In the eighth month, Heshvan, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord was with Zechariah, son of Berekhya, son of Ido, the prophet, saying:

The Lord was enraged with your fathers. Their city was destroyed, and they were exiled.

Nevertheless, say to them, the Jewish people: So said the Lord of hosts: Return to Me – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – and I will return to you, said the Lord of hosts. Let us renew the love between us. You take a step toward Me and I will take one toward you.

Do not be like your fathers, to whom the earlier prophets, before the destruction of the First Temple, called, saying: So said the Lord of hosts: Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil exploits; but they did not heed and they did not listen to Me – the utterance of the Lord.

Your fathers, where are they? They died, they were exiled, and they are no more; their sins did not help them. Next the verse states a contrary question, which was perhaps posed by the prophet’s audience in response to his query: And the prophets, would they live forever? Admittedly, our fathers died, but are the prophets who spoke to them still alive? They too passed away! What difference is there between them?

Zechariah replies in God’s name: The prophets themselves have indeed died, but My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? The prophecies of divine retribution that the prophets related to your fathers were fulfilled. They, your fathers, repented and they said: Just as the Lord of hosts devised to do to us, in accordance with our ways and in accordance with our exploits, so He did to us. Your fathers came to realize and acknowledge that the statements of the prophets were true, and that their effect was everlasting.

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shevat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord was with Zechariah, son of Berekhyahu, son of Ido, the prophet, saying:

I saw the night, and behold, I saw a man riding upon a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtles that were sprouting in the deep place, an irrigated valley, so that the myrtles grew well; and behind him there were three groups of horses: red, sorrel, a darkish red, or multicolored, and white.

I said to the angel who was conversing with me: What are these, my lord? The angel who spoke with me and responded to my questions said to me: I will show you what these are. On many occasions in this book, the prophet does not hear a direct prophecy, but rather an angel informs him of the word of God.

The man standing among the myrtles responded and said: These, the horses and the rider, who was the angel appointed over them, are those messengers whom the Lord sent to walk through the earth.

They, the horses, responded to the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtles and they said: We walked through the earth, and behold, the entire earth is settled and serene. Upon their return from their inspection of the world, they reported that the world was quiet and peaceful.

The angel of the Lord responded in prayer and said: Lord of hosts, the entire world is dwelling in their places in peace; until when will You not have compassion on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, with which You have been furious and have exiled the people for these seventy years?

The Lord responded to the angel that spoke with me with affirmative words, words of comfort.

The angel that spoke with me said to me: Proclaim, you must announce the word of God, saying: So said the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zealousness, and I will react with this zealousness to all those who impinge upon their honor,

and I am enraged with great rage at the nations that are at ease, for I was a little enraged with Israel, and I allowed their downfall in war, and yet they, the nations, contributed for evil. My account with Israel does not justify the great rejoicing of their surrounding enemies, their onslaught upon the ruins of Judah, and their despoiling of the corpses.

Therefore, so said the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; My House will be built in it – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – and a protective line, or a builder’s line, will be extended over Jerusalem, to defend it all around, and enable the city to thrive.

Again, proclaim another prophecy, saying: So said the Lord of hosts: My cities will again expand with prosperity, and the Lord will comfort Zion again, and will choose Jerusalem again.

I lifted up my eyes and I saw a prophetic vision, and behold, there were four horns, similar to the large battering rams used for breaching walls.

I said to the angel that spoke with me: What are these? What is the significance of these horns? He said to me: These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The ramming, smashing horns symbolize the enemies of Israel.

The Lord then showed me four craftsmen who work with hard materials.

I said: What are these coming to do? He said, saying, in these words: These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man could raise his head. The horns that you saw devastated and oppressed the land, until nobody dared raise his head. These craftsmen came to terrify them, to shock and break the horns, to cast down and remove the horns of the nations that raise a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.

I lifted my eyes, and I saw, and behold, a man walking with a measuring line in his hand. He was holding a long rope used for measuring areas of land.

I said: Where are you going? He said to me: To measure Jerusalem, to see how much is its width, and how much is its length. Jerusalem is undergoing a process of reconstruction, and I am going to prepare the plans for the building of the city.

Behold, the angel that spoke with me, who had told me where he was headed, emerges, and another angel emerges toward him,

and the sender of the angel says to him: Run, speak to this young man, this servant, the measurer. Alternatively, the angel that went out instructed the angel that spoke to the prophet to speak to “this young man,” a somewhat disparaging reference to Zechariah himself, saying: Jerusalem will be settled unwalled due to the multitude of men and animals within it. Jerusalem will not be contained, but will grow and spread out.

Instead of a wall, the city will have another means of protection, for I will be for it – the utterance of the Lord – a wall of fire to defend Jerusalem all around, and I will be in its midst for glory.

Woe, woe, a call of persuasion, designed to spur the listeners into action; flee, leave quickly, not necessarily due to a threat, from Babylonia, the land of the north, and return to your land – the utterance of the Lord – for I have spread you like the four directions of the heavens – the utterance of the Lord. You are scattered throughout all corners of the world.

Woe, the exiled Zion, escape, she who dwells with the daughter, the population, of Babylon.

For so said the Lord of hosts: In pursuit of glory, for the sake of your glory; alternatively, God provided me with the strength, and thereby also with the honor, and He sent me to the nations that plunder you, and my task is to warn them: For one who touches you, Israel, in order to harm you, it is as though he touches the pupil of his own eye. This very act will cause its own punishment.

For behold, I will wave My hand over them, the nations who persecute you, and they will be spoils for their servants, the Jews. And when you see these events coming to pass, you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me.

Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for here I come and I will dwell in your midst – the utterance of the Lord.

Many nations will accompany the Lord on that day, and they will become My people together with you, and I will dwell in your midst, and when you see that, you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me, Zechariah, to prophesy to you.

The Lord will bequeath his portion to Judah on the sacred land, as He will restore to Judah its inheritance, and He will again choose Jerusalem.

Hush, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is already roused from His abode of sanctity, the heavens, to save you and dwell among you.

He, God, showed me in a prophetic vision Yehoshua the High Priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the accuser, the highest prosecuting angel, standing on his right to accuse him to thereby prevent him from performing the Temple service.

