It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
Parallel translations
- KJV And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
- BSB On that day a great panic from the LORD will come upon them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other.
- NKJV It shall come to pass in that day That a great panic from the Lord will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
- NASB And it will come about on that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be raised against the hand of another.
- NLT On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand.
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 great panic from the LORD will seize the nations so they turn and attack one another. It matters because God can defeat His enemies by sending confusion among them.
Overview
Beyond plague, God sends a heaven-sent panic so that the hostile peoples seize and fight each other—self-destruction as judgment. This recalls earlier deliverances where God set Israel's enemies against themselves (Judg. 7:22; 2 Chron. 20:23). It shows that God needs no human army to overthrow His foes; His judgment is sure and often self-inflicted.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Zech 12:4In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
- Ezek 38:21I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains, says the Lord Yahweh: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
- Judg 7:22They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man’s sword against his fellow, and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
- Rev 17:12–17The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.
- Zech 11:6For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”
- 1 Sam 14:15–23There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the raiders, also trembled; and the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling.
- 2 Chr 20:22–24When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
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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 14:13 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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