Zechariah 9:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 9:13
When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
to tread · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
Judah
יְהוּדָ֗הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
filled
מִלֵּ֣אתִיmi.Le.ti
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
bow
קֶ֚שֶׁתKe.shet
H7198
a bow · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֔יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
up
וְעוֹרַרְתִּ֤יve.'o.rar.Ti
H5782
to wake (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
sons
בָנַ֙יִךְ֙va.Na.yikh
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
Zion
צִיּ֔וֹןtzi.Yon
H6726
Tsijon (as a permanent capital) · proper noun, a place name
sons
בָּנַ֖יִךְba.Na.yikh
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
Greece
יָוָ֑ןya.Van
H3120
Javan · proper noun, a place name
made
וְשַׂמְתִּ֖יךְve.sam.Tikh
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
sword
כְּחֶ֥רֶבke.Che.rev
H2719
drought · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
man
גִּבּֽוֹרgi.Bor
H1368
powerful · noun, common masculine singular 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
Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him…
Isaiah 49:2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he…
Zechariah 10:3-7 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and…
Psalms 45:3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
Joel 3:6-8 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
Zechariah 1:21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his hea…
Zechariah 12:2-8 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and aga…
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 9:12–end
The prophet, having taught those that had returned out of captivity to attribute their deliverance to the blood of the covenant and to the promise of the Messiah (for they were so wonderfully helped because that blessing was in them, was yet in the womb of their nation), now comes to encourage them with the prospect of a joyful and happy settlement, and of glorious times before them; and such a happiness they did enjoy, in a great measure, for some time; but these promises have their full accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ.
I. They are invited to look unto Christ, and flee unto him as their city of refuge (Zac 9:12): Turn you to the strong-…
bent Judah--made Judah as it were My bow, and "filled" it "with Ephraim," as My arrow, wherewith to overcome the successor of the Grecian Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes (compare Notes, see on Dan 8:9; Dan 11:32; I Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43), the oppressor of Judah. Having spoken (Zac 9:1-8) of Alexander's victories, after the parenthesis (Zac 9:9-10) as to Messiah the infinitely greater King coming, he passes to the victories which God would enable Judah to gain over Alexander's successor, after his temporary oppression of them.
O Zion . . . O Greece--God on one hand addresses Zion, on the other Greece, showing that He rules all people.
Adam Clarke on Zechariah 9:13
When I have bent Judah - Judah is the bow, and Ephraim is the arrows; and these are to be shot against the Greeks. I am inclined, with Bp. Newcome, to consider that the language of this prophecy is too strong to point out the only trifling advantage which the Maccabees gained over Antiochus, who was of Macedonian descent; and it is probable that these prophecies remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of Javan or Greece, Macedonia, and a part of Asia Minor.
John Gill on Zechariah 9:13
When I have bent Judah for me,.... By whom are meant the apostles, who were Jews, and whose ministrations were made use of as a bow with arrows, to strike the hearts of men, and bring them into subjection to Christ: they were a bow of the Lord's bending and preparing, and which abode in strength, being made strong and effectual through the hands of the mighty God of Jacob:
filled the bow with Ephraim: or rather, "filled Ephraim with the bow" (p); filled his hand with it; meaning, that some out of the ten tribes, as were the apostles, should be employed in drawing the bow of the Gospel, and shooting its arrows, the doctrines of it; which are comparable to them for swiftness, suddenness, and…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 13) For I have bent Judah for Myself as My bow, I have filled Ephraim, and will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man. LXX: For I have stretched Judah for Myself as My bow, I have filled Ephraim, and will stir up your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece, and will touch you as the sword of a warrior. This refers to the time of the Maccabees, when they defeated the Macedonians and cleansed the defiled temple of idolatry after a period of three and a half years. And what follows: 'I have filled Ephraim like a bow,' they think signifies those who came from the ten tribes which are called Israel, under Hezekiah, to whom Josiah is also mentioned as having reigned: provided that they interpret the testimony in a way different from the explanation we have given, and say: 'O Christ, whom we ((or, once upon a time, hoped to)) expected to come, and who were to reign over all the boundaries of the earth: in the blood of thy covenant, which thou didst find Jerusalem to be sprinkled with according to Ezekiel [16:6], and didst make a covenant with Abraham in the divisions of the calf, the ram, and the goat; thou didst send forth thy people Israel from captivity and the land of the Chaldeans, in which there was no mercy [Gen. 15:13].' Therefore, you also, O Israelites, who were bound and hoped in the Lord, return to the most beloved Jerusalem; for today you have the Lord promising you that, for the brief injury of captivity, you will receive a double recompense, as we read in the book of Job (Chapter XLII). According to allegory, this passage can be explained as follows: Judah is stretched out in the bow, when the Lord and Savior is sent from the Father into this world, who himself is both the bow and the archer and the arrow. Arcus, as in the present place. Sagittarius, as in the forty-fourth Psalm: Your arrows sharp and mighty (Psalm 44:6), with which, when wounded, he says: I am wounded with love (Song of Solomon 2:5). But the arrow itself is the one who speaks through Isaiah: He has made me like a chosen arrow, and has hidden me in his quiver (Isaiah 49:2). The chosen arrow is the word of God; the quiver in which the arrow is hidden, is the dispensation of the assumed flesh. Thus Ephraim is fulfilled, that when he is armed and prepared for war, he himself is wounded by the arrows of the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Greece, Greeks, Grecians — The histories of Greece and Palestine are little connected with each other. In (Genesis 10:2-5) Moses mentions the descendants of Javan as peopling the isles of the Gentiles; and when the Hebrews…
Javan — (1.) The fourth “son” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants settled in Greece, i.e., Ionia, which bears the name of Javan in Hebrew. Alexander the Great is called the “king of Javan” (rendered…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Zechariah 9:13
13. When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
13. Quia tetendi mihi Iehudah arcum, implevi Ephraim, et excitavi filios tuos, Sion, contra filios tuos, Graecia; et posui te quasi gladium gigantis (vel, robusti.)
God declares here that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, though they were then despised. That people, we know, were hated by all; and they were at the same time weak, and had hardly any strength, so as to be able to resist the wrongs done them on every side. As then this trial might have terrified weak minds, the Prophet says that t…
This thought is supported in Zac 9:13. by a picture of the glory intended for Israel. Zac 9:13. "For I stretch Judah as my bow, fill it with Ephraim, and stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Javan, and make thee like the sword of a hero. Zac 9:14. And Jehovah will appear above them, and like the lightning will His arrow go forth; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpets, and will pass along in storms of the south. Zac 9:15. Jehovah of hosts will shelter above them, and they will eat and tread down sling-stones, and will drink, make a noise, as if with wine, and become full, like the sacrificial bowls, like the corners of the altar." The double recompense which the Lord will make…
The Persians and the Greeks were engaged in a power struggle in Zechariah’s time. In the future, God would judge the Greeks (who could represent all Gentiles). Zechariah is possibly alluding to Daniel’s vision (Dan 8:21-22).
Rashi on Zechariah 9:13
For I bend Judah for Me Eventually, the Greeks will wrest the kingdom from the Persian kings and inflict harm upon you, and I will bend Judah to be a war bow for me; and Judah will wage war against the Greeks in the days of the Hasmoneans.
a bow; I filled [the hand of] Ephraim This is an elliptical verse: Like a bow, I filled the hand of Ephraim; as (II Kings 9:24), “And Jehu put all his strength into his bow.” Ephraim shall be as a quiver full of arrows to Me.
and I will arouse your children, O Zion The children of Zion on the children of Javan.