The Lord said to the accuser: May the Lord rebuke you, the accuser, and you will not be allowed to continue to speak; and may the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. How can you speak evil against Yehoshua the High Priest? Is this man not a firebrand, a piece of wood that has begun to burn, salvaged from the fire of exile, or the destruction of the First Temple? Yehoshua was a survivor, perhaps the only one, of a dynasty of High Priests dating back to the First Temple period.

In the vision, Yehoshua was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel.

The angel was acting as a kind of minister or judge sitting on his throne, with servants standing before him. He, the angel, responded, and said to those standing before him, saying: Remove the filthy garments from upon him. He, the angel, said to him, Yehoshua: Behold, I have removed your iniquity from upon you, and have clothed you in clean garments. The filthy garments represent sin, and their exchange in the vision symbolizes purification.

I, Zechariah, said: Not only should his filthy garments be exchanged for clean ones, but let them even place a pure turban on his head. This is referring to the headgear of the High Priest, which was fashioned from an elongated woven piece of fabric that was wrapped many times around the head, like a turban. They placed the pure turban on his head and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord was standing, watching to ensure that all was done properly.

Here, Yehoshua was provided with a new opportunity. The angel of the Lord warned Yehoshua, saying:

So said the Lord of hosts: If you follow My ways, and if you keep My commission and judge My house, oversee the affairs of the Temple appropriately, as well as guard My courtyards, I will set you walking, you will be able to walk, among these standing, the angels that stand before God and are serving at Yehoshua’s trial. From now on you will not only be in command of the Temple in Jerusalem, on earth, but you will also have a place among the angels on high.

Hear now, Yehoshua the High Priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you, the heads of the priests who immigrated together with Zerubavel; as they are men of distinction, men of noble qualities; for behold, I bring My servant, Zemah. This is Zerubavel, the political leader of Judah. He is also called Zemah the Shoot, in 6:12.

For behold, the stone that I placed before Yehoshua has seven hues on one stone. This is a uniquely precious multicolored stone. And furthermore, behold, I am engraving its decorative etching – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In the vision, the stone represents Zerubavel’s role in the establishment of the Temple, the place which will atone for Israel’s sins in the future and elevate them spiritually.

On that day – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – when you, the High Priest, cooperate with My servant, the shoot, the sin of the land will be atoned for, and each of you will invite his neighbor beneath the vine and beneath the fig tree. This is an idyllic vision of a tranquil life, in which people will not be overly burdened and will therefore be able to invite guests to enjoy the shade under their fruit trees.

The angel that spoke with me returned and woke me like a man that is awakened from his sleep. Perhaps the previous vision caused the prophet to fall into a deep slumber, rendering this intervention necessary.

He said to me: What do you see? I said: I saw, and behold, a candelabrum fashioned of gold in its entirety, with a bowl of oil on its top, and its seven oil lamps of the candelabrum on it, like the candelabrum in the Temple. There are seven pipes through which oil flows into the bowl, for each of the seven lamps; alternatively, there are seven altogether, that are on its top.

Two olive trees are over it, adjacent to the candelabrum, one on the right of the bowl, and one on its left.

I answered and said to the angel that spoke with me, saying: What are these, my lord? What is their significance?

The angel that spoke with me responded and said to me: Don’t you know what these are? You are supposed to understand matters of this kind. And I said: No, my lord.

He responded and said to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord with Zerubavel, saying: Not by might, and not by power, but by My spirit, said the Lord of hosts. The vision of the candelabrum and the olive trees expresses the abundant blessing that will reach you not through military action but by the spirit of God. In the vision, everything happens as though of its own accord; the oil emerges from the olives and flows to the lamps, which are thereby kindled without human intervention. Just as in the vision, you too will not have to use force.

Who are you, great mountain, that you should stand here like a stumbling block, no matter how large you are? Before Zerubavel you will become a plain. He, Zerubavel, will take out the keystone, the stone that was laid before Yehoshua the High Priest, which symbolizes the construction of the Temple, and then everyone will respond, in honor of the stone, with loud shouts of: Grace, grace, to it.

The word of the Lord was with me, saying:

The hands of Zerubavel have founded this House with difficulty, and merely symbolically, and his hands will complete it, the construction, despite the delays; and you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you.

For who scorns the day of small things, a day on which no great events occur? They will now rejoice and see the lump of tinof the plumb line, a weight suspended from a string, used for measuring the straightness of walls, which is in the hand of Zerubavel. When they see Zerubavel with this measuring implement in hand, everyone will understand that the time has come to rebuild the Temple. These seven lamps, or the stone with seven facets, they are the eyes of the Lord, roving throughout the earth, supervising and illuminating the entire world.

I responded and said to him: I understand that the golden candelabrum represents the people of Israel, and I also comprehend the meaning of the lamps, but what are these two olive trees on the right of the candelabrum and on its left?

I responded a second time and I said to him in greater detail: What are these two olive branches that are beside the two golden pipes that empty the gold, the oil that has a golden appearance, from themselves?

He said to me, saying: Don’t you know what these are? I said: No, my lord, I still do not know.

He said: These are the two anointed ones, those anointed with olive oil. The olive represents Israel, while these two trees filled with bounty allude to the twin leaders of the generation, Zerubavel and Yehoshua the High Priest, who attend to, and are appointed to serve, the Lord of the entire land.

Again, I lifted my eyes and I saw, and behold, a scroll flying.

He said to me: What do you see? I said: I see a very large scroll flying; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.

He said to me: This is the curse that is going out over the face of the entire land, which is why it is so big; as anyone who steals was absolved from this curse, as it is written in the scroll; and anyone who takes an oath was absolved from this curse, as it is written in the scroll. Until now, everyone who stole or took a false oath had escaped the curse written in the scroll.

Now I took it, this scroll of the curse, out over the whole land – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – and it will arrive at the house of the thief and at the house of the one who takes an oath by My name falsely, and it will stay the night inside his house. The scroll will accompany all evil actions, and reach every place where punishment is due. And it will eliminate it, the house, and its wood and its stones. This is a serious warning. Some terrible deeds might have gone unpunished until now, but it must be known that the scroll of the curse is flying over the world, and it will reach every place where wickedness is performed.

