Zechariah 10–14

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. ^h

²For the idols speak falsehood,

and the diviners ⁱsee 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. ^j

For the Lord of Hosts has tended His flock,

the house of Judah;

He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone ^kwill come from Judah. ^l

The tent peg ^mwill come from them

and also the battle bow ⁿand every ^oruler.

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. ^p

I will restore ^qthem

because I have compassion on them,

and they will be

as though I had never rejected them. ^r

For I am Yahweh their God,

and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim ^swill be like a warrior,

and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.

Their children will see it and be glad; ^t

their hearts will rejoice in Yahweh.

⁸I will whistle ^uand gather them

because I have redeemed ^vthem;

they will be as numerous as they once were.

⁹Though I sow ^wthem among the nations,

they will remember ^xMe 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 ^y

and to Lebanon,

but it will not be enough for them.

¹¹Yahweh ^zwill pass through the sea of distress

and strike the waves of the sea;

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

The pride of Assyria will be brought down,

and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

¹²I will strengthen ^bthem in Yahweh,

and they will march ^cin His name—

this is Yahweh’s declaration.

Israel’s Shepherds: Good and Bad

11Open your gates, Lebanon,

and fire will consume your cedars. ^d

²Wail, cypress, ^efor the cedar has fallen;

the glorious trees are destroyed!

Wail, oaks of Bashan, ^f

for the stately forest has fallen!

³Listen to the wail ^gof the shepherds, ^h

for their glory is destroyed. ⁱ

Listen to the roar of young lions, ^j

for the thickets of the Jordan ^kare ^ldestroyed.

⁴Yahweh my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. ⁵Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. ^mThose who sell them say: Praise 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 deliver it from them.” ⁿ

⁷So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock. ^oI took two staffs, calling one Favor ^pand 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 going astray go astray; 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 afflicted of the flock ^qwho 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, 30 pieces of silver. ^r

¹³“Throw it to the potter,” ^sthe Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ^tu14Then 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 going astray, and he will not seek the lost ^vor heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, ^wbut he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep ^xand tear off their hooves.

¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd

who deserts the flock! ^y

May a sword strike ^zhis arm

and his right eye!

May his arm wither away

and his right eye go completely blind!”

Judah’s Security

12An Oracle

The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

A declaration of the Lord,

who stretched out the heavens, ^a

laid the foundation of the earth, ^b

and formed the spirit of man within him.

²“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering ^cfor the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah. ^d3On 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. ^e4On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. ^fI will keep a watchful eye on ^gthe 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 Hosts, their God. ⁶On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, ^hlike 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, ⁱso 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. ^j9On 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 ^klof grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at ^mMe 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. ⁿ¹¹On 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 ^ophouse by itself and their women by themselves; ¹³the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei ^qrby itself and their women by themselves; ¹⁴all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

God’s People Cleansed

13“On that day a fountain ^swill be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity. ^t2On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. ^uI will remove the prophets ^vand the unclean spirit from the land. ³If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken falsely in the name of Yahweh. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through. ^w4On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak ^xin order to deceive. ⁵He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased ^yme as a servant since my youth. ^z6If someone asks him: What are these wounds ^aon your chest? ^b—then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.

⁷Sword, awake against My shepherd,

against the man who is My associate—

this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; ^c

I will also turn My hand against the little ones.

⁸In the whole land—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

two-thirds ^dwill be cut off and die,

but a third will be left in it.

⁹I will put this third through the fire;

I will refine them as silver is refined

and test them as gold is tested. ^e

They will call on My name,

and I will answer them. ^f

I will say: They are My people,

and they will say: Yahweh is our God.” ^g

The Lord’s Triumph and Reign

14A day of the Lord is coming ^hwhen your plunder will be divided in your presence. ²I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. ⁱThe city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

³Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle. ^j4On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, ^kwhich faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south. ⁵You will flee by My mountain valley, ^lfor the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled ^mfrom the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. ⁿThen the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones ^owith Him. ^pq

⁶On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight ^rwill diminish. ^st7It will be a day known only to Yahweh, ^uwithout day or night, but there will be light at evening.

⁸On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, ^vhalf of it toward the eastern sea ^wand the other half toward the western sea, ^xin summer and winter alike. ⁹On that day Yahweh will become King over all the earth ^y—Yahweh alone, and His name alone. ^z10All the land from Geba ^ato Rimmon ^bsouth of Jerusalem will be changed into a plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up and will…