What Does Zechariah 12:3 Mean in the King James?
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names both the load and those who load themselves with it, so the danger begins in the attempt to take Jerusalem up.
THE MEANING
Jerusalem stands as a stone whose weight cuts those who take it up, even when all the peoples of the earth gather against it. The name carries wholeness, yet the verse holds that wholeness together with the violence of the encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a united multitude can safely seize what it opposes and make it yield.
THE ROOT
עֹמְסֶיהָ
ʿomsêhā
GROWS FROM
עמס
עמס (ʿ-m-s; ʿāmas): to load, place a burden upon.
“burden themselves” in this verse is ʿomsêhā. Forms of עמס (ʿāmas, to load) name both the stone’s load and the people who load themselves with it. Hebrew binds the weight to the act of taking it up, showing that the wound comes with bearing this stone.
ALSO GROWS
maʿămāsāh: a load or burden
מַעֲמָסָה
This is the word describing Jerusalem as a burdensome stone; it shares the root עמס with those who take the stone up.
ʿāmas: to load or burden
עָמַס
The verb makes the burden an action: people do not merely encounter the weight, they load themselves with it.
ʿămūsōt: loaded or laden
עֲמוּסוֹת
Isaiah 46:1 uses this form for loads borne by weary beasts, showing the same root can name the state of being burdened.
יִשָּׂרֵטוּ
yissārəṭū
GROWS FROM
שרט
שרט (ś-r-ṭ; sāraṭ): to scratch, score, or lacerate.
“cut in pieces” in this verse is yissārəṭū. The verse intensifies the injury by repeating the cutting root: שָׂרוֹט יִשָּׂרֵטוּ (sārōṭ yissārəṭū), they will surely be cut. The Hebrew keeps the physical violence in view: those who take up the stone are lacerated by the encounter.
ALSO GROWS
sārōṭ: cutting or lacerating
שָׂרוֹט
This form appears beside the verb in the verse, doubling the cutting root and intensifying the outcome.
śərīṭāh: a cut or laceration
שְׂרִיטָה
This noun from the same root names the wound the repeated verb makes unavoidable.
יְרוּשָׁלַם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
שלם (š-l-m; shalem): to be whole, complete, or intact.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries the שלם (shalem, wholeness) family in its name, with the dual ending, the two wholenesses. The verse places that named wholeness in a severe image: a stone whose weight wounds those who take it up.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
The name’s wholeness stands beside the burden and injury described in the verse.
shalem: whole or intact
שָׁלֵם
This form shares the root שלם and gives the name’s wholeness a concrete sense of being intact.
THE PATTERN
When power confronts a stone beyond its control, the collision breaks the powers gathered around it.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.THE THREAD
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.Isaiah uses a form of עמס (ʿāmas, to load) for what is heavy laden and a burden to weary beasts. Zechariah uses the same root for the stone’s load and those who take it up, making the weight and its bearer part of the same image.
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