Bible Strands
Zechariah 10:11
They will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — YHWH addresses the scattered people of Israel, declaring a future gathering from Egypt and Assyria into Gilead and Lebanon. The moment is a prophetic announcement of divine intervention preceding their restoration.
The words — `צָרָה` (tza.Rah) = trouble/distress, and `הֹבִישׁוּ` (ho.Vi.shu) = they will dry up. These terms describe the removal of impassable barriers and the drying of the Nile’s depths.
The thread — The motif of passing through waters without being overwhelmed appears in Isaiah 43:2, while the judgment on Egypt and Assyria echoes Ezekiel 30:13 and Micah 5:5. The sequence moves from divine provision to the removal of hostile powers.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that YHWH alone removes geographical and political obstacles to restoration. Readers are called to rely on His strengthening rather than human power or foreign alliances.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 30:13 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill fear in that land.
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.
- Micah 5:5 And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.
- Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Psalms 66:10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- Psalms 114:3 The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
- Isaiah 11:15 The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals.
- Isaiah 51:10 Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
- Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- Revelation 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.