Zechariah 12:4 (YLT)

Passage

In that day--an affirmation of Jehovah, I do smite every horse with astonishment, And its rider with madness, And on the house of Judah I open My eyes, And every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness.

Nearby Context

Zechariah 12:2 Lo, I am making Jerusalem a cup of reeling To all the peoples round about, And also against Judah it is, In the siege against Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:3 And it hath come to pass, in that day, I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all the peoples, All loading it are completely pressed down, And gathered against it have been all nations of the earth.

Zechariah 12:4 In that day--an affirmation of Jehovah, I do smite every horse with astonishment, And its rider with madness, And on the house of Judah I open My eyes, And every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness.

Zechariah 12:5 And leaders of Judah have said in their heart, `Strength to me <FI>are<Fi> the inhabitants of Jerusalem, In Jehovah of Hosts their God.'

Zechariah 12:6 In that day I make the leaders of Judah As a hearth of fire among trees, And as a torch of fire in a sheaf, And they have consumed--on the right and on the left--all the peoples round about, And Jerusalem hath inhabited again her place in Jerusalem.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "day--an", "affirmation", "jehovah", "smite", "horse", "astonishment", "rider", and "madness". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "day--an" and "affirmation", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And it hath come to pass in..." into verse 5's "And leaders of Judah have said in...", so "day--an" and "affirmation" belong inside that flow. In Zechariah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "day--an" and "affirmation" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.