17 For how great is his goodness, And how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, And new wine the virgins.
Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored: but those who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.
Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall see a land that reaches afar.
Behold, the days come," says the Lord Yahweh, "That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of Yahweh. They will wander from sea to sea, And from the north even to the east; They will run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh, And will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint for thirst. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, And say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives;' They will fall, and never rise up again."
It will happen in that day, That the mountains will drop down sweet wine, The hills will flow with milk, All the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; And a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, And will water the valley of Shittim.
"Behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "That the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the one treading grapes him who sows seed; And sweet wine will drip from the mountains, And flow from the hills. I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, And they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, And eat the fruit of them.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. For we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake; seeing it is God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and singing praises in your heart to the Lord;
But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love. By this was God's love revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice{"atoning sacrifice" is from the Greek "hilasmos," an appeasing, propitiating, or the means of appeasement or propitiation-- the sacrifice that turns away God's wrath because of our sin.} for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!" I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!{TR omits "Amen!"}" The four living creatures said, "Amen!" The {TR adds "twenty-four"}elders fell down and worshiped.{TR adds "the one living forever and ever"}
Oh how great is your goodness, Which you have laid up for those who fear you, Which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, Before the sons of men!
How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; Abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; Establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
They will utter the memory of your great goodness, And will sing of your righteousness.
Your mouth like the best wine, That goes down smoothly for my beloved, Gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.
I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh, [and] the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for vexation of spirit.
They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zechariah 9
Commentary on Zechariah 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
At this chapter begins another sermon, which is continued to the end of ch. 11. It is called, "The burden of the word of the Lord,' for every word of God has weight in it to those who regard it, and will be a heavy weight upon those who do not, a dead weight. Here is,
Zec 9:1-8
After the precious promises we had in the foregoing chapter of favour to God's people, their persecutors, who hated them, come to be reckoned with, those particularly that bordered close upon them.
Zec 9:9-11
That here begins a prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom is plain from the literal accomplishment of the ninth verse in, and its express application to, Christ's riding in triumph into Jerusalem, Mt. 21:5; Jn. 12:15.
Zec 9:12-17
The prophet, having taught those that had returned out of captivity to attribute their deliverance to the blood of the covenant and to the promise of the Messiah (for they were so wonderfully helped because that blessing was in them, was yet in the womb of their nation), now comes to encourage them with the prospect of a joyful and happy settlement, and of glorious times before them; and such a happiness they did enjoy, in a great measure, for some time; but these promises have their full accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ.