Zechariah 9:5 (YLT)

Passage

See doth Ashkelon and fear, Also Gaza, and she is exceedingly pained, Also Ekron--for her expectation dried up, And perished hath a king from Gaza, And Ashkelon doth not remain,

Nearby Context

Zechariah 9:3 And Tyre doth build a bulwark to herself, And doth heap silver as dust, And gold as mire of out-places.

Zechariah 9:4 Lo, the Lord doth dispossess her, And He hath smitten in the sea her force, And she with fire is consumed.

Zechariah 9:5 See doth Ashkelon and fear, Also Gaza, and she is exceedingly pained, Also Ekron--for her expectation dried up, And perished hath a king from Gaza, And Ashkelon doth not remain,

Zechariah 9:6 And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod, And I have cut off the excellency of the Philistines.

Zechariah 9:7 And turned aside his blood from his mouth, His abominations from between his teeth, And he hath remained, even he, to our God, And he hath been as a leader in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "doth", "ashkelon", "fear", "gaza", "exceedingly", "pained", "ekron--for", and "expectation". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "doth" and "ashkelon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Lo the Lord doth dispossess her And..." into verse 6's "And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod...", so "doth" and "ashkelon" 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 "doth" and "ashkelon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.