The Prophet Zechariah

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 10 -

Petition before the Lord for rain in the latter time, and the Lord will produce snows and will give showers of rain to them, to each blade in the field.

For the images have been speaking what is useless, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have been speaking false hope: they have comforted in vain. For this reason, they have been led away like a flock; they will be afflicted, because they have no shepherd.(a)

My fury has been kindled over the shepherds, and I will visit upon the he-goats. For the Lord of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and he has set them like the horse of his glory in the war.(b)

From him will go forth the angle, from him the wooden peg, from him the bow of battle, from him every exactor at the same time.

And they will be like the strong, trampling the mud of the ways in battle. And they will fight, for the Lord is with them. And the riders of the horses will be confounded.

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will convert them, because I will have mercy on them. And they will be as they were when I had not cast them away. For I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.

And they will be like the strong of Ephraim, and their heart will rejoice as if by wine, and their sons will see and will rejoice, and their heart will exult in the Lord.

I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because I have redeemed them. And I will multiply them, as they had been multiplied before.

And I will sow them among the peoples, and from far away they will remember me. And they will live with their sons, and they will return.(c)

And I will lead them back from the land of Egypt, and I will gather them from among the Assyrians, and I will lead them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and no place will be left that has not been found by them.(d)

And he will pass over the narrow passage of the sea, and he will strike the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the river will be confounded, and the arrogance of Assyria will be brought low, and the scepter of Egypt will withdraw.

I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they will walk in his name, says the Lord.

Footnotes

(a)10:2 The images that have been speaking what is useless (or what is harmful) are, in the modern context, the shows on television and other forms of media that use images.(Conte)

(b)10:3 The translation ‘visit’ is somewhat awkward in English, but a less awkward translation would also be less accurate and would not convey the multiple levels of meaning of the term. Notice that ‘visit’ can mean to afflict, as in the first use of the word in this verse, or it can mean to bless, as in the second use in this verse.(Conte)

(d)10:10 This last phrase means that there will be no place left unoccupied in the land to which they will be led. It is not that some persons will not find a place, but rather that every place will be filled.(Conte)