Zechariah 14

1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your plunder will be divided within you.

Listen! It will soon be the time when Yahweh [will judge everyone]. At that time, the possessions that were taken from you [people of Jerusalem by your enemies will be returned to you, and] will be divided among you.

2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

[Before that happens, ] Yahweh will cause [the armies of] many [HYP] nations to attack Jerusalem. They will capture the city and steal all the valuable things from your houses and rape the women. They will take half of the people to other countries, but the other half of the people will be allowed to remain in the city.

3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Then Yahweh will go out to fight against those nations; he will fight like [SIM] [soldiers] fight in a battle.

4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

On that day, he will stand on Olive [Tree] Hill, east of Jerusalem. Olive [Tree] Hill will be split into two [parts], with a large valley between the parts. Half of the hill will move toward the north and half [will move] toward the south.

5 You shall flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel. Yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.

People will flee through that valley which extends to the other side (OR, to Azel), like [SIM] people fled when there was an earthquake during the time that King Uzziah ruled Judah. Then Yahweh my God will come with his holy [angels].

6 It will happen in that day that there will not be light, cold, or frost.

At that time, there will be no light [from the sun]; it will not become cold and there will be no frost.

7 It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh—not day, and not night; but it will come to pass that at evening time there will be light.

There has been no other time like that time, and only Yahweh knows when it will happen. There will be no daytime or nighttime; there will be [light continually], [even] in the evening.

8 It will happen in that day that living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. It will be so in summer and in winter.

At that time, running/fresh water will flow from Jerusalem. One stream will flow toward the east to the [Dead] Sea. The other stream will flow toward the west to the [Mediterranean] Sea. The water will flow [all the time], during (summer/the hot season) as well as in (winter/the cold season).

9 Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.

After that time, Yahweh will be the king [who rules] the entire world. [Everyone will know that] Yahweh, and only Yahweh [MTY], is the true God.

10 All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses.

[At that time, ] all the land [in Judah] from Geba [town at the north] to Rimmon [town far to] the south of Jerusalem, will become a plain. Jerusalem will remain raised up like it has always been. [It will extend] from the Benjamin Gate and the First Gate [northeast] to the Tower of Hananel, and to the king’s winepresses [to the southwest].

11 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.

Many people will live there, and the city will never be destroyed again. It will be a safe city.

12 This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.

But Yahweh will cause the people in all the nations that attacked Jerusalem to be afflicted by a (plague/severe illness). Their flesh will rot while they are still standing up. Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

13 It will happen in that day that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will each seize the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.

At that time, Yahweh will cause many people to panic. People will grab and attack each other.

14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, silver, and clothing, in great abundance.

[The people who live in other places in] Judah will fight to defend Jerusalem. They will collect the valuable things from the surrounding nations—a lot of gold and silver and clothes.

15 A plague like this will fall on the horse, on the mule, on the camel, on the donkey, and on all the animals that will be in those camps.

The same plague [that will afflict the people of other nations] will afflict their horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other work animals in their (camps/places where they have set up their tents).

16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of booths.

The people of other nations who [previously] came [to fight] against Jerusalem, all those who are still alive, will return to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the Commander of the armies of angels, and to celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

17 It will be that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain.

If there are people in those nations who do not go [to Jerusalem to worship there], rain will not fall on their land.

18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths.

If the people of Egypt [or any other nation] do not go to Jerusalem, [they will not have any rain]. And Yahweh will cause them to experience the same plague that afflicted the [people of other] nations that did not celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths.

That is how [Yahweh] will punish [the people of] Egypt and [the people of] any [other] nation who do not go [to Jerusalem] to celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.

20 In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH”; and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.

At that time, [the words] ‘Dedicated to Yahweh’ will be written on the bells that are fastened to the horses. The [cooking] pots in [the courtyard of the] temple will be [sacred], like the bowls that are near the altar.

21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.

Every pot in Jerusalem and [in other places in] Judah will be dedicated to the Commander of the armies of angels. So everyone who offers sacrifices [there in Jerusalem] will be able to take some of the meat that has been brought for sacrifices, and cook it in their own pots. And at that time, people will no longer buy or sell things in [the courtyard of] the temple of the Commander of the armies of angels.