Zechariah 12:6

6 "On the Big Day, I'll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They'll burn up everything and everyone in sight - people to the right, people to the left - while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home - home again in Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:6 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 12:6

In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a
hearth of fire among the wood
As a large hearth of fire, with wood all about it, devours and consumes it; so shall the governors of Judah be to the nations that shall come up against Jerusalem. The Targum renders it,

``as a garment of fire among wood:''

and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;
of wheat, which presently destroys it; see ( Obadiah 1:18 ) :

and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand
and on the left;
on the south and on the north, as the Targum interprets it. The phrase denotes the utter destruction of the people on all sides:

and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, [even] in
Jerusalem;
upon that very spot of ground which was formerly called Jerusalem shall the city be built again, and inhabited; and shall continue, notwithstanding the attempts of all the nations of the earth to destroy it; see ( Jeremiah 30:18 ) .

Zechariah 12:6 In-Context

4 "On the Big Day" - this is God speaking - "I'll throw all the war horses into a crazed panic, and their riders along with them. But I'll keep my eye on Judah, watching out for her at the same time that I make the enemy horses go blind.

5 The families of Judah will then realize, 'Why, our leaders are strong and able through God-of-the-Angel-Armies, their personal God.'

6 "On the Big Day, I'll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They'll burn up everything and everyone in sight - people to the right, people to the left - while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home - home again in Jerusalem.

7 "I, God, will begin by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David's family and the leaders in Jerusalem won't overshadow the ordinary people in Judah.

8 On the Big Day, I'll look after everyone who lives in Jerusalem so that the lowliest, weakest person will be as glorious as David and the family of David itself will be godlike, like the Angel of God leading the people.