Chapter 9

¹ The burden of the word of the Lord, in the land of Sedrach, and his ¹sacrifice shall be in Damascus; for the Lord looks upon men, and upon all the tribes of Israel. ² And in Emath, even in her coasts, are Tyre and Sidon, because they were very wise. ³ And Tyrus built strong-holds for herself, and heaped up silver as dust, and gathered gold as the mire of the ways.

⁴ And therefore the Lord will take them for a possession, and will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be consumed with fire. ⁵ Ascalon shall see, and fear; Gaza also, and shall be greatly pained, and Accaron; for she is ashamed ²at her trespass; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited. ⁶ And aliens shall dwell in Azotus, and I will bring down the pride of the Philistines. ⁷ And I will take their blood out of their mouth, and their abominations from between their teeth; and these also shall be left to our God, and they shall be as a captain of a thousand in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite. ⁸ And I will set up a ³defence for my house, that they may not pass through, nor turn back, neither shall there any more come upon them one to drive them away: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; proclaim it aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; ⁴behold, the King is coming to thee, just, and ⁵a Saviour; he is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal. ¹⁰ And he shall destroy the chariots out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be utterly destroyed; and there shall be abundance and peace out of the nations; and he shall rule over the waters as far as the sea, and the rivers to the ends of the earth.

¹¹ And thou by the blood of thy covenant has sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit that has no water. ¹² Ye shall dwell in strongholds, ye prisoners of the congregation: and for one day of thy ⁶captivity I will recompense thee double. ¹³ For I have bent thee, O Juda, for myself as a bow, I have filled ⁷Ephraim; and I will raise up thy children, O Sion, against the children of the Greeks, and I will handle thee as the sword of a warrior. ¹⁴ And the Lord shall be over them, and his arrow shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord Almighty shall blow with the trumpet; and shall proceed with the tumult of his threatening. ¹⁵ The Lord Almighty shall protect them, and they shall destroy them, and overwhelm them with sling-stones; and they shall swallow them down as wine, and fill ⁸the bowls as the altar. ¹⁶ And the Lord their God shall save them in that day, even his

1122

people as a flock; for holy stones are rolled upon his land. ¹⁷ For if he has anything good, and if he has anything fair, the young men shall have corn, and there shall be fragrant wine to the virgins.