land of the north
Zechariah 2:6
2:6 land of the north. Babylon was east of Jerusalem, but the Assyro/Babylonian/Persian empire—including Syria—had always invaded Judah from the north, and the influence of the entire complex of empires was essentially north of Israel. Although the returned exiles had already departed from Babylon, they needed to abandon completely the beliefs and practices of Babylon and the other pagan nations.