Zechariah 9–14

¹The burden of a word of Jehovah against the land of Hadrach, and Demmeseh—his place of rest: (When to Jehovah is the eye of man, And of all the tribes of Israel.) ²And also Hamath doth border thereon, Tyre and Zidon, for—very wise! ³And Tyre doth build a bulwark to herself, And doth heap silver as dust, And gold as mire of out-places. ⁴Lo, the Lord doth dispossess her, And He hath smitten in the sea her force, And she with fire is consumed. ⁵See doth Ashkelon and fear, Also Gaza, and she is exceedingly pained, Also Ekron—for her expectation dried up, And perished hath a king from Gaza, And Ashkelon doth not remain, ⁶And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod, And I have cut off the excellency of the Philistines. ⁷And turned aside his blood from his mouth, His abominations from between his teeth, And he hath remained, even he, to our God, And he hath been as a leader in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite. ⁸And I have pitched for My house a camp, Because of the passer through, and of the returner, And pass not through against them again doth an exactor, For, now, I have seen with My eyes.

⁹Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo, thy King doth come to thee, Righteous—and saved is He, Afflicted—and riding on an ass, And on a colt—a son of she-asses. ¹⁰And I have cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, Yea, cut off hath been the bow of battle, And he hath spoken peace to nations, And his rule is from sea unto sea, And from the river unto the ends of earth. ¹¹Also thou—by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent thy prisoners out of the pit, There is no water in it.

¹²Turn back to a fenced place, Ye prisoners of the hope, Even to-day a second announcer I restore to thee. ¹³For I have trodden for Me Judah, A bow I have filled with Ephraim, And I have stirred up thy sons, O Zion, Against thy sons, O Javan, And I have set thee as the sword of a hero. ¹⁴And Jehovah doth appear for them, And gone forth as lightning hath His arrow, And the Lord Jehovah with a trumpet bloweth, And He hath gone with whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵Jehovah of Hosts doth cover them over, And they consumed, and subdued sling-stones, Yea, they have drunk, They have made a noise as wine, And they have been full as a bowl, As corners of an altar. ¹⁶And saved them hath Jehovah their God In that day, as a flock of His people, For stones of a crown are displaying themselves over His ground. ¹⁷For what His goodness! and what His beauty! Corn the young men, And new wine the virgins—make fruitful!

Chapter 10

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,’…