The Father Judges the Nations
9 1 An oracle: the word of our Father is against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place — for the eyes of mankind and all the tribes of Israel are toward our Father — 2 and against Hamath also, which borders on it, and against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. 3 Tyre built herself a fortress and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. 4 But look — the Sovereign Father will dispossess her and strike down her power on the sea, and she will be devoured by fire. 5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too will writhe in anguish, and Ekron, for her hope withers away. The king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
6 A mongrel people will settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7 I will take away the blood from its mouth and its abominations from between its teeth; it too will be a remnant for our Father, and it will be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron like the Jebusites. 8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that no one marches back and forth; no oppressor will ever again overrun them, for now I am watching with my own eyes.
Your King Is Coming
9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem! Look — your king is coming to you; righteous and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. a a v9 The gentle king who comes riding on a donkey is Jesus, who entered Jerusalem exactly this way — Matthew 21:5; John 12:15. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the warhorse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations. His rule will reach from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. b b v10 'The River' refers to the Euphrates, the great boundary river of the ancient Near East.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, you prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For I have bent Judah as my bow and laid Ephraim to it as the arrow. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like the sword of a warrior.
14 Then our Father will appear over them, and his arrow will go out like lightning; the Sovereign Father will sound the trumpet and march out in the whirlwinds of the south. 15 The Father of heaven's armies will shield them, and they will devour and trample the sling stones; they will drink and roar as with wine, and be full like the bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day their Father will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they will sparkle over his land. 17 How great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.