Zechariah 12–14

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

12A 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 cup^x that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.^y Judah^z will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³On that day, when all the nations^a of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock^b for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure^c themselves. ⁴On 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 firepot^f in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume^g all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact^h 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 shield^j those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^k among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^l like the angel of the Lord going before^m them. ⁹On 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 spirit^ap of grace and supplication.^q They will look on^b 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 weeping^u 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, ¹³the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴and all the rest of the clans and their wives.^x

Cleansing From Sin

13“On that day a fountain^y will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse^z them from sin and impurity.

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

⁴“On that day every prophet will be ashamed^f of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment^g of hair^h 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 body^b?’ 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.

⁸In the whole land,” declares the Lord,

“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.ⁿ

⁹This third I will put into the fire;^o

I will refine them like silver^p

and test them like gold.^q

They will call^r on my name^s

and I will answer^t them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’^u

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

The Lord Comes and Reigns

14A day of the Lord^w is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions^x will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

²I will gather all the nations^y 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 fight^c 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 split^f in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake^ag in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come,^h and all the holy ones with him.ⁱ

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

⁸On that day living waterⁿ will flow^o out from Jerusalem, half of it east^p to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.^q

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

¹⁰The whole land, from Geba^u to Rimmon,^v south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up^w high from the Benjamin Gate^x to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate,^y and from the Tower of Hananel^z 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

¹²This is the plague with which the Lord will strike^d 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}Judah^h too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collectedⁱ—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵A similar plague^j will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶Then the survivors^k from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship^l 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 worship^o 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 Lord^b will bring on them the plague^q 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

²⁰On that day holy to the Lord^t will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots^u in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls^v in front of the altar. ²¹Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy^w to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day^x there will no longer be a Canaanite^cy in the house^z of the Lord Almighty.^a