made them mighty in Jehovah, And in His name they walk up and down, An affirmation of Jehovah!

Zechariah 11

1Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

2Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

3A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

4Thus said Jehovah my God: ‘Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed is Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

6For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

7And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

8And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

9And I say, ‘I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

10And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

11and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it is a word of Jehovah.

12And I say unto them: ‘If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire -- thirty silverlings.

13And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them to the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

14And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

15And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

16For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

17Wo to the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword is on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.