What Does Zechariah 9:7 Mean?
I will remove his blood from his mouth, and his loathsome things from between his teeth. The one left behind, even he, will be for our God, and he will be like a chief in Judah, and Ekron like the Jebusite.
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 I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.THE KEY
God clears the outsider’s mouth, and the one left is not cast out but made a leader within Judah.
THE MEANING
God’s action reaches the mouth itself: the blood and detestable things between the teeth are taken away. The one who remains belongs to God and has a place of leadership in Judah; Ekron is counted as a Jebusite. Removal does not consume the person along with what is removed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Once something defiling has been part of you, you are permanently outside God’s people.
THE ROOT
וַהֲסִרֹתִי
va-hasiroti
GROWS FROM
סור
sur
Turn aside, depart, remove.
“remove” in this verse is va-hasiroti. The verb does not merely describe something disappearing: in this form, the speaker causes it to depart. The verse’s first movement is an active clearing of what occupies the mouth, before the one who remains is named as God’s.
ALSO GROWS
sur: Turn aside, depart.
סוּר
This basic movement of turning aside lies beneath the removal in the verse.
hesir: Remove, cause to depart.
הֵסִיר
This causative form makes clear that what fills the mouth is actively taken away.
וְנִשְׁאַר
ve-nish’ar
GROWS FROM
שאר
sha’ar
Remain, be left.
“left behind” in this verse is ve-nish’ar. The surviving one is described as the one left over, not as a replacement person. The verse makes what remains the part that now belongs to God.
ALSO GROWS
she’ar: Remainder, remnant.
שְׁאָר
This branch names what is left, the same idea carried by “remaineth.”
she’erit: Remnant, surviving remainder.
שְׁאֵרִית
It shows how the root can describe a continuing portion that survives what has been removed.
יְהוּדָה
Yehudah
GROWS FROM
ידה
yadah
Praise, give thanks, acknowledge.
Yehudah carries the praise of yadah. To become a governor in Judah is to be placed within a people whose name voices praise, so the verse describes a change in belonging, not merely a change in rank.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: Praise, give thanks, acknowledge.
יָדָה
This verb supplies the praise carried in Judah’s name.
todah: Thanksgiving, praise.
תּוֹדָה
This related word shows the same root’s movement from acknowledging to voiced thanksgiving.
THE PATTERN
God removes what marks an outsider as defiled and brings the one who remains into the people who belong to him.
And many nations will cling to the LORD in that day, and they will be my people, and I will pitch my tent in the midst of you, and you will know that the LORD of hosts sent me to you.And the sons of the foreigner, who have attached themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one who guards the sabbath from being pierced, and takes hold of my covenant.And the voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed, do not make common.THE THREAD
Bathe, and become clear. Remove the harm of your deeds from before my eyes. Let go of doing harm.Isaiah’s “put away” comes from the same root, סור (sur), meaning “turn aside, remove,” as Zechariah’s “take away.” The shared verb shows the same action at work: what is removed from the mouth in Zechariah is what is put away from before God’s eyes in Isaiah.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us