The angel that spoke with me emerged and again said to me: Lift your eyes now and see: What is that which emerges and appears before your eyes?

I said: What is it? He said: That is the ephah, a large measuring vessel, that emerges. He, the angel, said: That is their eye, the eye that reveals the people’s wickedness, or punishment for their coveting eyes, throughout the land.

Behold, I saw a talent of lead that is elevated in the air, and I further saw that this one woman is sitting inside the ephah.

He, the angel, said: That woman in the midst of the measure is wickedness personified. He has cast her into the midst of the ephah, and he has cast the lead weight into her mouth, so that wickedness should be trapped and sealed.

I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women are emerging, and wind is blowing in their wings. Perhaps these winged women were angels or some other type of celestial being; for they have wings shaped like the wings of a stork; and they lifted the ephah between the earth and the heavens. These winged women were raising the measure that contained the woman inside it, so that it was between the heaven and the earth.

I said to the angel that spoke with me: Where are they taking the ephah?

He said to me: To build her a house in the land of Shinar, Babylonia. It, the house, will be established, and she will be placed there on her base, in her place. The woman inside the measure represents wickedness and the curse that goes forth over the land, e.g., coarseness and hatred. Her placement in a measuring vessel expresses the idea that quarrels and hatred are caused by monetary dealings. The moving of the curse from the Land of Israel to Babylonia, where Jews resided at the time, indicates that the Land of Israel is no longer cursed, and that the curse has moved to Babylonia.

Again, I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots are emerging from between the two mountains before my eyes; and the mountains are not ordinary mountains, but mountains of bronze.

The first chariot had red horses, probably a reddish-brown color, the second chariot had black horses,

the third chariot had white horses, and the fourth chariot had mottled [beruddim], striped, or perhaps spotted like hail [barad], bay, gray and somewhat reddish, horses. Alternatively, the final term is a reference to prominent horses.

I responded and said to the angel that spoke with me: What are these, my lord?

The angel responded and said to me: These four chariots are going out to the four directions of the heavens, from standing before the Lord of the entire earth.

That chariot which has the black horses, they are going out to the northern land, and the white horses go out after them, after the black ones; alternatively, they went out to the west. And the mottled go out to the southern land.

The bays emerged and sought to go, to walk about the earth, not in any particular direction. He said to them upon their departure: Go walk about the earth, and they walked about the earth. Two chariots then departed in a defined direction, representing the great kingdoms that resided to the north and the south, namely, Babylonia and Egypt, which affected the residents of the Land of Israel. The kingdoms represented by the other two chariots did not have great influence over the inhabitants of the land.

He, the angel, summoned me in haste, and spoke to me, saying: Behold, those horses emerging to the northern land have arrived there and have eased My spirit, calmed My anger and performed My will, in the northern land. Although the prophecy in general deals with higher forces, it is connected to an earthly time and place. While the Land of Israel is in the center, the Jewish community in the northern land, Babylonia, would experience a calming of God’s wrath, and remain there for many peaceful years.

The word of the Lord was with me, saying:

Take a donation from the people who came from the exile, from Heldai, from Toviya, and from Yedaya, important and wealthy individuals. And you shall come on that day and come to the house of Yoshiya son of Tzefanya from Babylon. The prophet was commanded to take donations from these people.

Take silver and gold, and make crowns with them, and place a crown on the head of Yehoshua son of Yehotzadak, the High Priest.

Say to him, stating: So said the Lord of hosts, saying: Behold a man, Zemah is his name.This is apparently referring to Zerubavel, the man who sprouted [tzamaĥ] in Babylonia. And he will not receive power from others, but will sprout [yitzmah·] from his place, from his own roots and soil, and build the Sanctuary of the Lord.

He will build the Sanctuary of the Lord, and he will assume majesty, kingship, and he will sit and rule upon his throne. The man called Zemah will be the political ruler, and there will be a priest, Yehoshua, alongside his throne, with authority in spiritual matters; and yet peaceful counsel will be between the two of them.

The crowns will also be for Helem, for Toviya, for Yedaya, and for Hen son of Tzefanya, as a memorial in the Sanctuary of the Lord. In addition to the crown given to the High Priest, crowns will be placed in the Temple as an everlasting memorial for important figures of Israel.

The initial stages of the construction of the Temple were beset by difficulties. It was not a grand building at all; however, this will change in the future: The distant ones will come and build in the Sanctuary of the Lord, and as the building is made grander and you see this prophecy coming to pass, you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. It, this prophecy, shall be, shall come to pass, if you will heed the voice of the Lord your God.

It was in the fourth year of King Darius, during the construction of the Second Temple, that the word of the Lord was with Zechariah on the fourth of the ninth month, according to the ancient numbering of the months, in Kislev, the name by which it is known to the present day.

The prophet provides the background to this prophecy: This occurred when Saretzer and Regem Melekh and his men, individuals from Babylonia, probably community leaders, sent a messenger or a letter to the House of God [Beit El] to implore the Lord, to ask a question of God. Some maintain that Beit El is the name of a third person.

They were saying to the priests of the House of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Should I weep in the fifth month, Av, abstaining from physical enjoyment, as I have done these many years? Certain fast days were established after the destruction of the First Temple, the most important of which was the Ninth of Av. Now that the Temple has been rebuilt, the members of the Diaspora ask whether they are still obligated to mourn and fast.

Since the priests did not have an answer to the question, it was presented to the prophet, who was expected to know how to determine such matters. The word of the Lord of hosts was with me, saying:

Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month, on the Ninth of Av, and in the seventh month, probably the Fast of Gedalya, on the third of Tishrei, which marks the end of the Jewish community in Israel after the destruction of the First Temple, these seventy years that you observed the fast days, is it for Me that you fasted? These dates were not commemorated for My sake.

When you eat, and when you drink, is it not you who eats and you who drinks? When you fast, you do so for your own sake, just as when you eat and drink you are satisfying your own needs. In the same manner that you do no harm when you eat and drink, you do not perform any good when you fast. Since it was you and not I who established these fasts, this is not a question that I should answer directly.

God does not want fasts; rather, is it not the words that the Lord proclaimed through the Early Prophets, when Jerusalem was settled in its glory and tranquil, and its surrounding cities, the south, and the plain were settled in peace and tranquility? The important matter is the call of the prophets to return to God.

