ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and
upon the same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious
figures and promises of blessings, partly relating to the
synagogue, and partly to the church of Christ.
Zacharias Chapter 1
The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and
declares his visions, by which he puts them in hopes of
better times.
1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius,
the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias,
the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:
1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.
1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of
hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will
turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts.
1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets
have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye
from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they
did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the
Lord.
1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall
they live always?
1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in
charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold
of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of
hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and
according to our devices, so he hath done to us.
1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month
which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the
word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the
son of Addo, the prophet, saying:
1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red
horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the
bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and
white.
A man... An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably
Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.
1:9. And I said: What are these, my lord? and the angel that
spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:
1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees
answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent
to walk through the earth.
These are they, etc... The guardian angels of provinces
and nations.
1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood
among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the
earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at
rest.
1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord
of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem,
and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry?
this is now the seventieth year.
The seventieth year... Viz., from the beginning of the
seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to
the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the
desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are
different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by
Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and
ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me,
good words, comfortable words.
1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou,
saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for
Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal.
1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy
nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward
the evil.
1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to
Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith
the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched
forth upon Jerusalem.
1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My
cities shall yet flow with good things: and the Lord wlll
yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.
1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four
horns.
Four horns... The four horns represent the empires, or
kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.
1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: What are
these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have
scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem.
1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.
Four smiths... The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber
may signify either) represent those whom God makes his
instruments in bringing to nothing the power of
persecutors.
1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke,
saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every
man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these
are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the
nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda
to scatter it.
Zacharias Chapter 2
Under the name of Jerusalem, he prophesieth the progress of
the church of Christ, by the conversion of some Jews and
many Gentiles.
2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man,
with a measuring line in his hand.
2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To
measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth
thereof, and how great the length thereof.
2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and
another angel went out to meet him.
2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man,
saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by
reason of the multitude of men, and of the beasts in the
midst thereof.
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls... This must
be understood of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church of
Christ.
2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire
round about: and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.
2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the
Lord, for I have scattered you into the four winds of
heaven, saith the Lord.
2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of
Babylon:
2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he
hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he
that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye:
2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they
shall be a prey to those that served them: and you shall
know that the Lord of hosts sent me.
2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for
behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith
the Lord.
2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that
day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the
midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts
hath sent me to thee.
2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the
sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.
2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord:
for he is risen up out of his holy habitation.
Zacharias Chapter 3
In a vision Satan appeareth accusing the high priest. He is
cleansed from his sins. Christ is promised, and great fruit
from his passion.
3:1. And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing
before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right
hand to be his adversary.
Jesus... Alias, Josue, the son of Josedec, the high priest
of that time.
3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O
Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is
not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3:3. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he
stood before the face of the angel.
With filthy garments... Negligences and sins.
3:4. Who answered, and said to them that stood before him,
saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said
to him: Behold I have taken away thy iniquity, and have
clothed thee with change of garments.
3:5. And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they
put a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with
garments, and the angel of the Lord stood.
3:6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying:
3:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my
ways, and keep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house,
and shalt keep my courts, and I will give thee some of them
that are now present here to walk with thee.
I will give thee, etc... Angels to attend and assist thee.
3:8. Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, thou and thy friends
that dwell before thee, for they are portending men: for
behold, I WILL BRING MY SERVANT THE ORIENT.
Portending men... That is, men, who by words and actions
are to foreshew wonders that are to come.-Ibid. My servant
the Orient... Christ, who according to his humanity is the
servant of God, is called the Orient from his rising like
the sun in the east to enlighten the world.
3:9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus:
upon one stone there are seven eyes: behold I will grave
the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will
take away the iniquity of that land in one day.
The stone... Another emblem of Christ, the rock,
foundation, and corner stone of his church.-Ibid. Seven
eyes... The manifold providence of Christ over his church,
or the seven gifts of the spirit of God.-Ibid. One day...
Viz., the day of the passion of Christ, the source of all
our good: when this precious stone shall be graved, that
is, cut and pierced, with whips, thorns, nails, and spear.
3:1O. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shall
call his friend under the vine and under the fig tree.
Zacharias Chapter 4
The vision of the golden candlestick and seven lamps, and
of the two olive trees.
4:1. And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he
waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
4:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have
looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp
upon the top of it: and the seven lights thereof upon it:
and seven funnels for the lights that were upon the top
thereof.
A candlestick, etc... The temple of God that was then in
building; and in a more sublime sense, the church of
Christ.
4:3. And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side
of the lamp, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in
me, saying: What are these things, my lord?
