Zechariah 9:13
New International Version
I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.

New Living Translation
Judah is my bow, and Israel is my arrow. Jerusalem is my sword, and like a warrior, I will brandish it against the Greeks.

English Standard Version
For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

Berean Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

King James Bible
When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

New King James Version
For I have bent Judah, My bow, Fitted the bow with Ephraim, And raised up your sons, O Zion, Against your sons, O Greece, And made you like the sword of a mighty man.”

New American Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece; And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

NASB 1995
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

NASB 1977
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

Legacy Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow; I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will rouse up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a mighty man’s sword.

Amplified Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fit the bow with Ephraim [as My arrow]. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, And will make you [Israel] like the sword of a warrior.

Christian Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as my bow; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

American Standard Version
For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because I have bent my bow over Yehuda, and I have fitted against Ephraim, and I cast your sons, oh Zion, against your sons, oh Greece, and I have made you like the sword of a giant

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For I have bent thee, O Juda, for myself as a bow, I have filled Ephraim; 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.

Contemporary English Version
I will use Judah as my bow and Israel as my arrow. I will take the people of Zion as my sword and attack the Greeks.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of the mighty.

English Revised Version
For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I will bend Judah as my bow and draw my bow with Ephraim [as its arrow]. I will stir up your people, Zion, against your people, Greece, and I will use you like a warrior's sword.

Good News Translation
I will use Judah like a soldier's bow and Israel like the arrows. I will use the men of Zion like a sword, to fight the men of Greece."

International Standard Version
For I have bent Judah as if it were my bow, loading it with Ephraim. I raised up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, wielding you like a mighty warrior's sword."

JPS Tanakh 1917
For I bend Judah for Me, I fill the bow with Ephraim; And I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, Against thy sons, O Javan, And will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.

Literal Standard Version
For I have trodden for Myself with Judah, | I have filled a bow [with] Ephraim, | And I have stirred up your sons, O Zion, | Against your sons, O Javan, | And I have set you as the sword of a hero.”

Majority Standard Bible
For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

New American Bible
For I have bent Judah as my bow, I have set Ephraim as its arrow; I will arouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Yavan, and I will use you as a warrior’s sword.

NET Bible
I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior's sword.

New Revised Standard Version
For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will arouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

New Heart English Bible
For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

Webster's Bible Translation
When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

World English Bible
For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have loaded the bow with Ephraim. I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

Young's Literal Translation
For I have trodden for Me Judah, A bow I have filled with Ephraim, And I have stirred up thy sons, O Zion, Against thy sons, O Javan, And I have set thee as the sword of a hero.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Zion's Coming King
12Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

Cross References
Psalm 45:3
Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; appear in your majesty and splendor.

Jeremiah 51:20
"You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.

Daniel 11:32
With flattery he will corrupt those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

Joel 3:6
You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to send them far from their homeland.

Joel 3:7
Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads.


Treasury of Scripture

When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you as the sword of a mighty man.

bent.

Zechariah 1:21
Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Zechariah 10:3-7
Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle…

Zechariah 12:2-8
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem…

and raised.

Psalm 49:2-9
Both low and high, rich and poor, together…

Lamentations 4:2
The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

Amos 2:11
And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

against.

Daniel 8:21-25
And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king…

Daniel 11:32-34
And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits

Joel 3:6-8
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border…

made.

Zechariah 12:8
In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.

Psalm 18:32-35
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect…

Psalm 45:3
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.

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Zechariah 9
1. God defends his church.
9. Zion is exhorted to rejoice for the coming of Christ, and his peaceable kingdom.
12. God's promises of victory and defense.














Verse 13. - The Lord proceeds to explain the promised blessings in detail. First is signified the victorious resistance of the Maccabees against the Seleucidae - a figure of Messiah's victory over all the enemies of God. When (for) I have bent Judah for me. The verbs are in the prophetical perfect, and may be rendered future By a grand figure God is represented as a warrior armed for battle, who uses his people for the weapons of his warfare. The Hebrews speak of "treading" the bow, where we say "bend," because they used the foot in bending it. In the present case Judah is God's bow. Filled the bow with Ephraim. Ephraim is the arrow (comp. Psalm 127:4, 5). Judah and Ephraim, the united people, are God's instruments, and fight against the world power in his strength. And raised up; better, and I will stir up; Septuagint, ἐξεγερῶ: Vulgate, suscitabo. Greece; Javan. Not a vague term for the tar west, whither some prisoners had been carried, but to be taken strictly as the appellation of Greece. Nothing but inspiration could have enabled Zechariah and Daniel to foresee the rise of the Macedonian dynasty, and the struggle between the Jews and the Syro-Grecian power in Maccabean times, which is here plainly announced. The earlier the date assigned to this part of Zechariah's prophecy, the more incredible is it that any mere human sagacity or prescience should have enabled a man to fore. tell these events, or to see in Greece a power arrayed in conflict with the people of God. And made thee; rather, and I will make thee. God will make his people into a hero's sword to execute vengeance on the enemy.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

I will bend
דָרַ֨כְתִּי (ḏā·raḵ·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1869: To tread, to walk, to string a, bow

Judah
יְהוּדָ֗ה (yə·hū·ḏāh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3063: Judah -- 'praised', a son of Jacob, also the southern kingdom, also four Israelites

as My bow
קֶ֚שֶׁת (qe·šeṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7198: A bow, for, shooting, the iris

and fit it
מִלֵּ֣אתִי (mil·lê·ṯî)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 4390: To fill, be full of

with Ephraim.
אֶפְרַ֔יִם (’ep̄·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 669: Ephraim -- a son of Joseph, also his descendants and their territory

I will rouse
וְעוֹרַרְתִּ֤י (wə·‘ō·w·rar·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5782: To rouse oneself, awake

your sons,
בָנַ֙יִךְ֙ (ḇā·na·yiḵ)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

O Zion,
צִיּ֔וֹן (ṣî·yō·wn)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6726: Zion -- a mountain in Jerusalem, also a name for Jerusalem

against
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the sons
בָּנַ֖יִךְ (bā·na·yiḵ)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

of Greece.
יָוָ֑ן (yā·wān)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3120: Javan -- a son of Japheth, also his descendants and their land

I will make you
וְשַׂמְתִּ֖יךְ (wə·śam·tîḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | second person feminine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

like the sword
כְּחֶ֥רֶב (kə·ḥe·reḇ)
Preposition-k | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

of a mighty man.
גִּבּֽוֹר׃ (gib·bō·wr)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1368: Powerful, warrior, tyrant


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OT Prophets: Zechariah 9:13 For indeed I bend Judah as (Zech. Zec Zc)
Zechariah 9:12
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