Another description of the final battle
1 The day of Yahweh will come when people will divide spoils in your midst.
2 I will let all the nations come against Jerusalem to attack it. The city will be taken and houses pillaged, women violated. Half of the city will be deported but the rest will not be removed.
3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against the nations as he does on the day of battle.
4 On that day his feet will rest on the mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem on the east and the mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a deep valley leaving half of the mountain to the north and half to the south.
5 You will flee through my mountain valley for it will extend as far as Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Yahweh will come and all his holy ones with him.
6 On that day there will be no cold or frost.
7 It will be a unique day, known to Yahweh, without day or night and when evening comes there will still be light.
8 On that day living water will flow from Jeru salem, half to the sea in the east, half to the sea in the west; it will never dry up in summer or in winter.
9 Yahweh will be king of all the earth. On that day there will be Yahweh alone and only his Name.
10 All the land will be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon in the Negeb, but Jerusalem shall be outstanding on its heights, from the Benjamin Gate to the First Gate, to the Corner Gate and from the tower of Hananel to the royal winepress.
11 Its people shall no longer fear any disaster. Jerusalem shall be inhabited and secure.
12 And this is how Yahweh will punish all the nations that made war on Jeru salem: each one’s flesh will rot even as he stands, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, their tongue in their mouth. 15 A similar plague shall strike the horses, mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in their camps.
13 On that day Yahweh will cause great panic among them: they will take hold of one another and attack one another
14 while the men of Judah fight in Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be left in that place, gold, silver and garments in great quantities.
16 The survivors of all the nations that fought against Jerusalem will come, year by year, to worship Yahweh, God of hosts and celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
17 If any peo ples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King Yahweh, God of hosts, they will have no rain.
18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they too will be afflicted with the plague destined for those who do not go up to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
19 That shall be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
20 On that day, even the bells of the horses shall be inscribed: “Consecrated to Yahweh.”
21 The cooking pots of the Temple will be as sacred as the bowls of offering that are used for the altar, and even the ordinary cooking pots of the people of Jeru salem and Judah will be consecrated to Yahweh, God of hosts. So everyone who offers sacrifice may use them for cooking. Still more: from that day, there will no longer be merchants in the House of Yahweh, God of hosts.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Zechariah, Chapter 14
• 14.1 This chapter describes with amazing images the coming of the kingdom of God after the great trial. A vision of the heavenly Jerusalem which the apostle John will amplify in Revelation. All the nations of the world have found the living God and they come to adore him. This is similar to the end of chapter 66 of Isaiah.
Yahweh will come and all his holy ones with him (v. 5). These are his angels, responsible for his works, just as in Psalms 89:6; 138:2; 149:1. See Matthew 16:27.
In the new Jerusalem, religion will not be an activity apart from other human activities: men and women will no longer be believers merely at Mass on Sundays, and the rest of the week act the same as everybody else, mediocre and sinful. Rather everything will be holy. Zecha riah says this by using images peculiar to his time (vv. 20-21).