Zechariah 12

1 The 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.

A prophecy: This message came from the Lord concerning Israel, a declaration of the Lord who spread out the heavens, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who placed the breath of life within human beings.

2 Lo, 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.

Look! I am going to make Jerusalem like a cup containing alcoholic drink that will make all the surrounding nations stagger like drunks when they come to attack Judah and Jerusalem.

3 And 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.

On that day I will make Jerusalem like a heavy rock to all peoples. Anyone who tries to lift the rock will injure themselves badly. All the nations will join together to attack Jerusalem.

4 In 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.

On that day I will make every horse panic-stricken and every rider go mad, declares the Lord, but I will watch over the people of Judah while I blind all the horses of their enemies.

5 And leaders of Judah have said in their heart, 'Strength to me [are] the inhabitants of Jerusalem, In Jehovah of Hosts their God.'

Then the families of Judah will say to themselves, the people of Jerusalem are strong in their God, the Lord Almighty.

6 In 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.

On that day I will make the families of Judah like burning coals in a wood, like a flaming torch in a field of straw. They will burn up to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while the people of Jerusalem will live safely in their city.

7 And 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.

The Lord will give the victory to the soldiers of Judah first so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not be greater than that of Judah.

8 In 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.

On that day the Lord will place a shield around the people of Jerusalem so that even the clumsiest of them will be as skilled a warrior as David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who leads them.

9 And it hath come to pass, in that day, I seek to destroy all the nations Who are coming in against Jerusalem,

On that day I will start destroying all those nations that attack Jerusalem.

10 And 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.

I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look at me whom they pierced, and they will wail in grief over him, mourning as for an only child, weeping bitterly as for a firstborn.

11 In that day, great is the mourning of Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon,

On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning in Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

12 And 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;

The land will mourn, every family alone: the family house of David alone and their women by themselves, the families of Nathan,

13 The family of the house of Levi apart, And their women apart; The family of Shimei apart, And their women apart,

Levi, and Shimei—

14 All the families that are left, Every family apart, and their women apart!

and all the surviving families and their women, each group mourning alone by themselves.