4:5. And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to
me: Knowest thou not what these things are? And I said: No,
my lord.
4:6. And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the
word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army,
nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
To Zorobabel... This vision was in favour of Zorobabel:
to assure him of success in the building of the temple,
which he had begun, signified by the candlestick; the
lamp of which, without any other industry, was supplied
with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and
distributed by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain
the seven lights.
4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou
shalt become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief
stone, and shall give equal grace to the grace thereof.
Great mountain... So he calls the opposition made by the
enemies of God's people; which nevertheless, without an
army or might on their side, was quashed by divine
providence.-Ibid. Shall give equal grace, etc... Shall add
grace to grace, or beauty to beauty.
4:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
4:9. The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of
this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you.
4:10. For who hath despised little days? and they shall
rejoice, and shall see the tin plummet in the hand of
Zorobabel. These are the seven eyes of the Lord, that run
to and fro through the whole earth.
Little days... That is, these small and feeble beginnings
of the temple of God.-Ibid. The tin plummet... Literally,
the stone of tin. He means the builder's plummet, which
Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for the finishing the
building.-Ibid. The seven eyes... The providence of God,
that oversees and orders all things.
4:11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two
olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and
upon the left side thereof ?
4:12. And I answered again, and said to him: What are the
two olive branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in
which are the funnels of gold?
4:13. And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what
these are? And I said: No, my lord.
4:14. And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand
before the Lord of the whole earth.
Two sons of oil... That is, the two anointed ones of the
Lord; viz., Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel the
prince.
Zacharias Chapter 5
The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the
vessel.
5:1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and
behold a volume flying.
A volume... That is, a parchment, according to the form
of the ancient books, which, from being rolled up, were
called volumes.
5:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see
a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and
the breadth thereof ten cubits.
5:3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth
over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged
as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like
manner shall be judged by it.
5:4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it
shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of
him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain
in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the
timber thereof, and the stones thereof.
5:5. And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said
to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth
forth.
5:6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel
going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the
earth.
This is their eye... This is what they fix their eye upon:
or this is a resemblance and figure of them, viz., of
sinners.
5:7. And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a
woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.
5:8. And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into
the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon
the mouth thereof.
5:9. And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there
came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they
had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the
vessel between the earth and the heaven.
5:10. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do
these carry the vessel?
5:11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it
in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and
set there upon its own basis.
The land of Sennaar... Where Babel or Babylon was built,
Gen. 11., where note, that Babylon in holy writ is often
taken for the city of the devil: that is, for the whole
congregation of the wicked: as Jerusalem is taken for the
city and people of God.
Zacharias Chapter 6
The vision of the four chariots. Crowns are ordered for
Jesus the high priest, as a type of Christ.
6:1. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and
behold four chariots came out from the midst of two
mountains: and the mountains were mountains of brass.
Four chariots... The four great empires of the Chaldeans,
Persians, Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth
chariot are represented the kings of Egypt and of Asia,
the descendants of Ptolemeus and Seleucus.
6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the
second chariot black horses.
6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the
fourth chariot grisled horses, and strong ones.
6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in
me: What are these, my lord?
6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the
four winds of the heaven, which go forth to stand before
the Lord of all the earth.
6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into
the land of the north, and the white went forth after them:
and the grisled went forth to the land the south.
The land of the north... So Babylon is called; because it
lay to the north in respect of Jerusalem. The black
horses, that is, the Medes and Persians: and after them
Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the white horses,
went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed
upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8,
by the expression of quieting his spirit.-Ibid. The land
of the south... Egypt, which lay to the south of
Jerusalem, and was occupied first by Ptolemeus, and then
by the Romans.
6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought
to go, and to run to and fro through all the earth. And he
said: Go, walk throughout the earth: and they walked
throughout the earth.
6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they
that go forth into the land of the north, have quieted my
spirit in the land of the north.
6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6:10. Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of
Tobias, and of Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, a shalt
go into the house of Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came
out of Babylon.
6:11. And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make
crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the
son of Josedec, the high priest.
6:12. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS
NAME: and under him shall he spring up, a shall build a
temple to the Lord.
6:13. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he
shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his
throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the
counsel of peace shall be between them both.
Between them both... That is, he shall unite in himself
the two offices or dignities of king and priest.
6:14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and Tobias, and
Idaias, and to Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the
temple of the Lord.
6:15. And they that are far off, shall come and shall build
in the temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord
of hosts sent me to you. But this shall come to pass, if
hearing you will hear the voice of the Lord your God.
