The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 43: Zacharias
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Unknown >> The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 43: Zacharias
Ten men, etc... Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to the Jewish
religion before Christ: but many more were converted to Christ by the
apostles and other preachers of the Jewish nation.
Zacharias Chapter 9
God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies to the
faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to deliver the
captives by his blood, and to give us all good things.
9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of
Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of
Israel is the Lord's.
Hadrach... Syria.
9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they
have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise.
9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together
silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.
9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength in
the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.
9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very
sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king
shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.
9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride
of the Philistines.
9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his
abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our
God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite.
His blood... It is spoken of the Philistines, and particularly of
Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,) and contains a prophecy of the
conversion of that people from their bloody sacrifices and abominations
to the worship of the true God.
9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war, going
and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them: for
now I have seen with my eyes.
That serve me in war... Viz., the Machabees.
9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of
Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he
is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out
of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak
peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from
the rivers even to the end of the earth.
9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.
9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render
thee double as I declare today.
9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim:
and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I
will make thee as the sword of the mighty.
Thy sons, O Sion, etc... Viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way,
conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ.
9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go
forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in
the whirlwind of the south.
9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devonr, and
subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be
inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and
as the horns of the altar.
9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the flock of
his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land.
Holy stones... The apostles, who shall be as pillars and monuments in
the church.
9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful
thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?
The corn, etc... His most excellent gift is the blessed Eucharist,
called here The corn, that is, the bread of the elect, and the wine
springing forth virgins; that is, maketh virgins to bud, or spring
forth, as it were, like flowers among thorns; because it has a wonderful
efficacy to give and preserve purity.
Zacharias Chapter 10
God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his church,
which shall arise originally from the Jewish nation.
10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will
make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in
the field.
10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners
have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity: they comforted in
vain: therefore they were led away as a flock: they shall be afflicted,
because they have no shepherd.
10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon
the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house
of Juda, and hath made them as the horse of his glory in the battle.
10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him the pin, out of
him the bow of battle, out of him ever exacter together.
10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot the mire of
the ways in battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them,
and the riders of horses shall be confounded.
10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of
Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because I will have mercy on
them: and they shall be as they were when I had not cast them off, for I
am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and their heart
shall rejoice as through wine: and their children shall see, and shall
rejoice, and their heart shall be joyful in the Lord.
10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because
I have redeemed them: and I will multiply them as they were multiplied
before.
10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they shall
remember me: and they shall live with their children, and shall return.
10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and I will
gather them from among the Assyrians: and will bring them to the land of
Galaad, and Libanus, and place shall not be found for them.
10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and shall strike
the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be
confounded, and the pride of Assyria shall be humbled, and the sceptre
of Egypt shall depart.
10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his
name, saith the Lord.
Zacharias Chapter 11
The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God's dealings with the
Jews, and their reprobation.
11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.
O Libanus... So Jerusalem, and more particularly the temple, is called
by the prophets, from its height, and from its being built of the cedars
of Libanus.-Ibid. Thy cedars... Thy princes and chief men.
11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are
laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut
down.
11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is
laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of
the Jordan is spoiled.
11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,
11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold
them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their
shepherds spared them not.
11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the
Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour's
hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land,
and I will not deliver it out of their hand.
Every one into his neighbour's hand, etc... This alludes to the last
siege of Jerusalem, in which the different factions of the Jews
destroyed one another; and they that remained fell into the hands of
their king, that is, of the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John
19.15, we have no king but Caesar.
11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the
flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I
called a Cord, and I fed the flock.
Two rods... Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's
dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
Beauty: the other, by bands and punishments, called the Cord. And where
both these rods are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of
sinners, the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a
reprobate sense, as the Jews were.
11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was
straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.
Three shepherds in one month... That is, in a very short time. By these
three shepherds probably are meant the latter princes and high priests
of the Jews, whose reign was short.
11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and
that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every
one the flesh of his neighbour.
11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to
make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.
11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock
that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.
11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my
wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces
of silver.
11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome
price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of
silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.
The statuary... The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.
11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might
break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.
11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a
foolish shepherd.
A foolish shepherd... This was to represent the foolish, that is, the
wicked princes and priests that should rule the people, before their
utter desolation.
11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not
visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is
broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of
the fat ones, and break their hoofs.
11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon
his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his
right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Zacharias Chapter 12
God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The mourning of
Jerusalem.
