Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

12 A prophecy:t The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,u who lays the foundation of the earth,v and who forms the human spirit within a person,w declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cupx that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.y Judahz will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nationsa of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rockb for all the nations. All who try to move it will injurec themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.d 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,e because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepotf in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consumeg all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intacth in her place.

7 “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.i 8 On that day the Lord will shieldj those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblestk among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,l like the angel of the Lord going beforem them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nationsn that attack Jerusalem.o

Mourning for the One They Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirita p of grace and supplication.q They will look onb me, the one they have pierced,r and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,s and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.t 11 On that day the weepingu in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.v 12 The land will mourn,w each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.x

Cleansing From Sin

13 “On that day a fountainy will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleansez them from sin and impurity.

2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idolsa from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”b declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophetsc and the spirit of impurity from the land. 3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told liesd in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.e

4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamedf of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garmentg of hairh in order to deceive.i 5 Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.a’j 6 If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your bodyb?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

7 “Awake, sword,k against my shepherd,l

against the man who is close to me!”

declares the Lord Almighty.

“Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered,m

and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,

“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.n

9 This third I will put into the fire;o

I will refine them like silverp

and test them like gold.q

They will callr on my names

and I will answert them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’u

and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.v’ ”

The Lord Comes and Reigns

14 A day of the Lordw is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessionsx will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

2 I will gather all the nationsy to Jerusalem to fight against it;z the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.a Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.b 3 Then the Lord will go out and fightc against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.d 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,e east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be splitf in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquakea g in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come,h and all the holy ones with him.i

6 On that day there will be neither sunlightj nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a uniquek day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night.l When evening comes, there will be light.m

8 On that day living watern will flowo out from Jerusalem, half of it eastp to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.q

9 The Lord will be kingr over the whole earth.s On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.t

10 The whole land, from Gebau to Rimmon,v south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised upw high from the Benjamin Gatex to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate,y and from the Tower of Hananelz to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place.a 11 It will be inhabited;b never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.c

12 This is the plague with which the Lord will striked all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.e 13 On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.f They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.g 14 Judahh too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collectedi—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plaguej will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivorsk from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worshipl the King,m the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.n 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worshipo the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.p 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lordb will bring on them the plagueq he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.r 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.s

20 On that day holy to the Lordt will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking potsu in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowlsv in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holyw to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that dayx there will no longer be a Canaanitec y in the housez of the Lord Almighty.a