What Does Zechariah 14:13 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
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 neighbor’s hand is both what each person grasps for and what each raises against.
THE MEANING
A great tumult from the LORD is among them: each person seizes a neighbor’s hand, then a hand rises against that same neighbor. Here, the gesture of reaching for another and the gesture of attacking them meet in the same scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the person you reach for is necessarily your refuge: here, the neighbor’s hand is both grasped and attacked.
THE ROOT
מְהוּמָה
mehumah
GROWS FROM
הָמַם
h-m-m
To confuse, discomfit, or throw into panic.
“tumult” in this verse is mehumah. The word names disorientation and panic, not merely a loud disturbance. The verse shows that loss of bearings taking shape through the people’s hands: each person grasps a neighbor, then raises a hand against them.
ALSO GROWS
hamam: To confuse or discomfit.
הָמַם
This verb shows the force behind the tumult: people are thrown out of their bearings.
wayyaham: He troubled or threw into confusion.
וַיָּהָם
The same root describes a force that disrupts a group’s order, echoing the confusion among the people here.
הֶחֱזִיקוּ
heḥeziqu
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong, strengthen, or hold firmly.
“lay hold” in this verse is heḥeziqu. The verb for seizing comes from a root that also means to be strong and to strengthen. The grasp might sound like seeking support, but the next clause shows a hand rising against the neighbor it has just seized.
ALSO GROWS
ḥazaq: To be strong, grow strong, or prevail.
חָזַק
The root’s sense of strength shades the grasp as an attempt to hold firm or prevail.
ḥizzēq: He strengthened or made firm.
חִזֵּק
The same root can describe making something firm; here the firm grasp turns into force against the neighbor.
THE PATTERN
In overwhelming confusion, violence can turn inward until the person nearest becomes the target.
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.THE THREAD
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.Both verses use the Hebrew word רֵעֵהוּ (rēʿēhū, “his fellow”) for the person turned against. Zechariah makes the reversal visible in the hands: a neighbor is first grasped, then faced with a raised hand.
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