Zechariah 12

The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12The 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. ^3dAnd 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. ⁴In 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. ⁵And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ ⁶In 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. ⁸In 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. ⁹It shall be in that day that I will seek to ^hdestroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ⁱ“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. ¹¹In that day there shall be a great ^lmourning in Jerusalem, ^mlike the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of ³Megiddo. ¹²ⁿAnd 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; ¹³the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.