Zechariah 14:14

at Jerusalem This, or in Jerusalem, and not against Jerusalem(R. V. and margin, A. V.), which would be a wholly meaningless and irrelevant statement here (comp. Zechariah 12:2, note), is the rendering that must be adopted. There is no question here of the strength or allies of the opposing force, but only of the threefold cause of their destruction, viz. (1) the plague sent by God, Zechariah 14:12; (2) mutual slaughter, Zechariah 14:13; (3) the onslaught of Judah, rallying to defend the capital, Zechariah 14:14. "A still further element of -confusion" would be added to the adversaries. When Jonathan gained his wonderful victory over the Philistines" garrison at Michmash, there was a confusion caused by God in the ranks of the Philistines (1 Samuel 14:20), which resulted, as here, in a terrible conflict taking place in their own ranks. Those Hebrews who on that occasion were with the Philistines, as well as Israelites who had fled into the holes or fastnesses of the mountains, plucked up courage when they saw the confusion of their adversaries, and stood up boldly against them. Thus in the picture here given, when the ranks of the enemies are thinned by pestilence and mutual slaughter, the prophet represents the whole of the people of Judah, not merely those who had escaped out of the city, but also those who were outside its walls, as once more fighting at Jerusalem, or in its very streets, against the terror-driven, plague-stricken, God-confounded foe." (Rev. C. H. H. Wright.)

the heathen the nations, R.V., as in Zechariah 14:16, where the same Heb. word is translated "nation" in A.V.