Zechariah 12–13

Chapter 12

Jerusalem to Be Attacked

¹The ¹burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

Thus declares the Lord who ^astretches out the heavens, ^blays the foundation of the earth, and ^cforms the spirit of man within him,

²“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a ^acup ¹that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against ^bJudah.

³“It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy ^astone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be ^bseverely ¹injured. And all the ^cnations of the earth will be gathered against it.

⁴“In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will ¹watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

⁵“Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘¹A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

⁶“In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a ^afirepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the ^binhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.

⁷“The Lord also will ^asave the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of ^bDavid and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah.

⁸“In that day the Lord will ^adefend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who ^1bis feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like ^cGod, like the ^dangel of the Lord before them.

⁹“And in that day I will ^1aset about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰“I will ^apour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ¹the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have ^bpierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one ^cmourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

¹¹“In that day there will be great ^amourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the ¹plain of ²Megiddo.

¹²“The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;

¹³the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;

¹⁴all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.

Chapter 13

False Prophets Ashamed

¹“In that day a ^afountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for ^bsin and for ^cimpurity.

²“It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will ^acut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the ^bprophets and the ^cunclean spirit from the land.

³“And if anyone still ^aprophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall ^bnot live, for you have spoken ^cfalsely in the name of the Lord’; and his ^dfather and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies.

⁴“Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ^aashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a ^bhairy robe in order to deceive;

⁵but he will say, ‘I am ^anot a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man ¹sold me as a slave in my youth.’

⁶“And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds ^abetween your ¹arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of ²my friends.’

⁷“Awake, O ^asword, against My ^bShepherd,

And against the man, My ^cAssociate,”

Declares the Lord of hosts.

“^dStrike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered;

And I will ^eturn My hand ¹against the little ones.

⁸“It will come about in all the land,”

Declares the Lord,

“That ^atwo parts in it will be cut off and perish;

But the third will be left in it.

⁹“And I will bring the third part through the ^afire,

Refine them as silver is refined,

And test them as gold is tested.

They will ^bcall on My name,

And I will ^canswer them;

I will say, ‘They are ^dMy people,’

And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”