225 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about,.... The Targum renders it, "a vessel full of inebriating liquor;'' which intoxicates and makes giddy, and causes to tremble, stagger, and fall like a drunken man. The phrase denotes the punishment inflicted by the Lord upon the enemies of his church and people; see...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people,.... The Targum renders it "a stone of offence"; at which they shall stumble and fall; but it seems to design the immovableness of the state and condition of Jerusalem, that those who attempt to remove her out of her place, or to make any alteration in her happy circumstances,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness,.... The meaning is, the enemies of God's people shall be astonished at the failure of their attempts, and be filled with fury and madness because they cannot accomplish their designs; and shall be at their wits' end, not knowing what course to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart,.... The governors of the rest of the cities in Judea, besides Jerusalem, when they shall observe the armies of the people, their horses and their riders, smitten by the Lord, as above, shall take heart, and be of good courage: and secretly say within themselves, The inhabitants of Jerusalem...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood,.... As a large hearth of fire, with wood all about it, devours and consumes it; so shall the governors of Judah be to the nations that shall come up against Jerusalem. The Targum renders it, "as a garment of fire among wood:'' and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first,.... That is, the Jews, who will be in other parts of the land encamped in tents, to defend themselves against their enemies; these will be saved out of the hands of them, before the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be saved; and in such a manner, that it will evidently appear that their salvation is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,.... As with a shield against their enemies; and such is the Lord to all his people; he is their shield to protect them; he keeps and guards them by his power; he encompasses them about with his favour, as with a shield; and gives unto them the shield of salvation; all which will...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass in that day,.... So often mentioned in this chapter; by which is meant the latter part of the Gospel dispensation, the spiritual reign of Christ: [that] I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem; and shall destroy them. The whole of this paragraph seems to refer to the same as in Ezekiel 38:1.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,.... The Jews that belong to the family of Christ, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven: the Spirit of grace and of supplications; by which is meant the Holy Spirit of God, who is called the "Spirit of grace";...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,.... Great numbers being awakened, convinced, and converted, and brought to true repentance: as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Lightfoot (i) thinks the prophet alludes to the two great and general lamentations of Israel; the one about the rock Rimmon, where a whole...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the land shall mourn,.... That is, the inhabitants of it; not only Jerusalem, but the land of Judea, and the people in it everywhere: in the Talmud (o) it is said, this is the mourning of the Messiah, that is, on his account: every family apart; though the mourning will be general and public, yet it will be not in a body of the whole people...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart,.... Because of the contempt of the priestly office of Christ, which theirs prefigured, and was abolished by him; because of their trampling upon his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice: the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; not of Shimea the son of David, 1 Chronicles 3:5...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
All the families that remain,.... That will be in being in those times; every family apart, and their wives apart; for the whole nation shall be born at once, and converted, and all Israel shall be saved, Isaiah 66:8.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Zechariah 13 In this chapter are prophecies concerning the purification of the penitent Jews before spoken of; the removal of idols, and false prophets, out of the earth; the death of Christ; the destruction of the greater part of men, and the salvation of a few of them. The cleansing of such that mourn for sin, in a fountain...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day there shall be a fountain opened,.... Which Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand literally; but R. Moses the priest figuratively; and so the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the law being open as a fountain of water; and so Abendana, who compares it with Isaiah 2:3 but rather it should be understood of the preaching of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,.... In the latter day, at the time of the conversion of the Jews, when they shall turn to the Lord, and their sins shall be forgiven, and washed away in the fountain of his blood; for this refers not to the times of the Babylonish captivity, and their deliverance from that, which was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass, [that] when any shall yet prophesy,.... Or attempt to prophesy, or propagate their idolatrous religion and principles after this time, when they shall be abundantly detected and exposed: then his father and his mother that begat him; of whom he is born, and who, as his parents, must be supposed to have the most tender...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the prophets shall be ashamed, everyone of his vision, when he hath prophesied,.... He shall be ashamed of the doctrines he has delivered, they will appear to all men so ridiculous and absurd; as the doctrines of merit, and the works of supererogation; of transubstantiation and purgatory; of pardons,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But he shall say, I [am] no prophet,.... That he is not of the Romish clergy, or of any of their religious orders, having laid aside his habit: I [am] an husbandman; he shall put on the habit of a husbandman, and work for his bread; for he will not be able to support himself, as before, with the sale of pardons and indulgences, and by praying...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [one] shall say unto him, What [are] these wounds in thine hands?.... That is, if thou art not a prophet, what is the meaning of these wounds in thine hands? which design either those his father and mother had given him, when they thrust him through for being a false prophet, Zechariah 13:3 or the mark of the beast he received in his right...