Zechariah 10–12

THE LORD RESTORES HIS PEOPLE

10Ask the Lord for rain

in the season of spring rain.

The Lord makes the rain clouds,

and he will give them showers of rain

and crops in the field for everyone.^u

²For the idols speak falsehood,

and the diviners^v see illusions;

they relate empty dreams

and offer empty comfort.

Therefore the people wander like sheep;

they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

³My anger burns against the shepherds,

so I will punish the leaders.^B

For the Lord of Armies has tended his flock,

the house of Judah;

he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone^a will come from Judah.^B

The tent peg^b will come from them

and also the battle bow^c and every^C ruler.

Together ⁵they will be like warriors in battle

trampling down the mud of the streets.

They will fight because the Lord is with them,

and they will put horsemen to shame.

⁶I will strengthen the house of Judah

and deliver the house of Joseph.^C

I will restore^D them

because I have compassion on them,

and they will be

as though I had never rejected them.^d

For I am the Lord their God,

and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim^e will be like a warrior,

and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.

Their children will see it and be glad;^f

their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

⁸I will whistle^g and gather them

because I have redeemed^h them;

they will be as numerous as they once were.

⁹Though I sowⁱ them among the nations,

they will remember^j me in the distant lands;

they and their children will live and return.

¹⁰I will bring them back from the land of Egypt

and gather them from Assyria.

I will bring them to the land of Gilead^k

and to Lebanon,

but it will not be enough for them.

¹¹The Lord^A will pass through the sea of distress

and strike the waves of the sea;

all the depths of the Nile will dry up.^l

The pride of Assyria will be brought down,

and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

¹²I will strengthen^m them in the Lord,

and they will marchⁿ in his name—

this is the Lord’s declaration.

ISRAEL’S SHEPHERDS: GOOD AND BAD

11Open your gates, Lebanon,

and fire will consume your cedars.^o

²Wail, cypress,^p for the cedar has fallen;

the glorious trees are destroyed!

Wail, oaks of Bashan,^q

for the stately forest has fallen!

³Listen to the wail^r of the shepherds,^s

for their glory is destroyed.

Listen to the roar of young lions,^t

for the thickets of the Jordan^u are^B destroyed.

⁴The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. ⁵Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished.^v Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord because I have become rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”^w

⁷So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the oppressed of the flock.^C I took two staffs, calling one Favor^x and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” ¹⁰Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock^A who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹²Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver.^y

¹³“Throw it to the potter,”^B the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter.^{Cz 14}Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵The Lord also said to me, “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost^D or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy,^E but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep^a and tear off their hooves.

¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd

who deserts the flock!^b

May a sword strike^F his arm

and his right eye!

May his arm wither away

and his right eye go completely blind!”

JUDAH’S SECURITY

12A pronouncement:

The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

A declaration of the Lord,

who stretched out the heavens,^c

laid the foundation of the earth,^d

and formed the spirit of man within him.

²“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering^e for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.^{f 3}On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.^{g 4}On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.^h I will keep a watchful eye onⁱ the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. ⁵Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. ⁶On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,^j like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. ⁷The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,^k so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.^{l 9}On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

MOURNING FOR THE PIERCED ONE

¹⁰“Then I will pour out a spirit^Am of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at^B me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.^{n 11}On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹²The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s^Co house by itself and their women by themselves; ¹³the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei^Dp by itself and their women by themselves; ¹⁴all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.