The word of the Lord was with Zechariah, saying:

So stated the Lord of hosts, saying: What is required of you is that you should administer true justice, and act with kindness and mercy with one another;

do not exploit the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor, preventing them from receiving what is due them; and do not think evil of one another in your hearts. These directives were issued by God through the Early Prophets, albeit in different words.

But they, the inhabitants of Judah, refused to listen, and turned a rebellious shoulder, with a shrug that expressed their disinterest, and hardened their ears from hearing.

They made their hearts as adamant, probably an extremely hard precious stone, so as not to hear the Torah and the matters that the Lord of hosts sent by His spirit through the Early Prophets. None of these matters penetrated their hearts, and therefore there was great rage from the Lord of hosts.

It was that just as He called out to them to amend their ways, and they did not heed, so they would call out and I would not heed, said the Lord of hosts.

Due to their sins, I strewed, scattered, them among all the nations that do not know them, and the land became desolate in their wake from passerby and from traveler; they have rendered the desired land a desolation through their own actions.

The word of the Lord of hosts was, saying:The following prophecies contain words of comfort and encouragement for Israel. The beginning of the construction of the Temple in the prophet’s lifetime inspired his vision of the future good of the land, the world as a whole, and people’s lives in general.

So said the Lord of hosts: I became zealous for Zion with great zealousness of love. Due to My fierce love of Jerusalem, I will take special care of the city. I have been zealous for it with great fury. I will fight Jerusalem’s enemies, and I will destroy them speedily and with great might.

So said the Lord: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the holy mountain.

So said the Lord of hosts: There will once more be days of tranquility, peace, and welfare, when old men and old women will again sit in the squares of Jerusalem, to warm themselves in the sun, and to chat together, each man with his cane in his hand due to advanced old age. This refers to individuals who are too old to walk without the aid of a cane or the like. In a place where conditions are hard, people do not live long lives. In the quiet, safe surroundings depicted here, elderly men and women will be able to relax without worry and without suffering from illness.

Not only will people of advanced years returning from exile sit peacefully in the streets of Jerusalem, but new life will develop in the capital: The squares of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its squares. This is a description of a place where peace and general welfare prevail, and life proceeds with tranquility.

In Zechariah’s time, Jerusalem was a small, poor city, and the lives of the residents were difficult in all respects. So said the Lord of hosts: If it will be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, so it also will be wondrous in My eyes as well – the utterance of the Lord of hosts. It is wondrous how Jerusalem will thrive with life and be blessed and calm. Jerusalem will be so dramatically transformed that everyone will marvel at it, including God. This statement about God is highly unusual, but this prophecy is so full of life, inner joy, and emotion that the prophet goes beyond the normal limits of acceptable expression.

So said the Lord of hosts: Behold, I am saving My people from the land of the east and from the land of the setting sun. At that time, there was already a Jewish Diaspora in many countries, though not all of them were well known. God will return Israel to its land.

I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; they will be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Unlike the period of the First Temple, when the prophets had to repeatedly castigate Israel for the lack of truth and righteousness in their midst, in the era of the future redemption, people will come and rebuild Jerusalem sincerely and in the appropriate manner.

So said the Lord of hosts: May your hands be strong and powerful, you who hear, in these days, these words from the mouths of the prophets, that were there to announce to you, on the day on which the foundation of the House of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the time had come for the Sanctuary to be built. In that period, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were all active, and perhaps other prophets as well. They declare to the people that they are at the beginning of a new era, and should not hesitate to build the Temple.

For before those days of construction, there were no sufficient wages for people, and there was no payment for the labor of a beast. All lived under great duress. For those going and coming to and from the city there was no peace or security from the enemy. The roads were not safe, and passersby constantly feared attack. And I set, incited, each person against his neighbor. Jerusalem was full of ruins, and the few people who settled in the city lived in poverty and quarreled with each other.

But now, I will not be like the early days, toward the remnant of this people – the utterance of the Lord of hosts. Instead, I will begin a new era.

For the seed that I will sow is of peace. Peace will sprout from the ground and blessing will descend from heaven, the vine will yield its fruit, and the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew. I will bequeath all these to the remnant of this people.

It shall be that just as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing; do not fear, and may your hands be strong to continue building.

For so said the Lord of hosts: Just as I devised to do harm to you when your fathers angered Me, declaring through My prophets that Jerusalem would fall and the Temple would be destroyed – said the Lord of hosts – and I did not reconsider, and those prophecies came to pass,

so too, I have again devised in these days to benefit Jerusalem and the house of Judah; do not fear. The previous period has ended, and a new era has begun.

Accordingly, these are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth, each person with his neighbor, act honestly in trade and other business dealings; administer truth, justice, and peace, harmony, in your gates, instead of condoning the travesties of justice and the contemptible judges that were widespread in the First Temple period.

Do not think evil in your hearts, each man against his neighbor. In addition to refraining from disputes and lies, try not to think badly of others. In a competitive world, people do not plan only how to perform their own work in the best possible manner, but also how they can harm their competitors. Make every effort to avoid doing this. And do not love a false oath, as I hate all these – the utterance of the Lord. In the new era, God will grant you blessings, and you will improve your behavior. These are words of persuasion and encouragement delivered in a pleasant manner.

The word of the Lord of hosts was with me, saying:

So said the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the Seventeenth of Tamuz; the fast of the fifth month, the Ninth of Av; the fast of the seventh month, meaning the Fast of Gedalya; and the fast of the tenth month, the Tenth of Tevet; each will be for gladness and for joy, and for happy festivals for the house of Judah. This, finally, is the answer to the question of the exiles as to whether a fast which commemorates the destruction of the First Temple should still be observed. Zechariah explains to them that since good times are coming to Israel, these fast days will not be annulled; people will still commemorate them, but in the opposite manner, as days of joy and festivity. Therefore, love truth and peace. The purpose of fast days is for people to come together, to deal with matters of public need, and try to remedy the flaws of society. Consequently, the prophet emphasizes that even when the fast days become days of celebration, it will be necessary to cleave to truth and establish peace between people, rather than engage in raucous pursuits.

So said the Lord of hosts: Diverse peoples and the inhabitants of many cities as well will yet come.

