Zechariah 12–13

Chapter 12

¹The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth out the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: ²Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of bewilderment unto all the peoples round about, and also against Judah shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. ³And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone unto all peoples: all that burden themselves with it shall certainly be wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be assembled together against it. ⁴In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; but I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵And the leaders of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength through Jehovah of hosts their God. ⁶In that day will I make the leaders of Judah like a hearth of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall dwell again in her own place, in Jerusalem. ⁷And Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified over Judah. ⁸In that day will Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that stumbleth among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David as God, as the Angel of Jehovah before them.

⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. ¹⁰And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look on me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. ¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. ¹²And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; ¹³the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; ¹⁴all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

Chapter 13

¹In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. ²And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. ³And it shall come to pass, if any shall yet prophesy, that his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. ⁴And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive. ⁵And he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for man acquired me as bondman from my youth. ⁶And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thy hands? And he will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

⁷Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, even against the man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. ⁸And it shall come to pass in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. ⁹And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will answer them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.