Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.
Parallel Translations
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Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.
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Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
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Behold, the Lord will impoverish her, and He will smite her power into the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Zechariah 9:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your commerce, you have profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought out a fire from the middle of you. It has devoured you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
- Ezekiel 26:17 They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, “How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!”
- Amos 1:10 but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.”
- Proverbs 10:2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Proverbs 11:4 Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Isaiah 23:1-7 The 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. Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea, have replenished. On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations. Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.” When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast! Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?
- Ezekiel 26:3-5 therefore the Lord Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh. ‘She will become plunder for the nations.
- Ezekiel 27:26-36 Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, your pilots, your repairers of ship seams, the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is among you, will fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. At the sound of the cry of your pilots, the pasture lands will shake. All who handle the oars, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea, will come down from their ships. They will stand on the land, and will cause their voice to be heard over you, and will cry bitterly. They will cast up dust on their heads. They will wallow in the ashes. They will make themselves bald for you, and clothe themselves with sackcloth. They will weep for you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. In their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you, saying, ‘Who is there like Tyre, like her who is brought to silence in the middle of the sea?’ When your wares went out of the seas, you filled many peoples. You enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise. In the time that you were broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell within you. All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid. They are troubled in their face. The merchants among the peoples hiss at you. You have become a terror, and you will be no more.” ’ ”
- Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “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—
- Ezekiel 28:8 They will bring you down to the pit. You will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas.
- Ezekiel 28:16 By the abundance of your commerce, your insides were filled with violence, and you have sinned. Therefore I have cast you as profane out of God’s mountain. I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the middle of the stones of fire.
- Joel 3:8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He now declares that God would be an avenger.…
He now declares that God would be an avenger. Behold, he says, Jehovah will possess, or cause to possess, as some read, but they are mistaken, owing to the two meanings of the verb ירש, iresh, which means to possess and also to expel or impoverish; for interpreters think that a hope of favor and of salvation is here given to these cities, and say that they are now chosen by God as a possession. But this is wholly contrary to the intention of the Prophet, as it appears more clearly from a view of each clause.
Jehovah then will expel her, and smite her strength. The Prophet no doubt alludes to what he had already said — that Tyrus had heaped silver and gold; now on the other hand he declares that Tyrus would be exposed to a scattering; for the heap of gold and silver it had laid up would be dissipated by God: he will then dissipate; or if one chooses to take the verb as meaning to reduce to want, the contrast would thus be suitable — God will then impoverish, or expel her. Afterwards he adds, In the sea will he smite her strength. As Tyrus, we know, was surrounded by the sea, the Prophet by this reference shows God’s power in taking vengeance on her; for the sea would be no restraint or hindrance to God, when he resolved to enter there. The Syrians, indeed, thought themselves safe from every hostile attack, for they had the sea on every side as a triple wall and a triple rampart. Nor was Tyrus altogether like Venice; for Venice is situated in a stagnant sea, while the situation of Tyrus was in a very deep sea, as historians plainly show who relate its assault by Alexander the Great. It had indeed been before taken and plundered; but he did what none had ever thought of — he filled up a part of the sea, so that Tyrus was no longer an island.
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We now see what Zechariah had in view, when he threatened ruin to Tyrus, though its strength was in the midst of the sea, beyond the reach of fortune, as it is commonly said. And she shall be consumed by fire. He means that Tyrus would not only be plundered, but wholly demolished; for we know that even the strongest things are consumed by fire. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Though they of Tyre think themselves invincible by reason…
Though they of Tyre think themselves invincible by reason of the sea that compass them round about, yet they shall not escape God’s judgments.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 9:4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out,…
Zec 9:4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
Ver. 4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out] Or, impoverish her, as some render it; that is, for her money. God can soon let her blood in the vena cava, cavities of her veins, called Marsupium; and make her nudam tanquam ex mari. bare just as out of the sea, And then for her munitions,
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He will smite her power in the sea] She was seated in an island, upon munitions of rocks; the sea was to her instead of a threefold wall and ditch. She was better fortified than Venice is; which yet hath flourished above nine hundred years, and was never in the enemy’s hands; whence she hath for her motto, Intacta manet. It remains intact. But Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, as his wages; and afterwards by Alexander, who never held anything impossible that he undertook, however unlikely it were to be effected. He found means to fill up the sea with stones, trees, and rubbish, where it divided Tyre from the continent; and made himself master of it.
