Zechariah 14:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 14:16
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
to jut over or exceed · definite article + verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
nations
הַגּוֹיִ֔םha.go.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
came
הַבָּאִ֖יםha.ba.'Im
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Jerusalem
יְרֽוּשָׁלִָ֑םye.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
up
וְעָל֞וּve.'a.Lu
H5927
to ascend · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
from
מִדֵּ֧יmi.Dei
H1767
enough (as noun or adverb) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
year
שָׁנָ֣הsha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
year
בְשָׁנָ֗הve.sha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
worship
לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֹת֙le.hish.ta.cha.Vot
H7812
to depress · preposition + verb, infinitive construct
King
לְמֶ֙לֶךְ֙le.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָא֔וֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
keep
וְלָחֹ֖גve.la.Chog
H2287
properly · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
feast
חַ֥גchag
H2282
a festival · noun, common masculine singular construct
tabernacles
הַסֻּכּֽוֹתha.su.Kot
H5521
a hut or lair · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, sa…
Zechariah 14:17-19 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even up…
Isaiah 66:18-21 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
Zechariah 8:20-23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
Isaiah 60:6-9 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and inc…
Deuteronomy 31:10-13 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be…
John 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 14:16–end
Three things are here foretold: -
I. That a gospel-way of worship being set up in the church there shall be a great resort to it and a general attendance upon it. Those that were left of the enemies of religion shall be so sensible of the mercy of God to them in their narrow escape that they shall apply themselves to the worship of the God of Israel, and pay their homage to him, Zac 14:16. Those that were not consumed shall be converted, and this makes their deliverance a mercy indeed, a double mercy. It is a great change that the grace of God makes upon them; those that had come against Jerusalem, finding their attempts vain and fruitless, shall become as much her admirers as ever they had…
every one . . . left-- (Isa 66:19, Isa 66:23). God will conquer all the foes of the Church, Some He will destroy; others He will bring into willing subjection.
from year to year--literally, "from the sufficiency of a year in a year."
feast of tabernacles--The other two great yearly feasts, passover and pentecost, are not specified, because, their antitypes having come, the types are done away with. But the feast of tabernacles will be commemorative of the Jews' sojourn, not merely forty years in the wilderness, but for almost two thousand years of their dispersion. So it was kept on their return from the Babylonian dispersion (Neh 8:14-17). It was the feast on which Jesus made His triump…
Shall even go up from year to year - The Jews had three grand original festivals, which characterized different epochs in their history, viz.: -
1. The feast of the passover, in commemoration of their departure from Egypt.
2. The feast of pentecost, in commemoration of the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai.
3. The feast of tabernacles, in commemoration of their wandering forty years in the wilderness.
This last feast is very properly brought in here to point out the final restoration of the Jews, and their establishment in the light and liberty of the Gospel of Christ, after their long wandering in vice and error.
The Church Fathers
(Verse 16.) And all who remain of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. LXX: And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. All, he said, who remain from the nations that came against Jerusalem, shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles. The Jews also promise that this will happen in the empty hope of a thousand-year kingdom, the beginning of which is this solemnity: The people of Israel went forth from Egypt through a vast and terrible and broad wilderness, in which there was no house, village, town, or cave, and they made for themselves tabernacles and tents (which are now called tents from the likeness of a small bird's wing) in which they dwelt with their spouses and children, and took food, and avoided the heat of the sun by day, the dampness and cold and harm of the dew by night. And it was commanded that the feast of Tabernacles should be held on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. And when your son asks you tomorrow, saying, What do these tabernacles mean? You shall respond to him: For a long time we have been traveling in Egypt, from which the Lord brought us out into the wilderness, and therefore we set up tabernacles, so that we may remember the blessings of God at all times, when we began to dwell in cities (Deut. VI, 20, 21, and Lev. XXIII, 43). He also commanded them to make tabernacles from very beautiful wood, which the Jews call citron, and from the branches and leaves of very dense wood, and from willow and poplar. We have laid the foundations of history, so that we may move from these to spiritual matters. As long as we are in progress and in the course and struggle, we dwell in tabernacles, striving in our whole mind, so that we may move from tabernacles to a firm and stable dwelling, that is, the house of God. Therefore, holy David says in the Psalm: Woe is me, that my dwelling is prolonged (Ps. 119:5)! And: I am a stranger and a sojourner as all my fathers were (Ps. 38:31). This is spoken by someone who is in Egypt, and still living in the world. But whoever leaves Egypt, which is called Moab in…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Zechariah 14:16
And it shall come to pass,.... After the plague on man and beast is over:
that everyone that is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem; these are the remnant, according to the election of grace, who will have been among the enemies of Christ and his people, but preserved when others will be destroyed; and they will not only be frightened at the general destruction, but will be truly converted, and give glory to the God of heaven, Revelation 11:13, these
shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts; the King Messiah, as Aben Ezra and Abendana on the place observe; the same with the King overall the earth, Zechariah 14:9 who is Lord of hosts, of all…
Zechariah 14:16
16. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
16. Et erit, (hoc est, accidet,) ut quisque residuus fuerit ex cunctis gentibus quae venerint contra Ierusalem, ascendat ab anno in annum ad adorandum, (vel, ad supplicandam,) Regem Iehovam exercituum, et celebrandum celebritatem tabernaculorum.
Zechariah here advances farther, -- that those who shall have escaped the ruin of which he had spoken shall be so humbled that they would of their own accord submit to God. He said before, that God would take vengea…
Conversion of the heathen. - Zac 14:16. "And it will come to pass, that every remnant of all the nations which came against Jerusalem will go up year by year to worship the King Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. Zac 14:17. And it will come to pass, that whoever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King Jehovah of hosts, upon them there will be no rain. Zac 14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, then also not upon them; there will be (upon them) the plague with which Jehovah will plague all nations which do not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. Zac 14:19. This will be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the na…
enemies . . . will . . . worship the King: Another reversal will occur on the day of the Lord (cp. Phil 2:8-11). • The annual Festival of Shelters marked the beginning of the fall harvest season and commemorated Israel’s wilderness experience after the exodus from Egypt (see Exod 23:14-19; Lev 23:33-43; Num 29:12-40; Deut 16:13-17). The festival gave the worshiping community an opportunity to thank God for his provision. It encouraged social concern for the disadvantaged and reliance on God as pilgrims in this world. Thanksgiving will characterize worship in the messianic era (see Isa 51:3; Jer 33:11).
Rashi on Zechariah 14:16
the festival of Tabernacle As our Sages explained in tractate Avodah Zarah (3a): I have an easy commandment named Sukkah, as is stated in the first halachic discussion.
