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Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

An Oracle.

The word of the L ord is against the land of Hadrach

and will rest upon Damascus.

For to the L ord belongs the capital of Aram,

as do all the tribes of Israel;

Hamath also, which borders on it,

Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

Tyre has built itself a rampart,

and heaped up silver like dust,

and gold like the dirt of the streets.

But now, the Lord will strip it of its possessions

and hurl its wealth into the sea,

and it shall be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid;

Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;

Ekron also, because its hopes are withered.

The king shall perish from Gaza;

Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;

a mongrel people shall settle in Ashdod,

and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.

I will take away its blood from its mouth,

and its abominations from between its teeth;

it too shall be a remnant for our God;

it shall be like a clan in Judah,

and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,

so that no one shall march to and fro;

no oppressor shall again overrun them,

for now I have seen with my own eyes.

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war-horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

For I have bent Judah as my bow;

I have made Ephraim its arrow.

I will arouse your sons, O Zion,

against your sons, O Greece,

and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

Then the L ord will appear over them,

and his arrow go forth like lightning;

the Lord G od will sound the trumpet

and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.

The L ord of hosts will protect them,

and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;

they shall drink their blood like wine,

and be full like a bowl,

drenched like the corners of the altar.

On that day the L ord their God will save them

for they are the flock of his people;

for like the jewels of a crown

they shall shine on his land.

For what goodness and beauty are his!

Grain shall make the young men flourish,

and new wine the young women.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In this verse the Prophet denounces a similar ruin on Azotus, and the whole land of the Philistines, or on the whole land of Palestine. For what interpreters say, that the Jews would dwell at Azotus as strangers, that is, though they had previously been counted aliens, is to reach neither heaven nor earth. The Prophet on the contrary means, that after the destruction of these cities, if any inhabitants remained, they would be like strangers, without any certain habitation. The Prophet then mentions the effect, in order to show that the country would be waste and desolate, so as to contain no safe or fixed dwellings for its inhabitants. Some render it spurious, as it is rendered in some other places; and they understand it of the Jews, because they had been before in a mean condition, as though they were like a spurious race. But their opinion is probable, who derive ממזר, memezar, from זור, zur, which means to peregrinate; and they quote other instances, in which the double ממ, mem, is used in the formations of a noun; and it is easy to prove, from many passages of scripture, that ממזר, memezar, means a stranger. ⁹⁸⁹⁸     That this is its meaning is generally admitted, as given by the Septuagint, the Targum, and the Syriac version, and adopted by Grotius, Newcome, Blayney, and Henderson. Lee accounts for the double [מ] by deriving the word from [מן], from, [עם], people, and [זר], a foreigner, or stranger. The poetical singular is used for the plural, as is the case in the following verse. The whole passage may be thus rendered —

   6. And dwell shall a stranger in Ashdod; (For I will cut off the pride of the Philistines;)
   7. And I will remove his blood from his mouth, And his abominations from between his teeth, And left shall he be, even he, for our God; So that he shall be as a chief in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite.
   The “his” and “he” in this last verse is the “stranger” in verse 6; and that is used in a collective sense, properly rendered strangers, or foreigners, [ἀλλογενεις] by the Septuagint; so that the plural, in all these instances, might suitably be adopted in a translation — The “pride of the Philistines” was cut off by introducing strangers into their cities; and this line may be considered as parenthetic. — Ed. And if any one carefully considers the design of the Prophet, he will see the truth of what I have said — that is, that his object is to show, that all the inhabitants of Azotus, and of the land of the Philistine, would be like lodgers, because all places would be desolate through the slaughter and devastations of enemies. As then Ashdod and Palestine had been before noted for the number of their people, the Prophet says that all the cities of Palestine, and the city Ashdod, would be deserted, except that there would be there a few scattered and wandering inhabitants, like those who sojourn in a strange land. It follows —

⁹⁸ That this is its meaning is generally admitted, as given by the Septuagint, the Targum, and the Syriac version, and adopted by Grotius, Newcome, Blayney, and Henderson. Lee accounts for the double [מ] by deriving the word from [מן], from, [עם], people, and [זר], a foreigner, or stranger. The poetical singular is used for the plural, as is the case in the following verse. The whole passage may be thus rendered — 6. And dwell shall a stranger in Ashdod; (For I will cut off the pride of the Philistines;) 7. And I will remove his blood from his mouth, And his abominations from between his teeth, And left shall he be, even he, for our God; So that he shall be as a chief in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite. The “his” and “he” in this last verse is the “stranger” in verse 6; and that is used in a collective sense, properly rendered strangers, or foreigners, [ἀλλογενεις] by the Septuagint; so that the plural, in all these instances, might suitably be adopted in a translation — The “pride of the Philistines” was cut off by introducing strangers into their cities; and this line may be considered as parenthetic. — Ed.