And she shall be devoured with fire] Though seated in the heart of the sea, Eze 28:2, and had motted up herself against God’s fire. Nothing shall quench the fire that he kindleth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Behold; observe it, for I tell you truth; though…
Behold; observe it, for I tell you truth; though strange, it will be so.
The Lord will cast her out; the Lord will do this, he will eject and cast her out of her inheritance, as the word in the Hebrew, and he will inherit her, as the word also bears. God will do both, he will seize into his hand by some or other, and so put them out of all. Her fortifications shall not be able to secure her possession.
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He will smite her power in the sea; the Lord declares how he will do what he threatens against Tyre, where their strength lieth; he will break them, take away their shipping, and then both treasures will waste, trade will fail, and auxiliaries will not be gotten.
And she, Tyre, probably Zidon with her,
shall be devoured with fire; that is, by the enemy in the siege, or at the taking of her. All which was done about A.M. 3672, one hundred and eighty-five years after this prophecy, when Alexander the Great mastered Tyre at sea with a fleet of one hundred and ninety or two hundred ships, took the city, slew many thousands of them, and, as Curtius reports, burnt the city.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Behold, the Lord will cast her out,.... Or "inherit…
Behold, the Lord will cast her out,.... Or "inherit her" (f), or "them", as the Septuagint render the words; when, being converted, she would become the Lord's inheritance and possession, and her riches should be devoted to his service:
and he will smite her power in the sea; for Tyre was situated in the sea, at the entry of it, and was strong in it, Eze 26:17. Kimchi interprets this of her humiliation and subjection in the days of the Messiah; and in a spiritual sense it has been verified in such who have been spoiled of their carnal strength, in which they trusted, and have laid down their weapons, and have submitted to the sceptre of Christ:
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and she shall be devoured with fire; with the spirit of judgment, and of burning, which purges and removes the filth of sin; and with the fire of the word, which burns up and consumes its lusts; and with the flames of divine love, which make souls as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. This was literally accomplished in the burning of Tyre by Alexander (g), which injected fear and dread in cities near it, as follow:
(f) , Setp.; "possidebit eam", V. L. Munster, Castalio. So some in Vatablus. (g) Curtius, l. 4. c. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cast her out - Of her inheritance, as the…
Cast her out - Of her inheritance, as the word properly means.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Will smite her power in the sea]…
Verse 4. Will smite her power in the sea] See Eze 26:17. Though Alexander did take Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, c. yet it seems that the prediction relative to their destruction was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar. See Am 1:6-8; Zep 2:4; Zep 2:7.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Behold - Such were the preparations of Tyre. Over…
Behold - Such were the preparations of Tyre. Over against them, as it were, the prophet sets before our eyes the counsels of God. Theodoret: “Since they had severed themselves from the providence of God, they were now to experience His power.” “The Lord will cast her out” , literally, deprive her of her possessions, give her an heir of what she had amassed, namely: the enemy; “and he will smite her power or wealth” , of which Ezekiel says, “With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by the greediness of thy wisdom and by thy traffic thou hast increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches” Eze 28:4-5. All wherein she relied, and so too the stronghold itself, God would smite in the sea. The sea was her confidence and boast. She said “I am a God; I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas” Eze 28:2.
The scene of her pride was to be that of her overthrow; the waves, which girt her round, should bury her ruins and wash over her site. Even in the sea the hand of God should find her, and smite her in it, and into it, and so that she should abide in it. “They mocked at the king, as though be thought to prevail against Neptune (the sea).” “Ye despise this land-army, through confidence in the place, that ye dwell in an island,” was the message of Alexander, “but soon will I show you that ye dwell on a continent.”