And the inhabitants of one city will go to the other, saying: Let us go to implore the Lord, to pray before God in His Temple, and to seek the Lord of hosts; and the latter will reply: I, too, will go.

Many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to implore the Lord. People will be inspired to come to Jerusalem from various places around the world. The idea that, in the future, nations will gather together and undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem appears elsewhere in the book of Zechariah (see 2:15, 14:16). Here, by contrast, it is depicted as beginning with an initiative of individuals. Private people will leave their homes, as they will be inspired to pray before God. In this manner, entire nations will ultimately arrive in Jerusalem.

So said the Lord of hosts: In those days, ten men of all the languages of the nations of the world will take hold; they will take hold of the corner of the garment of a Judean man, saying: Let us go with you, guide us, lead us, direct us, as we have heard that God is with you. We wish to join you, connect with you, and assist you.

A prophecy of the word of the Lord, referred to here as a burden [massa], as at times prophets experienced prophecy like a heavy load: In the land of Hadrakh, a state near Hamat in Syria, and Damascus, shall be His resting place. God’s holy residence will spread northward, for the eye of man, and especially the eye of all the tribes of Israel, who are closest to Him, is toward the Lord.

Hamat, a city in Syria, too will be in its borders, it will be included in the region of God; and also Tyre and Sidon, which were great centers of commerce and art, will be in its borders. Although it, Tyre, and perhaps Sidon as well, is very wise, they will nevertheless be conquered by Israel.

Tyre, which was originally an island, built itself a fortress, which helped protect it from attackers; it amassed silver like dirt, and piled up fine gold like the mud of the streets. Tyre was an island with a fortified causeway connecting it to the mainland. Its great wealth was founded on it being a great trading nation.

Behold, the Lord will impoverish, or destroy it, and He will strike its forces on the sea, as the city’s defenses were based on the sea and its military navy; and it, Tyre, will be consumed by fire.

Ashkelon will see Tyre’s fate and fear, Gaza will also see and tremble greatly. These Philistine cities likewise depended to a great extent on trade and foreign relations, albeit not on the same scale as Tyre and Sidon. And the city of Ekron will tremble greatly too, because its expectation was confounded. When its inhabitants see that Tyre is lost, they will realize that their own conquest and downfall is imminent. A king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be settled, but will become desolate.

A mongrel people, mixtures of different nations, will dwell in Ashdod, and in general I will eliminate the pride of the Philistines.

I will remove his blood, the blood spilled by the Philistine people, from his mouth. All such blood will be removed from the entire region of the Philistines. His repugnant things, his idols, will be removed from between his teeth, and he too will remain for our God. The entire region of the coastal cities will be transferred to Israel’s control. He will be like a chieftain in Judah. The former region of Philistine residence will become an important district for the leaders of Judah. And the Philistine Ekron will be like Yevus, a reference to Jerusalem. In other words, it will be turned into a Jewish city.

I will set a guard for My house, the house of Israel, against trespassers and travelers, foreign armies, and no oppressor will pass through them anymore, for I have seen now the destruction of the Philistine coastal cities and their conquest by Israel with My eyes; or, we will merit to see it with our own eyes.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; cheer, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king will come to you; he is righteous and saved from distress. He, the king, is humble, and riding upon a donkey, on the foal of a female donkey. He will not ride on a horse in the usual manner of kings, but will arrive on a young donkey, just like the first redeemer, Moses our teacher, when he came to Egypt to redeem Israel.

I will eliminate battle chariots from Ephraim, and horses of war I will likewise cut off from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be eliminated; he, that king, will speak peace to the nations, and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

You too, daughter of Zion, for the blood of your covenant, which began Israel’s relationship with God, I have released your prisoners from the pit in which there is no water.

Return to security, to the fortress where you will be protected and fortified, prisoners of hope, who have nothing left but hope; today too, I declare that I will return double the amount of good to you. I will send you a king of redemption who will give you tidings of double your previous good.

For I bend Judah for Me like a bow; I fully draw a bow of Ephraim, I will fill Israel with strength; I will rouse your children, Zion, against your children, Yavan, and will set you, Zion, like the sword of the valiant.

The Lord will appear over them, the children of Israel, and His arrow will emerge like the lightning bolt, and destroy their enemies; and the Lord God will sound the shofar, as in war, and He will go with the storms to the south, the southern edge of the land.

The Lord of hosts will protect them in their wars; they will devour and conquer their enemies like a slingshot, and they will drink and clamor like one who gets excited after drinking wine, or like the fizz of wine; they shall be filled with the blood of war and victory, like the basins in which blood from offerings is collected, or like the corners of the altar, upon which the blood of offerings was sprinkled.

The Lord their God will save them on that day as is fitting for the flock, His people, for they will be like the jewels of a crown, precious stones fixed in a royal crown, brandished over His land.

For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty? This is a reference to the people, the king, that day, or the fruit of the land. There will be grain for the young men, and new wine, before it has fermented, or after it has fermented slightly, will make the young women talk, or raise their spirits.

Ask rain of the Lord, even at the time of the late rain, toward the end of winter: the Lord makes lightning and He will give them a rain shower; to each man there will be vegetation in the field.

For the teraphim, statuettes used as idols, spoke nothingness, the sorcerers envisioned lies, and the dreams speak falsehood. They comfort with futility; the dreamers predicted false comfort to Israel, and their listeners relied on them. Therefore, they traveled, alternatively, they were uprooted this way and that, like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd for them.

Not only are those who prophesy falsely held guilty, but My wrath is also enflamed against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel, or the rulers of the nations, and I will reckon with the billy goats, who lead the herd, lord over them, and influence them. All these will be removed from their positions of authority, as the Lord of hosts Himself has reckoned with His flock, the house of Judah, and remembered them for the better, and has rendered it like a horse whose glory is in war, instead of passive sheep, subjugated by all.

A cornerstone of the house, the foundation stone, or a tower at the corner of the city wall, will be from it, the nation itself, from it a post of a building, from it a bow of war; and then from it every oppressor will be gone together. All the nation’s oppressors will be removed from its midst.

