Zechariah 10:1–12:14

Restoration of Judah and Israel

10 Ask athe Lord for brain

In cthe time of the 1latter rain.

The Lord will make 2flashing clouds;

He will give them showers of rain,

Grass in the field for everyone.

2 For the didols 3speak delusion;

The diviners envision elies,

And tell false dreams;

They fcomfort in vain.

Therefore the people wend their way like gsheep;

They are 4in trouble hbecause there is no shepherd.

3 “My anger is kindled against the ishepherds,

jAnd I will punish the 5goatherds.

For the Lord of hosts kwill visit His flock,

The house of Judah,

And lwill make them as His royal horse in the battle.

4 From him comes mthe cornerstone,

From him nthe tent peg,

From him the battle bow,

From him every 6ruler together.

5 They shall be like mighty men,

Who otread down their enemies

In the mire of the streets in the battle.

They shall fight because the Lord is with them,

And the riders on horses shall be put to shame.

6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah,

And I will save the house of Joseph.

pI will bring them back,

Because I qhave mercy on them.

They shall be as though I had not cast them aside;

For I am the Lord their God,

And I rwill hear them.

7 Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man,

And their sheart shall rejoice as if with wine.

Yes, their children shall see it and be glad;

Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.

8 I will twhistle for them and gather them,

For I will redeem them;

uAnd they shall increase as they once increased.

9 “I vwill 7sow them among the peoples,

And they shall wremember Me in far countries;

They shall live, together with their children,

And they shall return.

10 xI will also bring them back from the land of Egypt,

And gather them from Assyria.

I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,

yUntil no more room is found for them.

11 zHe shall pass through the sea with affliction,

And strike the waves of the sea:

All the depths of 8the River shall dry up.

Then athe pride of Assyria shall be brought down,

And bthe scepter of Egypt shall depart.

12 “So I will strengthen them in the Lord,

And cthey shall walk up and down in His name,”

Says the Lord.

Desolation of Israel

11 Open ayour doors, O Lebanon,

That fire may devour your cedars.

2 Wail, O cypress, for the bcedar has fallen,

Because the mighty trees are ruined.

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

cFor the thick forest has come down.

3 There is the sound of wailing dshepherds!

For their glory is in ruins.

There is the sound of roaring lions!

For the 1pride of the Jordan is in ruins.

Prophecy of the Shepherds

4 Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, 5 whose owners slaughter them and efeel no guilt; those who sell them fsay, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do gnot pity them. 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall 2attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, 3in particular hthe poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called 4Beauty, and the other I called 5Bonds; and I fed the flock. 8 I 6dismissed the three shepherds iin one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, “I will not feed you. jLet what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff, 7Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. Thus kthe 8poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it is 9agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they lweighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the mpotter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. 14 Then I cut in two my other staff, 1Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said to me, n“Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. 16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in opieces.

17 “Woe pto the worthless shepherd,

Who leaves the flock!

A sword shall be against his arm

And against his right eye;

His arm shall completely wither,

And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12 The 1burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, awho stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and bforms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem ca cup of 2drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 dAnd it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem ea very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. 4 In that day,” says the Lord, f“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah glike a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

7 “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. 9 It shall be in that day that I will seek to hdestroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

10 i“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will jlook on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him kas one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great lmourning in Jerusalem, mlike the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of 3Megiddo. 12 nAnd the land shall 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 oNathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.