Zechariah 12

1 An oracle. This is the message of the Lord about Israel. The Lord who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the human spirit within people says:

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel; says the Lord, that stretches out the sky, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

2 Look! I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness for all the surrounding peoples. There will be a siege of Jerusalem.

Behold, I [will] make Jerusalem as trembling door-posts to all the nations round about, and in Judea there shall be a siege against Jerusalem.

3 On that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone to be lifted up by all the peoples. All who lift it up will surely hurt themselves! And all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.

And it shall come to pass in that day [that] I will make Jerusalem a trodden stone to all the nations: every one that tramples on it shall utterly mock at [it], and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.

4 On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But over the house of Judah I will keep watch, though I strike every horse belonging to the peoples with blindness.

In that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will strike every horse with amazement, and his rider with madness: but I will open mine eyes upon the house of Juda, and I will strike all the horses of the nations with blindness.

5 And the chieftains of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The strength of the inhabitants is in the Lord of hosts their God.’

And the captains of thousands of Juda shall say in their hearts, We shall find for ourselves the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the Lord Almighty their God.

6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire in the woods, like a torch among sheaves, they will devour right and left all the surrounding peoples. But Jerusalem will abide on its own site.

In that day I will make the captains of thousands of Juda as a firebrand among wood, and as a torch of fire in stubble; and they shall devour on the right hand and on the left all the nations round about: and Jerusalem shall dwell again by herself, [even] in Jerusalem.

7 And the Lord will first give victory to the tents of Judah, so that the glory of the house of David, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not exalted above Judah.

And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Juda as at the beginning, that the boast of the house of David, and the pride of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may not magnify themselves against Juda.

8 In that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the feeblest among them will in that day be like David, and the house of David like God, like the messenger of the Lord before them.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the weak one among them in that day shall be as David, and the house of David as the house of God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

9 And in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations who have come up against Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of pity and compassion. They will look on him whom they have pierced and they will lament for him as one laments for an only son. They will bitterly grieve for him as one grieves for the firstborn.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me, because they have mocked [me], and they shall make lamentation for him, as for a beloved [friend], and they shall grieve intensely, as for a firstborn [son].

11 In that day mourning will be as great in Jerusalem as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

In that day the lamentation in Jerusalem shall be very great, as the mourning for the pomegranate grove cut down in the plain.

12 And the land will mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, and the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves,

And the land shall lament in separate families, the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

13 and the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves,

the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Symeon by itself, and their wives by themselves;

14 and all the families who are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

all the families that are left, each family by itself, and their wives by themselves.