Zacharias Chapter 7
The people inquire concerning fasting: they are admonished
to fast from sin.
7:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius,
that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth
day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
7:2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were
with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of
the Lord:
7:3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of
hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the
fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done
for many years?
The fifth month... They fasted on the tenth day of the
fifth month; because on that day the temple was burnt.
Therefore they inquire whether they are to continue the
fast, after the temple is rebuilt. See this query answered
in the 19th verse of the following chapter.
7:4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the
priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth
and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep
a fast unto me?
7:6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for
yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7:7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the
hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was
inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities
round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the
south, and in the plain?
7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true
judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his
brother.
7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and
the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil
in his heart against his brother.
7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the
shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to
hear.
7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest
they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of
hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former
prophets: so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.
7:13. And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard
not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord
of hosts.
7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which
they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them,
so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed
the delightful land into a wilderness.
Zacharias Chapter 8
Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church
of Christ.
8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for
Sion with a great jealousy, and with a great indignation
have I been jealous for her.
8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion,
and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem
shall be called The city of truth, and the mountain of the
Lord of hosts, The sanctified mountain.
8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men
and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every
man with his staff in his hand through multitude of days.
8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and
girls, playing in the streets thereo.
8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the
eyes of the remnant of this people in those days: shall it
be hard in my eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?
8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my
people from the land of the east, and from the land of the
going down of the sun.
8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the
midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will
be their God in truth and in justice.
8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be
strengthened, you that hear in these days these words by
the mouth of the prophets, in the day that the house of the
Lord of hosts was founded, that the temple might be built.
8:1O. For before those days there was no hire for men,
neither was there hire for beasts, neither was there peace
to him that came in, nor to him that went out, because of
the tribulation: and I let all men go every one against his
neighbour.
8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this
people according to the former days, saith the Lord of
hosts.
8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall
yield her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and
the heavens shall give their dew: and I will cause the
remnant of this people to possess all these things.
8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse
among the Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel:
so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing: fear not,
let your hands be strengthened.
8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed io
afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath,
saith the Lord,
8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought
in these days to do good to the house of Juda, and
Jerusalem: fear not.
8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak
ye truth every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and
judgment of peace in your gates.
8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts
against his friend: and love not a false oath: for all
these are the things that I hate, saith the Lord.
8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth
month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the
seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of
Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love
ye truth and peace.
The fast of the fourth month, etc... They fasted, on the
ninth day of the fourth month, because on that day
Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, Jer. 52.6. On the tenth
day of the fifth month, because on that day the temple was
burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month,
for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth
day of the tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans
began to besiege Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25.1. All these fasts,
if they will be obedient for the future, shall be changed,
as is here promised, into joyful solemnities.
8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and
dwell in many cities,
8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us
go, and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the
Lord of hosts: I also will go.
8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to
seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the
face of the Lord.
8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein
ten men of all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold,
and shall hold fast the skirt of one that is a Jew, saying:
We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with
you.
Ten men, etc... Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to
the Jewish religion before Christ: but many more were
converted to Christ by the apostles and other preachers
of the Jewish nation.
Zacharias Chapter 9
God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies
to the faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to
deliver the captives by his blood, and to give us all good
things.
9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of
Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of
man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord's.
Hadrach... Syria.
9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and
Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding
wise.
9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped
together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the
streets.
9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike
her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with
fire.
9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall
be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is
confounded: and the king shall perish from Gaza, and
Ascalon shall not be inhabited.
9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will
destroy the pride of the Philistines.
9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and
his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall
be left to our God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda,
and Accaron as a Jebusite.
His blood... It is spoken of the Philistines, and
particularly of Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,)
and contains a prophecy of the conversion of that people
from their bloody sacrifices and abominations to the
worship of the true God.
9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me
in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no
more pass through them: for now I have seen with my eyes.
That serve me in war... Viz., the Machabees.
9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O
daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee,
the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and
the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be
broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his
power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to
the end of the earth.
9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent
forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.
9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I
will render thee double as I declare today.
9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have
filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above
thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of
the mighty.
Thy sons, O Sion, etc... Viz., the apostles, who, in the
spiritual way, conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to
Christ.
9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his
dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will
sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south.
9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall
devonr, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and
drinking they shall be inebriated as it were with wine, and
they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the
altar.
9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as
the flock of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up
over his land.
Holy stones... The apostles, who shall be as pillars and
monuments in the church.
9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his
beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine
springing forth virgins?
