Zechariah 14:12

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

American King James Version (AKJV)

And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

American Standard Version (ASV)

And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

And this will be the disease which the Lord will send on all the peoples which have been warring against Jerusalem: their flesh will be wasted away while they are on their feet, their eyes will be wasted in their heads and their tongues in their mouths.

Webster's Revision

And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

World English Bible

This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.

English Revised Version (ERV)

And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

Definitions for Zechariah 14:12

Smite - To strike; beat.
Wherewith - The things with which...

Clarke's Zechariah 14:12 Bible Commentary

And this shall be the plague - All her enemies shall be destroyed.

Their flesh shall consume away - These are the effects of famine which are described in this verse.

Barnes's Zechariah 14:12 Bible Commentary

Again, upon the restoration of His people follows the destruction of His enemies. It shall, first and chiefly, be God's doing, not man's. "This shall be the plague." The word is used of direct infliction by pestilence, "wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people (peoples) that fought against Jerusalem." The awful description is of living corpses. Lap.: "The enemies of Jerusalem shall waste, not with fever or disease, but by a plague from God, so that, being sound, standing, living, in well-being, they should waste and consume away," as Isaiah speaks of the "carcasses of the men, that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die - and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh" Isaiah 66:24.

Their flesh shall consume away - Rather, "wasting away the flesh of each one." It is the act of God, in His individual justice to each one of all those multitudes gathered against Him. One by one, "their eyes," of which they said, "let our eye look on Zion" Micah 4:11, that is, with joy at its desolation, "shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue," wherewith they blasphemed God, "shall consume away in their mouths" (compare Psalm 12:3; Isaiah 36:15, Isaiah 36:18; Isaiah 37:3-4, Isaiah 37:17, Isaiah 37:23, Isaiah 37:29). Appalling, horrible, picture! "standing on their feet," yet their flesh mouldering away as in a grave-yard, their sightless balls decaying in their holes, the tongue putrefying in their mouth, a disgust to themselves and to others! Yet what, compared to the horrible inward decay of sin, whereby men "have a name that they live and are dead?" Revelation 3:1. Jerome: "Let us read Ecclesiastical histories, what Valerian, Decius, Diocletian, Maximian, what the savagest of all, Maximin, and lately Julian suffered, and then we shall prove by deeds, that the truth of prophecy was fulfilled in the letter also."