Zechariah 10–14

¹They asked of Jehovah rain in a time of latter rain, Jehovah is making lightnings, And rain in showers He doth give to them. To each—the herb in the field. ²Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for there is no shepherd. ³Against the shepherds did Mine anger burn, And against the he-goats I lay a charge, For inspected hath Jehovah of Hosts His flock, the house of Judah, And set them as His beauteous horse in battle. ⁴From him is a corner-stone, From him a nail, from him a battle-bow, From him goeth forth every exactor together.

⁵And they have been as heroes, Treading in mire of out-places in battle, And they have fought, for Jehovah is with them, And have put to shame riders of horses. ⁶And I have made mighty the house of Judah, And the house of Joseph I do save, And I have caused them to dwell, for I have loved them, And they have been as if I had not cast them off, For I am Jehovah their God, And I answer them. ⁷And Ephraim hath been as a hero, And rejoiced hath their heart as wine, And their sons see, and they have rejoiced, Rejoice doth their heart in Jehovah. ⁸I hist for them, and I gather them, For I have redeemed them, And they have multiplied as they did multiply. ⁹And I sow them among peoples, And in far-off places they remember Me, And they have lived with their sons, And they have turned back. ¹⁰And I have brought them back from the land of Egypt, And from Asshur I do gather them, And unto the land of Gilead and Lebanon I do bring them in, And there is not found for them space. ¹¹And He hath passed over through the sea, And hath pressed and smitten billows in the sea, And dried up have been all depths of a flood, And brought down hath been the excellency of Asshur, And the rod of Egypt doth turn aside. ¹²And I have made them mighty in Jehovah, And in His name they walk up and down, An affirmation of Jehovah!

Chapter 11

¹Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars. ²Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest, ³A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

⁴Thus said Jehovah my God: ‘Feed the flock of the slaughter, ⁵Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed is Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.’ ⁷And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock. ⁸And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me. ⁹And I say, ‘I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.’ ¹⁰And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples: ¹¹and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it is a word of Jehovah. ¹²And I say unto them: ‘If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;’ and they weigh out my hire—thirty silverlings. ¹³And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Cast it unto the potter;’ the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them to the house of Jehovah, unto the potter. ¹⁴And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off. ¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword is on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!’

Chapter 12

¹The burden of a word of Jehovah on Israel. An affirmation of Jehovah, Stretching out heaven, and founding earth, And forming the spirit of man in his midst. ²Lo, I am making Jerusalem a cup of reeling To all the peoples round about, And also against Judah it is, In the siege against Jerusalem. ³And it hath come to pass, in that day, I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all the peoples, All loading it are completely pressed down, And gathered against it have been all nations of the earth. ⁴In that day—an affirmation of Jehovah, I do smite every horse with astonishment, And its rider with madness, And on the house of Judah I open My eyes, And every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness. ⁵And leaders of Judah have said in their heart, ‘Strength to me are the inhabitants of Jerusalem, In Jehovah of Hosts their God.’ ⁶In that day I make the leaders of Judah As a hearth of fire among trees, And as a torch of fire in a sheaf, And they have consumed—on the right and on the left—all the peoples round about, And Jerusalem hath inhabited again her place in Jerusalem. ⁷And saved hath Jehovah the tents of Judah first, So that become not great against Judah Doth the beauty of the house of David, And the beauty of the inhabitant of Jerusalem. ⁸In that day cover over doth Jehovah the inhabitant of Jerusalem, And the stumbling among them hath been in that day as David, And the house of David as God—As a messenger of Jehovah—before them.

⁹And it hath come to pass, in that day, I seek to destroy all the nations Who are coming in against Jerusalem, ¹⁰And I have poured on the house of David, And on the inhabitant of Jerusalem, A spirit of grace and supplications, And they have looked unto Me whom they pierced, And they have mourned over it, Like a mourning over the only one, And they have been in bitterness for it, Like a bitterness over the first-born. ¹¹In that day, great is the mourning of Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon, ¹²And mourned hath the land—every family apart, The family of the house of David apart, And their women apart; The family of the house of Nathan apart, And their women apart; ¹³The family of the house of Levi apart, And their women apart; The family of Shimei apart, And their women apart, ¹⁴All the families that are left, Every family apart, and their women apart!

Chapter 13

¹In that day there is a fountain opened To the house of David And to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, For sin and for impurity. ²And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, I cut off the names of the idols from the land, And they are not remembered any more, And also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I cause to pass away from the land. ³And it hath been, when one prophesieth again, That said unto him have his father and his mother, his parents, ‘Thou dost not live, For falsehood thou hast spoken in the name of Jehovah,’ And pierced him through have his father and his mother, his parents, in his prophesying. ⁴And it hath come to pass, in that day, Ashamed are the prophets, each of his vision, in his prophesying, And they put not on a hairy robe to deceive. ⁵And one hath said, ‘I am not a prophet, A man, a tiller of ground I am, For ground is my possession from my youth.’ ⁶And one hath said unto him, ‘What are these wounds in thy hands?’ And he hath said, ‘Because I was smitten at home by my lovers.’

⁷Sword, awake against My shepherd, And against a hero—My fellow, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts. Smite the shepherd, and scattered is the flock, And I have put back My hand on the little ones. ⁸And it hath come to pass, In all the land, an affirmation of Jehovah, Two parts in it are cut off—they expire, And the third is left in it. ⁹And I have brought the third into fire, And refined them like a refining of silver, And have tried them like a trying of gold, It doth call in My name, and I answer it, I have said, ‘My people it is,’ And it saith, ‘Jehovah is my God!’

Chapter 14

¹Lo, a day hath come to Jehovah, And divided hath been thy spoil in thy midst. ²And I have gathered all the nations unto Jerusalem to battle, And captured hath been the city, And spoiled have been the houses, And the women are lain with, Gone forth hath half the city in a removal, And the remnant of the people are not cut off from the city. ³And gone forth hath Jehovah, And He hath fought against those nations, As in the day of His fighting in a day of conflict. ⁴And stood have His feet, in that day, On the mount of Olives, That is before Jerusalem eastward, And cleft hath been the mount of Olives at its midst, To the east, and to the west, a very great valley, And removed hath the half of the mount towards the north. And its half towards the south. ⁵And ye have fled to the valley of My mountains, For join doth the valley of the mountains to Azal, And ye have fled as ye fled before the shaking, In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, And come in hath Jehovah my God, All holy ones are with Thee. ⁶And it hath come to pass, in that day, The precious light is not, it is dense darkness, ⁷And there hath been one day, It is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, And it hath been at evening-time—there is light.

⁸And it hath come to pass, in that day, Go forth do living waters from Jerusalem, Half of them unto the eastern sea, And half of them unto the western sea, In summer and in winter it is. ⁹And Jehovah hath become king over all the land, In that day there is one…