Zacharias 12

1 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.

The word of the Lord about Israel. The Lord by whom the heavens are stretched out and the bases of the earth put in place, and the spirit of man formed inside him, has said:

2 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.

See, I will make Jerusalem a cup of shaking fear to all the peoples round about, when Jerusalem is shut in.

3 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.

And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of great weight for all the peoples; all those who take it up will be badly wounded; and all the nations of the earth will come together against it.

4 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.

In that day, says the Lord, I will put fear into every horse and make every horseman go off his head: and my eyes will be open on the people of Judah, and I will make every horse of the peoples blind.

5 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.

And the families of Judah will say in their hearts, The people of Jerusalem have their strength in the Lord of armies, their God.

6 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.

In that day I will make the families of Judah like a pot with fire in it among trees, and like a flaming stick among cut grain; they will send destruction on all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem will be living again in the place which is hers, that is, in Jerusalem.

7 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.

And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the family of David and the glory of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.

8 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.

In that day the Lord will be a cover over the people of Jerusalem; and he who is feeble among them in that day will be as strong as David, and the family of David will be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

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

And it will come about on that day that I will take in hand the destruction of all the nations who come against Jerusalem.

10 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].

And I will send down on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayer; and their eyes will be turned to the one who was wounded by their hands: and they will be weeping for him as for an only son, and their grief for him will be bitter, like the grief of one sorrowing for his oldest son.

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

In that day there will be a great weeping in Jerusalem, like the weeping of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 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;

And the land will give itself to weeping, every family separately; the family of David by themselves, and their wives by themselves; the family of Nathan by themselves, and their wives by themselves;

13 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;

The family of Levi by themselves, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by themselves, and their wives by themselves;

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

And all the other families by themselves, and their wives by themselves.