The corn, etc... His most excellent gift is the blessed
Eucharist, called here The corn, that is, the bread of
the elect, and the wine springing forth virgins; that is,
maketh virgins to bud, or spring forth, as it were, like
flowers among thorns; because it has a wonderful efficacy
to give and preserve purity.
Zacharias Chapter 10
God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his
church, which shall arise originally from the Jewish
nation.
10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the
Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain,
to every one grass in the field.
10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and
the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken
vanity: they comforted in vain: therefore they were led
away as a flock: they shall be afflicted, because they have
no shepherd.
10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will
visit upon the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath
visited his flock, the house of Juda, and hath made them as
the horse of his glory in the battle.
10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him
the pin, out of him the bow of battle, out of him ever
exacter together.
10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot
the mire of the ways in battle: and they shall fight,
because the Lord is with them, and the riders of horses
shall be confounded.
10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the
house of Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because
I will have mercy on them: and they shall be as they were
when I had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God,
and will hear them.
10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and
their heart shall rejoice as through wine: and their
children shall see, and shall rejoice, and their heart
shall be joyful in the Lord.
10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them
together, because I have redeemed them: and I will multiply
them as they were multiplied before.
10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they
shall remember me: and they shall live with their children,
and shall return.
10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt,
and I will gather them from among the Assyrians: and will
bring them to the land of Galaad, and Libanus, and place
shall not be found for them.
10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and
shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of
the river shall be confounded, and the pride of Assyria
shall be humbled, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.
10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall
walk in his name, saith the Lord.
Zacharias Chapter 11
The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God's dealings
with the Jews, and their reprobation.
11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy
cedars.
O Libanus... So Jerusalem, and more particularly the
temple, is called by the prophets, from its height, and
from its being built of the cedars of Libanus.-Ibid. Thy
cedars... Thy princes and chief men.
11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the
mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the
fenced forest is cut down.
11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because
their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the
lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.
11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the
slaughter,
11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not,
and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are
become rich: and their shepherds spared them not.
11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land,
saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one
into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king:
and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it
out of their hand.
Every one into his neighbour's hand, etc... This alludes
to the last siege of Jerusalem, in which the different
factions of the Jews destroyed one another; and they that
remained fell into the hands of their king, that is, of
the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John 19.15, we
have no king but Caesar.
11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye
poor of the flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I
called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the
flock.
Two rods... Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different
ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet
means, called the rod of Beauty: the other, by bands and
punishments, called the Cord. And where both these rods
are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of sinners,
the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a
reprobate sense, as the Jews were.
11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my
soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also
varied in my regard.
Three shepherds in one month... That is, in a very short
time. By these three shepherds probably are meant the
latter princes and high priests of the Jews, whose reign
was short.
11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth,
let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off:
and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his
neighbour.
11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut
it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with
all people.
11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of
the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word
of the Lord.
11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes,
bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they
weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a
handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took
the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house
of the Lord to the statuary.
The statuary... The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.
11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord,
that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.
11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the
instruments of a foolish shepherd.
A foolish shepherd... This was to represent the foolish,
that is, the wicked princes and priests that should rule
the people, before their utter desolation.
11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land,
who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is
scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which
standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and
break their hoofs.
11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the
sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall
quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly
darkened.
Zacharias Chapter 12
God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The
mourning of Jerusalem.
12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus
saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and
layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit
of man in him:
12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting
to all the people round about: and Juda also shall be in
the siege against Jerusalem.
A lintel of surfeiting... That is, a door into which they
shall seek to enter, to glut themselves with blood; but
they shall stumble, and fall like men stupefied with wine.
It seems to allude to the times of Antiochus, and to the
victories of the Machabees.
12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people: all that
shall lift it up shall be rent and torn, and all the
kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered together against
her.
12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every
horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I
will open my eyes upon the house of Juda, and will strike
every horse of the nations with blindness.
12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart:
Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in
the Lord of hosts, their God.
12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a
furnace of fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst
hay: and they shall devour all the people round about, to
the right hand, and to the left: and Jerusalem shall be
inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.
12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Jada, as
in the beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify
themselves against Juda.
12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and he that hath offended among them in that day
shall be as David: and the house of David, as that of God,
as an angel of the Lord in their sight.
12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem.
12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and
of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have
pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for
an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner
is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.
12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in
Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain
of Mageddon.
Adadremmon... A place near Mageddon, where the good king
Josias was slain, and much lamented by his people.
12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families
apart: the families of the house of David apart, and their
women apart:
12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their
women apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and
their women apart: the families of Semei apart, and their
women apart.
12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families
apart, and their women apart.
