What Does Zechariah 14:1 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
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 spoil is divided at the center of the place that held it, so the verse puts dispossession inside what seemed secure.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s day is coming upon you, and your spoil is divided within your midst. The violence reaches the center of the addressed life: what belongs to you is treated as booty and apportioned.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What is mine and within my walls cannot be touched.
THE ROOT
וְחֻלַּק
veḥullaḳ
GROWS FROM
חלק
Divide, apportion, assign into shares.
“divided” in this verse is veḥullaḳ. The verse’s verb describes more than something being lost: it is assigned out in portions. That makes the dispossession an enacted distribution, carried out within the addressed place.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleq: A portion or share.
חֵלֶק
This branch makes clear that what is divided becomes someone’s allotted part.
ḥăluqqāh: A division or distribution.
חֲלֻקָּה
The noun names the act of apportioning that the verse places in the midst.
שְׁלָלֵךְ
šelāleḵ
GROWS FROM
שלל
Take as plunder; strip away.
The Hebrew names property seized as booty, and the paired root חלק (ḥ-l-q, divide or apportion) describes what happens to it next. Together, the roots show a sequence of seizure and distribution unfolding inside the place from which the spoil is taken.
ALSO GROWS
šālal: To plunder or strip away.
שָׁלַל
This verbal branch makes the taking within “spoil” visible.
šelāl: Booty or goods taken as plunder.
שְׁלָל
This is the captured property that the verse says is divided.
בְּקִרְבֵּךְ
beqirbeḵ
GROWS FROM
קרב
Approach or draw near; its noun forms can refer to the inner part or midst.
“In the midst” places the distribution in the inner region, not at a distant edge. The same consonants also form קָרַב (qārav, draw near), giving the scene a close-in force: the division happens within the addressed place.
ALSO GROWS
qerev: Inner part or midst.
קֶרֶב
This noun underlies the verse’s location for the dividing of the spoil.
qārav: Draw near or approach.
קָרַב
This verbal branch echoes the closeness of an event taking place within, rather than outside, the addressed place.
THE PATTERN
A change in power becomes visible when possessions are seized and apportioned.
Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.THE THREAD
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.Isaiah uses the same roots as Zechariah: חלק (ḥ-l-q, divide or apportion) and שלל (š-l-l, spoil). Its image of dividing spoil with the strong makes the shared wording clear, while Zechariah’s phrase “in the midst” keeps the violence of its scene sharply in view.
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