Zechariah 9:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 9:5
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular
Ekron
וְעֶקְר֖וֹןve.'ek.Ron
H6138
Ekron · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
expectation
מֶבָּטָ֑הּme.ba.Tah
H4007
something expected · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
ashamed
יָבֵשׁyâbêsh
H3001
to be ashamed
king
מֶ֙לֶךְ֙Me.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular absolute
perish
וְאָ֤בַדve.'A.vad
H6
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Gaza
מֵֽעַזָּ֔הme.'a.Zah
H5804
Azzah · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Ashkelon
וְאַשְׁקְל֖וֹןve.'ash.ke.Lon
H831
Ashkelon · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
inhabited
תֵשֵֽׁבte.Shev
H3427
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
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
Acts 8:26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, w…
Jeremiah 47:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
Zephaniah 2:4-7 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Revelation 18:9-17 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they s…
Isaiah 14:29-31 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockat…
Isaiah 20:5-6 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
Jeremiah 47:4-7 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD w…
Ezekiel 25:15-17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 9:1-8
After the precious promises we had in the foregoing chapter of favour to God's people, their persecutors, who hated them, come to be reckoned with, those particularly that bordered close upon them.
I. The Syrians had been bad neighbours to Israel, and God had a controversy with them. The word of the Lord shall be a burden in the land of Hadrach, that is, of Syria, but it does not appear why it was so called. That that kingdom is meant is plain, because Damascus, the metropolis of that kingdom, is said to be the rest of this burden; that is, the judgments here threatened shall light and lie upon that city. Those are miserable upon whom the burden of the word of the Lord rests, upon whom the w…
Ashkelon, &c.--Gath alone is omitted, perhaps as being somewhat inland, and so out of the route of the advancing conqueror.
Ekron . . . expectation . . . ashamed--Ekron, the farthest north of the Philistine cities, had expected Tyre would withstand Alexander, and so check his progress southward through Philistia to Egypt. This hope being confounded ("put to shame"), Ekron shall "fear."
king shall perish from Gaza--Its government shall be overthrown. In literal fulfilment of this prophecy, after a two month's siege, Gaza was taken by Alexander, ten thousand of its inhabitants slain, and the rest sold as slaves. Betis the satrap, or petty "king," was bound to a chariot by thongs thrust thr…
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear - All these prophecies seem to have been fulfilled before the days of Zechariah; another evidence that these last chapters were not written by him.
Her expectation shalt be ashamed - The expectation of being succoured by Tyre.
John Gill on Zechariah 9:5
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear,.... That is, as Kimchi explains it, when Ashkelon shall see that Tyre humbles herself and submits, she shall humble herself and submit also: and the sense may be, that the inhabitants of Ashkelon, seeing that Tyre, with all her wisdom and strong reasoning, could not stand before the power of the Gospel, but submitted and embraced the Christian religion, were induced, through the efficacy of divine grace, to do the same; and certain it is that this place became Christian; we read (h) of a bishop of Ashkelon, in the synod of Nice, and of other bishops of this place in later councils: it belonged to Palestine, and was one of the five lordships of the Philistines…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 5 onwards) Ascalon will see it and be afraid; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted. Foreigners will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take the blood from their mouths, the forbidden food from between their teeth. Those who are left will belong to our God and become a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. And I will surround my house with those who fight for me, going and returning, and no oppressor will pass over them anymore, for now I have seen with my own eyes. Ascalon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be very sorrowful; and Ekron, because her hope is confounded, and her king will perish from Gaza, and Ascalon will not be inhabited. Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod; and I will remove the injustice of the foreigners, and take away their blood from their mouths, and their abominations from the midst of their teeth. And they will be for our God, and they will be like a leader in Judah; and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. And I will make my house a place of honor, so that no one will pass through or return, and no oppressor or oppressor will come upon them, for now I have seen with my own eyes. Ascalon is interpreted as lowly fire, or weighed down: Gaza, strong, or empire: Accaron, barren, or uprooted: Azotus, which in Hebrew is called Esdod, fire generating, or uncle's fire, or breast's fire; Jebusaeus, it signifies trampled. We have expressed the etymologies of the names in order to briefly go through their meaning. Seeing that Ascalon and Gaza and Accaron, since Emath was in the borders of Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon, after they were struck from all sides, and all of their hay, wood, and straw burned in the fire, were possessed by the Lord, and they themselves, terrified by fear and grief and confusion, began to hope for better things. Finally, Ascalon, in which the devil had been earlier, a lowly fire, and had come to the measure and weight of sins, trembled with fear, because it had ceased to have inhabitants. And Gaza mourned greatly, repenting of its former crimes, which had once been strong and hard to tame, and had promised itself the kingdom of all, because its king and prince, contrary speech and the power of the enemy, had lost its own rule. Accaron also is barren because it had no children without 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
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Hope · Of the wicked: Shall make them ashamed — Of the wicked: Shall make them ashamed
Philistines · Prophecies respecting: Dismay at ruin of Tyre — Prophecies respecting: Dismay at ruin of Tyre
Tyre · Prophecies respecting: All nations to be terrified at its destruction — Prophecies respecting: All nations to be terrified at its destruction
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 9:5
5. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
5. Videbit Ascalon et timebit; et Aza, et dolebit valde; et Ekron, quia confusus erit (aut, pudefactus) aspectus ejus; et peribit rex ab Aza (hoc est, Gaza) et Ascalon non habitabitur.
In this verse also is described the devastation of those cities which the Prophet names; as though he had said, that all those cities which had risen up against God's people were devoted to extreme vengeance. Zechariah says that none would be exempt from punishment, since the hand of God wou…
Zac 9:5. "Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza, and tremble greatly; and Ekron, for her hope has been put to shame; and the king will perish out of Gaza, and Ashkelon will not dwell. Zac 9:6. The bastard will dwell in Ashdod; and I shall destroy the pride of the Philistines. Zac 9:7. And I shall take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he will also remain to our God, and will be as a tribe-prince in Judah, and Ekron like the Jebusite." From the Phoenicians the threat turns against the Philistines. The fall of the mighty Tyre shall fill the Philistian cities with fear and trembling, because all hope of deliverance from the threatening destruction…
Ashkelon . . . Gaza . . . Ekron . . . Ashdod: These Philistine cities, located on the coastal plain of Israel, were defeated by David (2 Sam 5:17-25) but later regained some autonomy. The prophets Amos and Zephaniah pronounced similar judgments against the same four cities (Amos 1:6-8; Zeph 2:4-7).
Rashi on Zechariah 9:5
Ashkelon shall see the downfall of Tyre and fear.
and Ekron too, shall fear.
for the one to whom she looked was ashamed For [Ashkelon] relied on Tyre, which was the head of the sons of Esau, and Ekron, too, belonged to Edom, as our Sages said in tractate Megillah (6a): “Ekron shall be uprooted (Zeph. 2:4).” This is Caesarea, which belongs to Edom, and it originally belonged to the Philistines.
