Bible Strands
Zechariah 14:16
Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Zechariah, addressing the surviving nations after their defeat at Jerusalem (vv. 2, 15). The moment is post-judgment: the enemy is broken, and what follows is not peace but obligation.
The words — הַנּוֹתָר (ha.no.Tar), "the one who remains," is a participle of נָתַר ("to be left over, survive"); it marks these peoples not as allies but as those who escaped the blow. The double כָּל (kol, "all/every") reinforces that no nation is exempt from the command.
The thread — Isaiah 66:23 envisions the same universal worship on a cyclical basis ("from New Moon to New Moon"), and Isaiah 66:18 describes the gathering of all nations to see God's glory. Zechariah 14:17 immediately follows with the penalty for refusal: no rain.
Why it lands — The verse removes the option of private, location-independent faith; worship is tied to a place (Jerusalem), a time (Feast of Tabernacles), and a person (the King, the LORD of Hosts). The reader is confronted with a God who claims the whole earth and enforces the claim.
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 it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 66:23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.
- Zechariah 14:17 And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.
- Isaiah 66:18 “And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.
- Zechariah 8:20 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities—
- Isaiah 60:6 Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 31:10 Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,
- Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.
- John 1:49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
- John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Leviticus 23:33 And the LORD said to Moses,