That serve me in war... Viz., the Machabees.
9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth.
9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.
9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render thee double as I declare today.
9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of the mighty.
Thy sons, O Sion, etc... Viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way, conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ.
9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south.
9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devonr, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the altar.
9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the flock of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land.