Zechariah 9 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

And Hamath also, which borders on it (Damascus),

Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

For Tyre built herself an [impregnable] stronghold [on an island offshore],

And she has heaped up silver like dust

And gold like the mire of the streets.

Behold, the Lord will [fn]dispossess her

And throw her wealth into the sea;

And Tyre will be devoured by fire.

[fn]Ashkelon will see it and fear;

Gaza will writhe in pain,

And Ekron, for her hope and expectation, has been ruined.

The king will perish from Gaza,

And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

And a mongrel race will live in Ashdod,

And I will put an end to the pride and arrogance of the Philistines.

I will take the blood from their mouths

And their detestable things from between their teeth [those repulsive, idolatrous sacrifices eaten with the blood].

Then they too will be a remnant for our God,

And be like a clan in Judah,

And Ekron will be like one of the [fn]Jebusites.

Then I will camp around My house [as a guard] because of an army,

Because of him who passes by and returns;

And no oppressor will again overrun them (Israel),

For now My eyes are upon them [providentially protecting them].

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King (Messianic King) is coming to you;

He is righteous and endowed with salvation,

[fn]Humble and unassuming [in submission to the will of the Father] and riding on a [fn]donkey,

Upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the [war] chariot from Ephraim

And the [war] horse from Jerusalem,

And the bow of war will be cut off.

And He will speak [words of] peace to the nations,

And His dominion shall be from sea to sea [absolutely endless],

And from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you [My chosen people, the covenant that was sealed with blood]

I have freed your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], O prisoners who have the hope;

Even today I am declaring that I will restore double [your former prosperity] to you [as firstborn among nations].

For I will bend Judah as My bow,

I will fit the bow with Ephraim [as My arrow].

And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece,

And will make you [Israel] like the sword of a warrior.

Then the LORD will be seen [hovering] over them [protecting His people],

And His arrow will go forth like lightning;

And the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet

And will march in the windstorms of the south.

The LORD of hosts shall defend and protect them;

And they will devour [the enemy] and trample down the slingstones [that have missed their mark],

And they will drink [of victory] and be boisterous as with wine;

And they shall be filled like sacrificial bowls [used to catch the blood],

Drenched like the corners of the [sacrificial] altar.

And the LORD their God shall save them on that day

As the flock of His people;

For they are like the [precious] jewels of a crown,

Displayed and glittering in His land.

For how great is God’s goodness and how great is His beauty! And how great [He will make Israel’s] goodliness and [Israel’s] beauty!

Grain and new wine will make the young men and virgins flourish.