For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
- NKJV For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
- NASB For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city.
- NLT I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.
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
God will gather all nations against Jerusalem; the city falls, with houses plundered and people exiled, yet a remnant is not cut off. It matters because even in deepest distress God preserves His people.
Overview
The LORD Himself gathers the nations for a final assault, and Jerusalem suffers capture, looting, and partial exile. Yet crucially 'the rest of the people will not be cut off'—judgment is real but not total. This preserved remnant amid catastrophe shows that God's purposes of salvation persist even through the worst of times, awaiting His decisive intervention in the next verses.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Luke 21:20–24But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.
- Rom 9:27–29Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- Isa 13:16Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
- Matt 24:19–22How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
- Mark 13:14So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- Matt 24:15–16So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
- Luke 19:43–44For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side.
- Isa 65:6–9Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will pay it back into their laps,
- Gal 4:26–27But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
- Matt 22:7The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
- Deut 28:9–14The LORD will establish you as His holy people, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
- Zech 13:8–9And in all the land, declares the LORD, two-thirds will be cut off and perish, but a third will be left in it.
- Isa 5:26He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
- Amos 7:17Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die on pagan soil. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”
- Joel 3:2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations as they divided up My land.
- Lam 5:11–12Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
- Isa 65:18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.
- Lam 1:10The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- Luke 2:1Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the whole empire.
- Matt 23:37–38O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Mark 13:19For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
- Jer 34:1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.
- Dan 2:40–43Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; for iron shatters and crushes all things, and like iron that crushes all things, it will shatter and crush all the others.
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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 14:2 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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