of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fighteth in the day of battle. 4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east: and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it towards the south, 5. And the valley of the mountains shall be choked up*; (for the valley of the mountains will reach near) and it shall be choked up, as it was choked up by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and the Lord shall go, the God of all saints, with thee. 6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light, but cold and a thick fogt. 7. And there shall be one day (known it is unto the Lord) neither day nor night: yet it shall come to pass in the evening

* Choked up.] See Dr. Blayney in loc.

+ Cold and a thick fog.] See Dr. Blayney in loc,

‡ Known it is unto the Lord.] "This sentence seems to have "been inserted by way of prolepsis, to the following effect:~~ "Such a phenomenon, though it may appear extraordinary, is "however worthy of belief, because revealed by God, to whom * "both the matter and the time is known. So it is said, Acts "xv. 18, Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Dr. Blayney in loc.

*

time that it shall be light. 8. And it shall come come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord shall be one; 10. And his name one † shall encompass the whole earth, as the plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be raised up, and sit in her own place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner-gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. 11. And men shall dwell in her, and there shall be no more

* Liping waters.] "By living waters there is good reason to "believe are meant the gifts and graces of the gospel dispensation. "See Isaiah xii. 3.-xliv. 3.—lv. 1.—Jer. ii. 13.-Ezek. xlvii.

1, &c.-Joel iii. 18.-John iv. 10.-vii. 38, 39. That these "benefits will be diffused more extensively by the restoration "of the Jews, is not obscurely intimated, Rom. xi. 15.” Dr. Blayney in loc,

+ His name one.] "By the name of Jehovah I conceive to be 46 meant the profession of his true religion, which, it is here "foretold, should compass or pervade the whole earth, as it "had done the country of Judèa included within the plain "extending from Geba north to Rimmon south of Jerusalem"The universal propagation of God's name or religion is pre"dicted, as in other places of Scripture, so particularly Isaiah " lix. 19.—Mal. i. 11." Dr. Blayney in loc.

She.] "That is, Jerusalem, which is here, as elsewhere, "represented as a female figure, raised from the ground, and

sitting tranquil on her ancient seat." Dr. Blayney in loc.

utter

utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall sit in security.

13.

12. And this shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away, while they stand upon their feet; and their eyes shall consume away in their holes; and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one of them on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. 14. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem: and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of thé mule, of the camel, of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

16. And it shall come to pass, that every one, that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall go up even from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of the tabernacles. 17. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to worship the King

There shall be no more utter destruction.] "The city shall never be utterly destroyed, as it was by the Chaldeans and "Romans." Mr. Lowth in loc.

the

rain.

*

the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no 18. And, if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, although there be not upon them the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles; 19. The same shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations, that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more a trafficker in the house of the Lord of hosts †.

COM

*Although there be not upon them the plague.] "That is, "although they be not visited precisely in the same manner as "the other nations, namely with a want of rain, which of itself "would be no punishment to that country where by the situ "ation of the country no rain usually falls; yet, as it follows "in the next verse, they should not be exempt from the same punishment with the other nations that sinned in like manner, namely famine, which would be the sure consequence, as "Abp. Newcome observes, if the rains did not fall in Ethiopia so as to cause an overflowing of the Nile. This interpretation "is according to the present reading of the text, which needs "no alteration." Dr. Blayney in loc.

66

Every pot-no more a trafficker.] "The meaning of this passage seems to be, that every thing in Judah and Jerusalem

"should

COMMENTARY.

From this concluding and very minute prophecy of Zechariah, we learn several most interesting particulars respecting the period of the restoration of Judah*. A great confederacy of many nations

is

"should be accounted so holy and acceptable to God, that "the common utensils in their houses might be used for the

purpose of sacrificing without offence; so that those who ❝ came to sacrifice might take and use them indiscriminately; "which would effectually supersede that traffic, which was "carried on in the temple for the supply of such things as

were wanting on those occasions. Our Saviour speaks of "the traffickers in the temple in his days, whom he drove out, ❝ and forbad to make his father's house a house of merchandise.” Dr Blayney in loc.

"It is not difficult to perceive," says Dr. Blayney, "that "the prophecies in this and the two following chapters (Zech. "xii. xiii. xiv.) relate to future times-But, without pre-66 tending to determine precisely concerning the invaders, the

substance of the prophecy in this (Chap, xii.), and on to the "seventh verse of the next, chapter will be found to amount "to this; that Jerusalem will be besieged by a multitude of "hostile nations, to the great terror of the people in its vicinity, as well as of Judah itself; but that the attempts of those nations will be frustrated through the special interposition of the Deity, and will terminate in their total dis"comfiture and ruin, and in the permanent peace and pros"perity of the victorious Jews. After which the Jews will be "brought at length to see and lament the sin of their forefathers in putting their Messiah to death; and thereupon "will have the means of purification and atonement afforded "them; and, being thus cleansed from past guilt, will re

"nounce