Zacharias Chapter 13
The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be
extirpated: Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried
by fire.
13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the
house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for
the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman.
13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord
of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the
earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will
take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of
the earth.
13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall
prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought
him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live:
because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And
his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him
through, when he shall prophesy.
13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision,
when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a
garment of sackcloth, to deceive:
13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman:
for Adam is my example from my youth.
13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in
the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was
wounded in the house of them that loved me. 13:7. Awake, O
sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the
shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn
my hand to the little ones.
13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord,
two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but
the third part shall be left therein.
13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and
will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them
as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will
hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall
say: The Lord is my God.
Zacharias Chapter 14
After the persecutions of the church shall follow great
prosperity. Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all
that will not serve God in his church.
14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy
spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.
14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle,
and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be
rifled, and the women shall be defiled: and half of the
city shall go forth into captivity, and the rest of the
people shall not be taken away out of the city.
I will gather, etc... This seems to be a prophecy of what
was done by Antiochus.
14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount
of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem towards the
east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst
thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great
opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the
north, and half thereof to the south.
14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains,
for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the
next, and you shall flee as you fled from the face of the
earthquake in the days of Ozias king of Juda: and the Lord
my God shall come, and all the saints with him.
14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there
shall be no light, but cold and frost.
No light... Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of
Antiochus, when it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7)
because they neither had the comfortable light of the day,
nor the repose of the night.
14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the
Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening
there shall be light:
In the time of the evening there shall be light... An
unexpected light shall arise by the means of the
Machabees, when things shalll seem to be at the worst.
14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living
waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the
east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be
in summer and in winter.
Living waters... Viz., the gospel of Christ.
14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in
that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be
one.
14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert,
from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she
shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the
gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and
even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of
Hananeel even to the king's winepresses.
All the land shall return, etc... This, in some measure,
was verified by the means of the Machabees: but is rather
to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the
propagation of the church, and kingdom of Christ, the true
Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema
of destruction, or God's curse.
14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no
more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.
14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord
shall strike all nations that have fought against
Jerusalem: the flesh of every one 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.
The flesh of every one shall consume, etc... Such
judgments as these have often fallen upon the persecutors
of God's church, as appears by many instances in history.
14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the
Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his
neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his
neighbour's hand.
14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the
riches of all nations round about shall be gathered
together, gold, and silver, and garments in great
abundance.
Even Juda, etc... The carnal Jews, and other false
brothers, shall join in persecuting the church.
14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule,
and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts,
that shall be in those tents, shall be like this
destruction.
Shall be like this destruction... That is, the beasts
shall be destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers
as well as their leaders.
14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that
came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to
adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of
tabernacles.
They that shall be left, etc... That is, many of them that
persecuted the church shall be converted to its faith and
communion.-Ibid. To keep the feast of tabernacles... This
feast was kept by the Jews in memory of their sojourning
forty years in the desert, in their way to the land of
promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all
such Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are
continually advancing toward their true home, the heavenly
Jerusalem; by the help of the sacraments and sacrifice of
the church. And they that neglect this must not look for
the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to
their souls.
14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go
up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the
King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them.
14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come:
neither shall it be upon them, but there shall be
destruction wherewith the Lord will strike all nations that
will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of
all nations, that will not go up to keep the feast of
tabernacles.
14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the
horse shall be holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the
house of the Lord shall be as the phials before the altar.
That which is upon the bridle, etc... The golden ornaments
of the bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in
the house of God. And there shall be an abundance of
caldrons and phials for the sacrifices of the temple; by
which is meant, under a figure, the great resort there
shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ,
and her sacrifice.
14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be
sanctified to the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice
shall come, and take of them, and shall seethe in them: and
the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of
hosts in that day.
The merchant shall be no more, etc... Or, as some render
it, The Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the
profane and unbelievers shall have no title to be in the
house of the Lord. Or there shall be no occasion for
buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the
house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the
temple.
The text in this file was taken with permission from Catholic Software's Douay Bible program, a complete multimedia Bible for the PC. The complete product description follows:
Douay Bible ME: A multimedia Bible. Text and footnotes are from the 1899 version of the Douay-Rheims Bible. Supports unlimited cut and paste as well as searches. It also has a concordance, topical index, and maps. These features make it powerful and easy to use. Music and color photography make it a visual and auditory feast. However, if your computer doesn't support multimedia, you can suppress these features at installation time. Available for DOS, Windows, or Windows 95. $85.00. Order from: Catholic Software, P.O. Box 1914, Murray, KY 42071. Phone: 1-502-753-8198.
