Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 9:13

"For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man." — Zechariah 9:13 (ASV)

When. —Better, for; and the verbs should be read in the future, as the tense used is the "prophetic perfect." These verses are prophetic of the military prowess of Israel, through the aid of the Lord God, and were remarkably fulfilled in the triumphs of the Maccabees over the Grecian rulers of Syria (B.C. 167-130), even though the prophet may not have had any distinct notion of such distant events.

With Ephraim. —As though with an arrow. (Ephraim, see Note on Zechariah 9:10, and on Zechariah 12:1.)