Zechariah 12:7

First. — There is another reading, supported by the LXX. and a few MSS., as in former times. This variant does not materially alter the sense, for in any case the deliverance of Judah is made to take precedence (in importance, if not in time) of that of Jerusalem. “Judah” seems here to denote the rest of the people, in contradistinction to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the princes of the house of David. The Maccabees were deliverers raised up from the people — viz., Levi (see Macc. 2:1) — not from the royal house.