12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus saith the
Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of
the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in him:
12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting to all the
people round about: and Juda also shall be in the siege against
Jerusalem.
A lintel of surfeiting... That is, a door into which they shall seek to
enter, to glut themselves with blood; but they shall stumble, and fall
like men stupefied with wine. It seems to allude to the times of
Antiochus, and to the victories of the Machabees.
12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem
a burdensome stone to all people: all that shall lift it up shall be
rent and torn, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered
together against her.
12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every horse with
astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon
the house of Juda, and will strike every horse of the nations with
blindness.
12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart: Let the
inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts,
their God.
12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a furnace of
fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst hay: and they shall devour
all the people round about, to the right hand, and to the left: and
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.
12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Jada, as in the
beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify themselves against Juda.
12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and he that hath offended among them in that day shall be as David: and
the house of David, as that of God, as an angel of the Lord in their
sight.
12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy
all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they
shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the
manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.
12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like
the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon.
Adadremmon... A place near Mageddon, where the good king Josias was
slain, and much lamented by his people.
12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the
families of the house of David apart, and their women apart:
12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their women apart:
the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart: the
families of Semei apart, and their women apart.
12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families apart, and
their women apart.
Zacharias Chapter 13
The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be extirpated:
Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried by fire.
13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and
of the unclean woman.
13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall
be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the
unclean spirit out of the earth.
13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any
more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall
say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the
name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall
thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.
13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be
confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy, neither
shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:
13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is
my example from my youth.
13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of
thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of
them that loved me. 13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the
shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to
the little ones.
13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in
it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be
left therein.
13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They
shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my
people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.
Zacharias Chapter 14
After the persecutions of the church shall follow great prosperity.
Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all that will not serve God in
his church.
14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be
divided in the midst of thee.
14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the city
shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women shall be
defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the
rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.
I will gather, etc... This seems to be a prophecy of what was done by
Antiochus.
14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those
nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is over against Jerusalem towards the east: and the mount of
Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the
west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be
separated to the north, and half thereof to the south.
14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the
valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall
flee as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias
king of Juda: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with
him.
14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no
light, but cold and frost.
No light... Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when
it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the
comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.
14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day
nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light:
In the time of the evening there shall be light... An unexpected light
shall arise by the means of the Machabees, when things shalll seem to be
at the worst.
14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go
out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to
the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.
Living waters... Viz., the gospel of Christ.
14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there
shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.
14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill
to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and shall
dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of
the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower
of Hananeel even to the king's winepresses.
All the land shall return, etc... This, in some measure, was verified by
the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual
sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of
Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the
anathema of destruction, or God's curse.
14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an
anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.
14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all
nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall
consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall
consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in
their mouth.
The flesh of every one shall consume, etc... Such judgments as these
have often fallen upon the persecutors of God's church, as appears by
many instances in history.
14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among
them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall
be clasped upon his neighbour's hand.
14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of
all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver,
and garments in great abundance.
Even Juda, etc... The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join
in persecuting the church.
14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the
camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those
tents, shall be like this destruction.
Shall be like this destruction... That is, the beasts shall be destroyed
as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their leaders.
14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against
Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord of
hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
They that shall be left, etc... That is, many of them that persecuted
the church shall be converted to its faith and communion.-Ibid. To keep
the feast of tabernacles... This feast was kept by the Jews in memory of
their sojourning forty years in the desert, in their way to the land of
promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all such Christians
as in their earthly pilgrimage are continually advancing toward their
true home, the heavenly Jerusalem; by the help of the sacraments and
sacrifice of the church. And they that neglect this must not look for
the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to their souls.
14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the
families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts,
there shall be no rain upon them.
14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come: neither shall it
be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will
strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations,
that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be
holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as
the phials before the altar.
That which is upon the bridle, etc... The golden ornaments of the
bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in the house of God. And
there shall be an abundance of caldrons and phials for the sacrifices of
the temple; by which is meant, under a figure, the great resort there
shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ, and her
sacrifice.
14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be sanctified to
the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice shall come, and take of them,
and shall seethe in them: and the merchant shall be no more in the house
of the Lord of hosts in that day.
The merchant shall be no more, etc... Or, as some render it, The
Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the profane and unbelievers
shall have no title to be in the house of the Lord. Or there shall be no
occasion for buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the house
of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the temple.