They, the sons of Judah, will be like the mighty treading in the mud of the streets in war. They will crush their enemies like dust and mud. And they will make war, because the Lord is with them, and they will humiliate the enemy riders of horses.

I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph; I will return them to their place, for I have had mercy on them and it will be as if I had not forsaken them and had never left them; as I am the Lord their God, and I will respond to them now, at the time of the redemption.

Ephraim will be like the valiant, and their hearts will rejoice as with wine; their children will see and rejoice, their hearts will exult in the Lord.

I will whistle to them and I will gather them, like a shepherd whistles to gather his sheep, for I have redeemed them; they will increase as they have increased in the past, or: They shall increase greatly.

I have sown them among the peoples, and in the distant places they will remember Me, they will answer My call and they will live with their children; and will return.

I will return them from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; I will bring them to the land of Gilad and Lebanon, and it will not be sufficient for them, all the exiles who will return.

Trouble will pass through the sea and waves will strike the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry, the pride of Assyria will be taken down, and the staff, the rule, of Egypt will depart.

I will strengthen them, Israel, in the Lord, and they will walk in His name – the utterance of the Lord.

Open your doors, the entrances that lead into you, forest of Lebanon; alternatively, Lebanon is a reference to the Temple, and the prophet is calling for its doors to be opened for the enemy, and fire will consume your cedars.

Wail, juniper, one of the trees of Lebanon, for the cedar, a tree that grows to great heights in Lebanon, has fallen, for the mighty trees are despoiled; wail, oaks of Bashan, for the fortified forest, thick with trees crowded close together, has come down.

There is heard the sound of the wailing of the shepherds, because their pasture, which was covered with vegetation, is despoiled, and there is heard the sound of the roar of young lions, because the thicket of the Jordan is despoiled.

So said the Lord my God to me: Shepherd the flock of sheep that is not cultivated for milk or wool, but mainly for slaughter,

whose buyers will kill them, without feeling guilty for killing the animals; and whose sellers say: Blessed is the Lord, and I will become wealthy. The seller is not bothered by their slaughter either; and their own shepherds will not pity them. No care is shown toward the slaughtered flock; the buyers slaughter them, the sellers are happy to be rid of them, and the shepherds have no mercy on them at all.

For I will not have compassion any longer for the inhabitants of the land, who are compared to neglected sheep – the utterance of the Lord; behold, I will deliver the people, each into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king. People will oppress each other, and the king himself is likely to be the worst offender of all. And they will thereby beat, smash to pieces, the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.

The prophet relates: I shepherded the flock that is for slaughter, as I was commanded in my prophetic vision, indeed they were the poor of the flock, the most miserable specimens. And I took for Myself two staffs, one I called Pleasantness, and one I called Injurers, symbolic names that express different treatment of the sheep. And I herded the flock. The shepherd-leader must know when to deal gently with his flock and when to strike them.

I removed the three other shepherds who were taking care of the flock in one month, and My soul became impatient with them, I could not bear the flock and its shepherds, and their soul also loathed [bah·] Me. The word baĥala is perhaps a deliberate jumbling of the letters of ĥovelim, Injurers, the name of one of the staffs in the previous verse.

I said: I will not shepherd you anymore. I absolve Myself of further responsibility for your care, and therefore the dying will die, and the lost will be lost, and as for the remaining ones that did not leave the flock, each one will eat the other’s flesh.

I took my staff, the one called Pleasantness, and I broke it, to breach My covenant that I made with all the peoples, in which I forbade them from harming My flock.

It, the covenant, was breached on that day, as only the staff called Injurers remained; and the poor of the flock that heed Me, who follow my actions and listen to me, knew that it was so, for it is the word of the Lord.

I said to them, the anonymous owners of the flock: I tended the flock with the aid of the two staffs. Perhaps I was not greatly successful, as I was unable to rescue and rehabilitate them, but I tried to lead them to the best of my ability. Now, if it is good in your eyes, give me my fee, and if not, stop. I cannot force you to pay me. They weighed my fee, thirty silver shekels. Although the meaning of all the various details of this symbolic event are obscure, and have been interpreted in different ways, it is apparently referring to some sort of ruler of Israel who no longer has the strength to lead, and consequently his flock is left on its own. Nevertheless, he is granted some reward in gratitude for his services.

The Lord said to me: Do not use this silver, but toss it to the craftsman, give it to a potter, perhaps to melt the silver, together with the precious cloak [eder] with which I was distinguished over them, the flock. In other words: And also the fine robe [aderet] with which I was honored, or the honor I removed from the flock. Take away from the people the splendor that enwraps them. I took the thirty silver shekels and I tossed it into the House of the Lord, to the craftsman. The silver pieces were placed in the Temple of God.

I broke my second staff, Injurers. When the shepherd lacks even the symbols of control, he resigns his post entirely. Among other consequences, this act served to breach the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. This is probably not referring to Zechariah’s own period, but to an era that preceded him, or some future time.

The Lord said to me: Furthermore, take the accoutrements, garments, of an incompetent shepherd, a failure.

For behold, I am establishing a shepherd, a terrible leader, in the land. He will not reckon with the lost, he will not count or worry about those sheep that are lost, and he will not seek the young sheep, and he will not heal the broken, those with broken limbs; and he will not feed the standing, those that do not feed themselves, but he himself will eat the flesh of the fat, and then he will break off their hooves, for his own use. The shepherd will take no interest in the welfare of his flock. Furthermore, every so often he will grab one of the sheep for his own needs.

The prophet issues a lamentation for the leadership of Israel. As stated above, it is unclear to which historical period this is referring. Woe! The worthless shepherd, the leader who lacks all power and effectiveness, who abandons the flock; a sword of death will be on his arm, and in his right eye; his arm will wither, and his right eye will be blinded. Zechariah depicts a leadership that is apathetic about its role, and that takes advantage of the people for its own benefit. When someone, perhaps the prophet himself, tries to guide and fashion the correct form of leadership as, in the parable, the proper balance between the staffs of Pleasantness and Injurers, his efforts are to no avail. The leaders on the lower levels abandon the main leader and no one wants to carry on. The head leader also departs, and only the worthless remain, with their pretentions of leadership, although they are nothing but a group of exploiters. Ultimately, the people are left defenseless, and they fight among themselves.

