Zechariah 7:14

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְאֵ֣סָעֲרֵ֗ם עַ֤ל כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹֽא־יְדָע֔וּם וְהָאָ֙רֶץ֙ נָשַׁ֣מָּה אַֽחֲרֵיהֶ֔ם מֵֽעֹבֵ֖ר וּמִשָּׁ֑ב וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ אֶֽרֶץ־חֶמְדָּ֖ה לְשַׁמָּֽה׃ פ

Transliteration

And wə-ʾēsāʿărēm upon all the gôyim which not yəḏāʿûm, and the hāʾāreṣ nāšammāh ʾaḥărêhem from mēʿōḇēr and from miššāḇ. And wa-yāśîmû ʾereṣ-ḥemdāh to šammāh.

Grammar Details

• *wə-ʾēsāʿărēm*: conjunction + piel imperfect, 1st common singular + 3rd masculine plural suffix - and I will scatter them
• *gôyim*: noun, masculine plural - nations
• *yəḏāʿûm*: qal perfect, 3rd common plural + 3rd masculine plural suffix - they knew them
• *hāʾāreṣ*: definite article + noun, feminine singular - the land
• *nāšammāh*: niphal perfect, 3rd feminine singular - was desolate/was devastated
• *ʾaḥărêhem*: preposition + 3rd masculine plural suffix - after them
• *mēʿōḇēr*: preposition + qal participle, masculine singular - from passing
• *miššāḇ*: preposition + qal participle, masculine singular - from returning
• *wa-yāśîmû*: conjunction + qal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - and they made/placed
• *ʾereṣ-ḥemdāh*: noun, feminine singular + noun, feminine singular - land of desire/pleasant land
• *šammāh*: noun, feminine singular - desolation/waste

Word Meanings

• *wə-ʾēsāʿărēm*: and I will scatter them/and I will storm them away/and I will whirl them
• *gôyim*: nations/gentiles/peoples
• *nāšammāh*: was desolate/was deserted/was devastated
• *mēʿōḇēr ûmiššāḇ*: from passing and from returning/from coming and going (idiom for all traffic)
• *ʾereṣ-ḥemdāh*: pleasant land/desirable land/delightful land
• *šammāh*: desolation/waste/astonishment

Referenced Verses

• Deut 28:33 : 33 The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway;
• Deut 28:64 : 64 And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone.
• Jer 23:19 : 19 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
• Deut 4:27 : 27 And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah shall lead you away.
• Zeph 3:6 : 6 I have cut off nations; their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.
• Zech 2:6 : 6 Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, saith Jehovah; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith Jehovah.
• Zech 9:14 : 14 And Jehovah shall be seen over them; and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.
• Jer 4:11-12 : 11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 12 a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them.
• Jer 5:15 : 15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
• Jer 25:32-33 : 32 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 33 And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.
• Jer 30:23 : 23 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, a sweeping tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
• Jer 36:19 : 19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.
• Jer 44:6 : 6 Wherefore my wrath and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.
• Jer 52:30 : 30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
• Dan 8:9 : 9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land].
• Dan 9:16-18 : 16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies' sake.
• Amos 1:14 : 14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
• Nah 1:3 : 3 Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear [the guilty]: Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
• Hab 3:14 : 14 Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
• 2 Chr 36:21 : 21 to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths: [for] as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
• Ps 58:9 : 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
• Isa 17:13 : 13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
• Isa 21:1 : 1 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land.
• Deut 28:49 : 49 Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
• Lev 26:22 : 22 And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.
• Lev 26:33 : 33 And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
• Isa 66:15 : 15 For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.