[Oracle Road]
The burden travels city to city,
Prideful harbors lose their flame.
Tyre stored silver like the dust,
Yet walls cannot preserve a name.
[Zion Call]
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion;
Shout, Jerusalem, and see:
A king approaches, just and saving,
Lowly in humility.
[Chorus]
Thy King cometh unto thee,
Not on chariot, not with spear.
Riding humbly on the donkey,
Speaking peace both far and near.
Thy King cometh unto thee,
Bow and crown are cut away.
From the river to the oceans,
Peace extends his righteous sway.
[Verse II]
By covenant blood the prisoners
Rise from waterless despair.
Return, you prisoners of hope now;
Double restoration waits there.
[Battle Image, Restrained]
Judah bends like a strong bow,
Ephraim fitted as an arrow.
The LORD defends, the trumpet sounds,
But human pride is kept made narrow.
[Bridge]
They glitter like stones within a crown,
Lifted as an ensign over land.
Grain makes young men strong for service,
New wine brightens faithful hands.
[Final Chorus]
Thy King cometh unto thee,
Righteous, saving, meek, and near.
Not enthroned by terror's engine,
Not sustained by captive fear.
Thy King cometh unto thee,
Prisoners of hope return.
Peace outlives the iron chariot;
Covenant lamps begin to burn.
[Outro]
The road belonged to a humble king,
And the weapons fell silent.
Named in this songZionJerusalem
About the passage
Zechariah 9: The king arrives without a warhorse
Zechariah 9 moves from the fall of confident cities to the arrival of a king whose strength does not look like theirs. Tyre’s wealth and fortifications cannot secure her, yet judgment on Philistine power still leaves room for a remnant to belong to God. Then Zion’s king comes lowly on a donkey. The next line explains the significance of the vehicle by removing chariots, warhorses, and battle bows and extending peace to the nations. The chapter does not become simple pacifist imagery, however. Prisoners are released by covenant blood, Judah and Ephraim are pictured as weapons, and conflict with Greece appears. Divine warfare follows with trumpet, lightning, and whirlwind. Yet the chapter refuses to end there. The rescued people become a flock and crown stones, while grain and new wine return the final scene to beauty, produce, and ordinary life in the land.
Study Zechariah 9 in depth →