The prophecy of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The utterance of the Lord, who spread the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, as He created and controls the entire world, not only the larger systems, and formed the spirit of man within him, and cares for each and every person individually:

Behold, I will render Jerusalem a cup of poison for all the surrounding peoples. There will come a day when Jerusalem, itself in travail, will serve as a cup of bitterness, that is, a focal point for the suffering of all those who attempt to provoke and fight it. And it will also be incumbent upon Judah to be in the siege against Jerusalem. Judah will be obligated to join the siege against Jerusalem.

It shall be on that day, I will render Jerusalem a stone of heavy burden for all the peoples; all its bearers, who attempt to lift that stone, will be lacerated, and all the nations of the earth will gather against it in order to remove it, as it will be a stumbling block for all the nations.

On that day – the utterance of the Lord – I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness. The horses will become confused, while their riders will lose their sanity and be unable to wage war. And in contrast, I will open My eyes toward the house of Judah, to protect them, and every horse of the peoples who rise up against Israel I will strike with blindness. Jerusalem will be isolated, as foreign nations will arrive and force the inhabitants of Judah to join the war against the city.

Then the chieftains of Judah, who did not really want this war, will say in their heart: Strengthen for me, inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the Lord of hosts their God. We hope that the residents of Jerusalem will be strengthened, and that the siege fails.

On that day I will render the chieftains of Judah like a pan or pot of fire burning in the wood, like a torch of fire alight in sheaves, and they will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, and Jerusalem will again sit in its place, permanently, in Jerusalem. The residents of the city will neither be removed nor exiled.

The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, and give them strength, so that the splendor of the house of David, which comprised not only the immediate royal family but all the descendants of the royal line, who apparently formed a distinct, powerful group, and the splendor of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be ascendant over Judah. This indicates that there was a competition of sorts between the inhabitants of Judah and those of Jerusalem.

On that day, the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the weak among them, their weakest members, on that day will be mighty like David, and the house of David shall be like a divine being, like the angel of the Lord that marches before them.

It shall be on that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem to besiege the city.

I will pour a spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as they will turn to Me in prayer. And they will look to Me because of the one who was stabbed; the enemies stabbed to death a certain unnamed person; and they, the residents of Jerusalem, will lament for him, like the lamentation over an only child, and be embittered over him, as one is embittered over his firstborn who has passed away; this death will evoke more than the ordinary sorrow over the loss of a loved one.

On that day, the lamentation in Jerusalem will be great like the lamentation of Hadad Rimon in the valley of Megidon, a known event at that time. Since the person who will be killed is a hero of Israel or a king, there will be a public lamentation.

The land will lament, each family alone. Each of the many families that will gather together will sit by itself, in an organized, modest manner: The family of the house of David alone, and their women alone, as the men and women will mourn separately; the family of the house of Natan alone, and their women alone. The identity of the house of Natan is unknown. It is also unclear whether these families existed at the time of the prophecy, or are from the distant past or future.

The family of the house of Levi alone, and their women alone; the family of the Shimiites alone, and their women alone. These are apparently noble families of Jerusalem, such as the royal house, the house of priests, and the like.

Other families will also participate in the mourning: All the families not listed here that remain, each family alone, and their women alone.

On that day, the day of the redemption, there will be a fountain of water opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as a spring will burst open from the city, which will serve for purification and for sprinkling. As detailed in the Torah, those who are ritually impure through contact with a corpse are rendered pure by being sprinkled with water of purification which contains the ashes of a red heifer.

It shall be on that day – the utterance of the Lord of hosts – that I will eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will not be remembered any longer. At that time, idolatry was widespread in the world, to the extent that even those who did not worship idols were at least familiar with their names. Zechariah prophesies that in the future people will stop believing in such false gods, and their names will lose all meaning, vanish from the world, and be forgotten. And I also will remove the false prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. Some explain that prophecy in general, even that of true prophets, will lose its significance to the public.

In the First Temple period, false prophets were active alongside true prophets, and although not everyone accepted the statements of the prophets, all respected prophecy as an institution. This was about to change: It shall be that when one will thereafter prophesy, when someone is suddenly caught up in spiritual ecstasy and starts to prophesy, his father and his mother who bore him, the people closest to him, will say to him: You shall not live, because you spoke falsehood in the name of the Lord. Since prophecy will cease, one who prophesies will be considered a charlatan, even a dangerous person. And his father and his mother who bore him will stab him for his prophesying, for his claiming to be a prophet.

It shall be on that day, that the prophets will be ashamed, each of his vision that he prophesies. Prophets will be ashamed of their visions, as prophecy will be considered an embarrassment. And they will not don a cloak of hair, a remarkably plain garment traditionally worn by prophets, in order to deceive and hide their status as prophets.

But He will say: I am not a prophet; rather, I am a cultivator of the earth, a simple farmer, as a person purchased me in my youth. I was acquired to work with chattel and property when I was still young. Not only will the prophet, a man of the spirit and a visionary, not wish to prophesy, he will even deny that he was ever a prophet.

One other person will say to him: What are those wounds between your arms? Occasionally, when they claimed to be receiving the prophetic spirit, false prophets would act in an unruly manner, lacerating and perhaps even beating themselves. When they see the wounds on his body, they will ask him: If you are indeed a simple man, why do you have these marks? Then he, the prophet, will say: That is the wound which I received when I was beaten in the house of my friends.

Sword of war, or the sword of a plague, rouse against My shepherd, leader, and punish him, and awake against the man who is My friend, the important people, God’s colleagues, as it were – the utterance of the Lord of hosts; strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered in all directions and left rudderless; and I will turn My hand against the novices. I will smite the shepherd’s assistants as well. The current leadership will be entirely wiped out.

It shall be in all the land – the utterance of the Lord – that two portions of it will be eliminated and expire, two-thirds of the population of the world will perish; and the last third alone will remain in it.

I will bring the surviving third through the fire, and I will refine them as one refines and purifies silver; I will test them as one tests gold, in order to purify it thoroughly. Finally, after all those who are unsuitable have been removed, he, who has passed all the tests, will call in My name, and I will answer him. I said: They are My people, and they for their part will say: The Lord is my God.