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Every device had been put in force in its defense: the versatility by which the inhabitants of an island, some 2 12 miles in circumference, held at bay the conqueror of the battle of Issus with unlimited resources, , “engineers from Cyprus and all Phoenicia,” and , “a fleet of 180 ships from Cyprus,” attests the wisdom in which the prophet says, she would trust. “She had already a profusion of catapults and other machines useful in a siege, and easily prepared manifold others by the makers of war-engines and all sorts of artificers whom she had, and these invented new engines of all sorts; so that the whole circuit of the city was filled with engines.” Divers who should loosen the mole; grappling hooks and nets to entangle near-assailants; melted metal or heated sand to penetrate between the joints of their armor; bags of sea-weed to deaden the blows of the battering machines; a fireship navigated so as to destroy the works of the enemy, while its sailors escaped; fiery arrows; wheels set in continual motion, to turn aside the missiles against them, , bear witness to an unwearied inventiveness of defense. The temporary failures might have shaken any mind but Alexander’s (who is even said to have hesitated but that he dared not, by abandoning the enterprise, lose the prestige of victory. Yet all ended in the massacre of 6,000, 7,000, or 8,000 of her men, the crucifixion of 2,000, the sale of the rest, whether 13,000 or 30,000, into slavery . None escaped save those whom the Sidonians secreted in the vessels, , with which they had been compelled to serve against her.
And she herself - When her strength is overthrown, “shall be devoured with fire.” : “Alexander, having slain all, save those who fled to the temples, ordered the houses to be set on fire.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Eze 26:4, Eze 26:12; Eze 27:27).
(Eze 26:4, Eze 26:12; Eze 27:27).
cast her out--Hebrew, "dispossess her," that is, will cast her inhabitants into exile [GROTIUS]. Alexander, though without a navy, by incredible labor constructed a mole of the ruins of Old Tyre (fulfilling Eze 26:4-12, &c., by "scraping her dust from her," and "laying her stones, timber, and dust in the midst of the water"), from the shore to the island, and, after a seven months' siege, took the city by storm, slew with the sword about eight thousand, enslaved thirteen thousand, crucified two thousand, and set the city on "fire," as here foretold [CURTIUS, Book 4].
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smite her power in the sea--situated though she be in the sea, and so seeming impregnable (compare Eze 28:2, "I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the sea"). "Her power" includes not only her fortifications, but her fleet, all of which Alexander sank in the sea before her very walls [CURTIUS, Book 4]. Eze 26:17 corresponds, "How art thou destroyed which wast strong in the sea!"
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The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. cast her out] Or, dispossess her, R. V.…
4. cast her out] Or, dispossess her, R. V. Lit. take possession of her, i.e. by ejecting her and coming into her place. Comp. Exo_34:24. Ewald renders less satisfactorily will impoverish her.
her power in the sea] The order of the Hebrew words is, shall smite in the sea her power; where “power” does not mean only, though it may possibly include, her bastions and fortifications (Psa_48:14; Psa_122:7), but is to be taken in its widest sense. “The scene of her pride was to be that of her overthrow; the waves which girt her round should bury her ruins and wash over her site. Even in the sea the hand of God should find her and smite her in it and into it, and so that she should abide in it.” Pusey.
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devoured with fire] “Proudly confident in the strength of their island fortress, the Tyrians mocked the attempts of Alexander to reduce their city. Every engine of war suited for defence had been stored up in their bulwarks, and every device which their skilful engineers could suggest was had recourse to, and for a time with marked success. ‘Ye despise this land army through confidence in the place that ye dwell in as an island, but I will show you that ye dwell on a continent,’ was the language of Alexander (Q. Curtius, de reb. gest. Alex. Magn. iv. 2). The shallow channel between the mainland and the island was at last bridged over by a huge dam of earth erected after repeated failures, and the city which had stood a five years’ siege from the Assyrians, a thirteen years’ siege from the Chaldæans, was taken after a short siege of seven months by Alexander. Ten thousand of its brave defenders were either massacred or crucified” (2,000 were crucified, from 6,000 to 8,000 are said to have been massacred), “the rest were sold into slavery, none escaped save those who were concealed by the Sidonians in the ships. Q. Curtius adds distinctly (Zec_4:4) that ‘Alexander having slain all, save those who fled to the temples, ordered the houses to be set on fire.’ ” Rev. C. H. H. Wright.
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