Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Parallel translations
- WEB Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.
- BSB Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
- NKJV Open your doors, O Lebanon, That fire may devour your cedars.
- NASB Open your doors, Lebanon, So that a fire may feed on your cedars.
- NLT Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedar forests.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A poetic call for Lebanon to open its doors so fire can devour its famed cedars—a picture of coming judgment on proud, lofty powers. It matters because no human grandeur can withstand God's judgment.
Overview
This shifts abruptly from restoration to a taunt-song of judgment, summoning Lebanon to let the fire consume its prized cedars. The mighty trees symbolize proud nations or leaders whose seeming strength will fall. Many interpreters connect this with the judgment that fell on the land and its leadership, ultimately around the destruction of Jerusalem, the very generation that rejected the Shepherd-Messiah (cf. Luke 19:41-44).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 22:23O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
- Jer 22:6–7For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
- Luke 21:23–24But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
- Hab 2:8Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
- Deut 32:22For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
- Zech 10:10I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
- Hab 2:17For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
- Zech 14:1–2Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
- Matt 24:1–2And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
- Hag 1:8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
- Luke 19:41–44And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
- Ezek 31:3Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 11:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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