Doom is certain for Hamath, near Damascus, and for the cities of Tyre and Sidon, though they are so clever.
Parallel translations
- WEB and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.
- KJV And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
- BSB and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.
- NKJV Also against Hamath, which borders on it, And against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
- NASB And Hamath also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
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
The judgment extends to Hamath and to wise, wealthy Tyre and Sidon. Even the cleverest, richest cities cannot escape God's sovereign word.
Overview
The oracle moves down the coast to the famed Phoenician cities, noted for their wisdom and commercial cunning. Their renowned skill and self-reliance will not shield them from the Lord's purposes. The passage prepares for the announcement of the coming King by first showing God's supremacy over the proud nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 49:23Of Damascus: “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it can’t be quiet.
- Ezek 28:12Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You were the seal of full measure, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
- Ezek 28:2–5Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God —
- Ezek 28:21–26Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
- Isa 23:1–18The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
- Ezek 26:1–21In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Joel 3:4–8“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
- 2 Kgs 25:21The king of Babylon attacked them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
- Amos 1:9–10Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;
- 2 Kgs 23:33Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
- Obad 1:20The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.
- Amos 6:14For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”
- Num 13:21So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
- 1 Kgs 17:9“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
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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 9:2 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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