Behold, a day of judgment of the Lord is coming, and your spoils will be divided in your midst. Jerusalem will be conquered and its spoils apportioned within the city itself.

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem for the devastating war, and the city will be captured by enemies, the houses plundered, and the women lain with by enemy soldiers who will enter their homes; half of the city will depart into exile, and the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. The enemy will not succeed in exiling all of them.

The Lord will emerge, reveal Himself, and make war against those nations, like the day that He made war on the day of battle, when He came to rescue His people in the past.

His feet will stand, that is, the wonders of God will be seen, on that day on the Mount of Olives that is before Jerusalem from the east, the range of hills east of Mount Moriah, and the Mount of Olives will split in its midst, due to an earthquake, toward east and toward west. The mountain will split from east to west, so that it will be a very great valley. The gap between the two halves of the mountain will increase over time until it forms a large chasm, and thus half of the mountain will move to the north, and half of it will move to the south. The city of Jerusalem will be split into two.

You will flee to the valley of the mountains outside Jerusalem; for the valley of the mountains will reach a place called Atzel; you will flee, just as you fled from the great earthquake which occurred in the days of Uziya king of Judah, an event that remained in the collective memory many years later. In the future there will be another event on a similar scale, and the Lord my God will come; His revelation will be discernible and all will know that God has arrived, and all of His holy ones, the various types of angels in the camp of the Divine Presence, will be with you, Israel or Jerusalem.

It shall be on that day, there will not be clear light for people, pleasant or unpleasant. Some explain that there will neither be ordinary light nor even unpleasant light, nor cold and darkness. Rather, the light that will be revealed at that time is one with which we are not currently familiar.

There will be one day, the day of the redemption, it will be known to the Lord alone; alternatively, the verse means that once this day arrives, all will know that it is the day of God. And it will be not day and not night, but a mixture of both, or an entirely different category; and at evening time there will be light. The current familiar division between day and night will not exist at that time.

The fact that the city will be split into two does not mean that it will be destroyed. On the contrary, it will take on a new form: It shall be on that day that spring water will emerge from Jerusalem, from the cleft. Jerusalem will be the watershed line: Half of it will flow to the eastern sea, the Dead Sea, and the other half of it to the western sea, the Mediterranean; it will be in the summer and in the winter, like a perennial stream or a river that flows all year round.

Then the Lord will be King over the entire earth; on that day the Lord will be one and His name one. There are many people who believe in God to a certain extent, but they do not know which name to call Him, and therefore there are numerous names for God, different opinions, and various religions. In the future, just as He will be one, so too, all will call Him by a single name.

It, this river, which according to depictions elsewhere will emerge from the Temple itself, will surround the entire land as a plain, from Geva to Rimon, south of Jerusalem. It will be raised, the city will be raised to a height, or elevated in status, and be settled permanently, steadily, in its rightful place, from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. Some of these places in Jerusalem are familiar from the books of Jeremiah and Nehemiah as well.

They will live in it, in Jerusalem, and there will be no more destruction, and Jerusalem will live in security and peace.

Since God Himself will stand as a man of war to protect Jerusalem, the enemies will die from a strange plague. This will be the plague with which the Lord will afflict all the peoples that deployed, gathered to battle, against Jerusalem: His flesh will molder while he is standing on his feet. Sometimes skin can rot due to lack of movement, when an injured person is unable to rise from his sickbed, whereas here the flesh will waste away while the victims are standing up. And his eyes will molder in their sockets and his tongue will molder in his mouth. Someone suffering in this manner yearns for death to release him from his pain.

It shall be on that day, when this plague occurs, the panic of the Lord will be great among them, and each man will grasp the hand of his neighbor in order to escape from the place of danger, and his hand will rise against the hand of his neighbor; they will lift up their hands against each other.

And also Judah will wage war against Jerusalem. Judah and Jerusalem will be controlled by different governments, and they will battle against each other (see above, 12:2). And the riches of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, as all the property of those who died in the war will be transferred to Israel: gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.

Not only men in the enemy camp will die, but so will there be the plague of the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and all the animals that will be in those camps, like this plague.

It shall be that all who remain from all the nations that came against Jerusalem, after some died in battle and others from disease, will go up each and every year to prostrate themselves before the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. All the nations who sought to fight Jerusalem will acknowledge God and undertake a yearly pilgrimage to the Temple Mount. They will do so not only of their own goodwill, but also due to the threat of punishment.

It shall be that any one of the families of the land that does not go up to Jerusalem to prostrate himself before the King, the Lord of hosts, due to the great distance, the heavy expenses involved, or any other reason, then the rain will not be upon them, their land.

If the family of Egypt does not go up to Jerusalem, and does not come, it will not be upon them. In any case, they will have no rain, as produce in Egypt grows through the irrigation of the Nile, not rainfall, and therefore the withholding of rain has no real significance for Egypt. Instead, there will be the plague upon them, a drought or the consumption of flesh (see verse 12), with which the Lord will afflict the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

On that day, when people from all over the world come to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival, they will bring ornaments, jewelry, and gifts to the house of God, until there will be even on the bells of the horses a written dedication: Holy to the Lord, and as there will not be enough room in the Temple for all the gifts, various functions will be found for them: The pots that are in the House of the Lord will be used like the bowls before the altar. Even if only some of the visiting masses bring offerings, there will not be enough basins for all the blood, and therefore pots will have to be used for this purpose.

Since the pots of the Temple will be used for the blood of offerings, it will not be permitted to cook in them, as they will be sacred vessels. Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be sacred to the Lord of hosts. Due to the sheer number of offerings, it will be common knowledge that meat eaten in Jerusalem is presumably sacred, and therefore all the pots will likewise be sacred vessels. And all those slaughtering will come and take from them, and cook in them without concern. It will not be necessary to ritually purify those vessels, as must be done with other containers before using them for sacrificial meat, as only sacred pots will be found in every house. And there will no longer be merchants [kena’ani] in the House of the Lord of hosts on that day. Some explain that the word kena’ani refers to Canaanites, as in the First and Second Temples there were descendants of the Canaanite peoples who served in the Temple, but in the future Temple they will no longer have this role. The children of Israel will become a nation of priests, a people of spiritual leaders for the entire world, and the rest of the nations will acknowledge the God of Israel and the people’s special status.