1. A portent. The very anomaly of this “heading” signals that we have moved on to a new unit of prophecies. In regard to both style and subject matter, these last chapters of the book are quite different from the prophecies of Zechariah, and the mention of Javan (which is to say “Ion,” or Greece) in verse 13 is a possible indication that this text was composed after the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E., more than a century after the time of Zechariah. Although the first two verses are in prose, these prophecies continue in poetry, unlike the prose writing of Zechariah.

Hadrach. This is a city in Syria north of Damascus.

2. though they have great wisdom. The “wisdom,” in keeping with one prevalent sense of the Hebrew ḥokhmah, is their skill in shipbuilding and in the construction of buildings, perhaps especially fortifications, as the next verse suggests. While these Phoenician cities are famed for their “wisdom,” they are doomed to fall through the sovereign decree of the God of all the earth.

4. beggar her. If one construes the Hebrew verb as deriving from a different root, it might mean “dispossess her,” but the mention in the preceding line of silver and gold argues for the sense of “beggar.”

her wealth. The Hebrew ḥayil has three different meanings—“wealth,” “wall,” and “military force”—and one must concede that any of these three senses would work here. This translation opts for “wealth” because of the invocation of silver and gold.

5. Ashkelon . . . / Gaza . . . / Ekron. These are Philistine cities, like Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast but considerably to the south. When the Philistines hear of the fall of the Phoenician towns, they are seized with panic.

7. take away the blood from his mouth / and the disgusting things from between his teeth. The consumption of blood is explicitly forbidden in the Torah. The “disgusting things” are probably pork, a staple of the Philistine diet, as the evidence of bones uncovered in Philistine sites indicates. The Philistines, in this utopian scenario, will put aside their odious practices and join the people of Israel.

a friend. The Hebrew ʾaluf, which also means “guide,” does have the sense of “friend” or “companion.”

Ekron like the Jebusite. The Jebusites, after their city Jerusalem was conquered by David, appear to have had amicable relations with the Israelites.

8. I have seen their affliction. The Masoretic Text has “I have seen with My eyes” (beʿeynay), but the Septuagint seems to have used a Hebrew text that showed beʿonyam, “their affliction,” and that makes better sense.

9. a lowly man riding on an ass. This is the surprising switch: though a victor, the king comes as a lowly man. In the earlier biblical period, donkeys were actually the mount of royalty, but at this late moment, horses would have been used. The introduction of the ass here anticipates the elimination of horses from Jerusalem in the next verse.

10. I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim / and the horses from Jerusalem. Ordinarily, this language would signal a prophecy of doom. Here, however, it conveys the idea that the implements of warfare will be cast aside because the ideal ruler will be able to “parley for peace with the nations.”

from sea to sea. Although this could mean from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, given the expansive dimensions of the province of rule, it may instead refer to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, far to the south.

11. through the blood of the covenant. In all likelihood, this is the blood of the covenant of circumcision. Because Israel has remained faithful to its covenant with God, He will now liberate its captives.

12. the fortress. The Hebrew word might instead be a place-name, Bitsaron.

you prisoners of hope. This evocative phrase so caught the imagination of the great medieval Hebrew poet Judah HaLevi that he used it several times in his poems.

13. I have bent Me Judah as a bow, / strong Ephraim as an arrow. This follows from the idea that horses and chariots are put aside, for Judah itself now is embodied as a weapon.

14. blast the ram’s horn. This is a call to battle.

15. drink blood like wine. The Masoretic Text has “drink and roar [hamu] like wine,” but the Septuagint reads dam, “blood,” which is more plausible. Drinking blood like wine is a topos of ancient Hebrew martial poetry.

like ritual basins, / like the corners of an altar. Blood was collected in basins as part of the animal sacrifices, and it was also sprinkled at the four corners of the altar.

16. His people like sheep. Though the syntactic placement is a little odd, the clear sense is that God will rescue Israel as a shepherd rescues his sheep.

17. lush. The Hebrew uses a verb, yenoveiv, that means something like “to bring forth produce.”