What Does Zechariah 14:6 Mean?
In that day there is no light, neither clear nor dark; the heavy lights thicken.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:THE KEY
The light here refuses the binary: what is not clear is not thereby dark.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the moment when what you see is neither plainly bright nor wholly dark. The light remains, though it will not settle into a familiar category; the next verse says that even at evening, it is light.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that anything short of clear illumination is darkness.
THE ROOT
יְקָרוֹת
yeqarot
GROWS FROM
יקר
To be precious, costly, or rare.
“heavy lights” in this verse is yeqarot. Under “clear” is a Hebrew word from the family of יקר, which speaks of what is precious or rare. The light is presented as unusual in quality, making the verse’s in-between state more than a simple loss of brightness.
ALSO GROWS
yaqar: Precious, costly, or rare.
יָקָר
This branch gives the light a quality of exceptionality, not just visibility.
hoqir: To regard as precious or esteem.
הוֹקִיר
This branch links the unusual light with something valued, even when it cannot be plainly classified.
THE PATTERN
Light can remain present in conditions that blur the boundary between day and darkness.
No one saw his brother, and no one rose from beneath him for three days. But all the children of Israel had light where they settled.Even darkness does not darken from you; the night lights up like day, and darkness is as light to you.And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not take hold of it.THE THREAD
But it is one day, known to the LORD, neither day nor night; and at evening there is light.The Hebrew word אוֹר (or), meaning “light,” appears in both verses. Verse 7 names the strange interval as a day beyond the usual division of day and night, where light still comes at evening.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us