Chapter 9

1 An Oracle

The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach

and will rest upon Damascus.

For to the Lord belong the cities of Aram,*

even as all the tribes of Israel;

2 Hamath also, which borders thereon,

Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

3 Tyre has built herself a rampart,

and heaped up silver like dust,

and gold like the dirt of the streets.

4 But lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions

and hurl her wealth into the sea,

and she shall be devoured by fire.

5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;

Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;

Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.

The king shall perish from Gaza;

Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;

6 a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod;

and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.

7 I will take away its blood from its mouth,

and its abominations from between its teeth;

it too shall be a remnant for our God;

it shall be like a clan in Judah,

and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,

so that none shall march to and fro;

no oppressor shall again overrun them,

for now I see with my own eyes.

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on an ass,

on a colt the foal of an ass.

10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.

12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;

I have made Ephraim its arrow.

I will brandish your sons, O Zion,

over your sons, O Greece,

and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

14 Then the Lord will appear over them,

and his arrow go forth like lightning;

the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet,

and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.

15 The Lord of hosts will protect them,

and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;l

and they shall drink their bloodm like wine,

and be full like a bowl,

drenched like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day the Lord their God will save them

for they are the flock of his people;

for like the jewels of a crown

they shall shine on his land.

17 Yea, how good and how fair it shall be!

Grain shall make the young men flourish,

and new wine the maidens.