Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

12 A prophecy:^(A) The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,^(B) who lays the foundation of the earth,^(C) and who forms the human spirit within a person,^(D) declares: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup^(E) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.^(F) Judah^(G) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations^(H) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock^(I) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure^(J) themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.^{(K) 5} Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,^(L) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot^(M) in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume^(N) all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact^(O) in her place.

⁷ “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.^{(P) 8} On that day the Lord will shield^(Q) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(R) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(S) like the angel of the Lord going before^(T) them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations^(U) that attack Jerusalem.^(V)

Mourning for the One They Pierced

¹⁰ “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit^[a](W) of grace and supplication.^(X) They will look on^[b] me, the one they have pierced,^(Y) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,^(Z) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.^{(AA) 11} On that day the weeping^(AB) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.^{(AC) 12} The land will mourn,^(AD) each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives.^(AE)

Cleansing From Sin

13 “On that day a fountain^(AF) will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse^(AG) them from sin and impurity.

² “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols^(AH) from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”^(AI) declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets^(AJ) and the spirit of impurity from the land. ³ And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies^(AK) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.^(AL)

⁴ “On that day every prophet will be ashamed^(AM) of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment^(AN) of hair^(AO) in order to deceive.^{(AP) 5} Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.^[c]’^{(AQ) 6} If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body^[d]?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

The Lord Comes and Reigns

14 A day of the Lord^(BD) is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions^(BE) will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

² I will gather all the nations^(BF) to Jerusalem to fight against it;^(BG) the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.^(BH) Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.^{(BI) 3} Then the Lord will go out and fight^(BJ) against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.^{(BK) 4} On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,^(BL) east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split^(BM) in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake^[e](BN) in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come,^(BO) and all the holy ones with him.^(BP)

⁶ On that day there will be neither sunlight^(BQ) nor cold, frosty darkness. ⁷ It will be a unique^(BR) day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night.^(BS) When evening comes, there will be light.^(BT)

⁸ On that day living water^(BU) will flow^(BV) out from Jerusalem, half of it east^(BW) to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.^(BX)

⁹ The Lord will be king^(BY) over the whole earth.^(BZ) On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.^(CA)

¹⁰ The whole land, from Geba^(CB) to Rimmon,^(CC) south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up^(CD) high from the Benjamin Gate^(CE) to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate,^(CF) and from the Tower of Hananel^(CG) to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place.^{(CH) 11} It will be inhabited;^(CI) never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.^(CJ)

¹² This is the plague with which the Lord will strike^(CK) all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.^{(CL) 13} On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.^(CM) They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.^{(CN) 14} Judah^(CO) too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected^(CP)—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ A similar plague^(CQ) will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶ Then the survivors^(CR) from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship^(CS) the King,^(CT) the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.^{(CU) 17} If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship^(CV) the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.^{(CW) 18} If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord^[f] will bring on them the plague^(CX) he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.^{(CY) 19} This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.^(CZ)

²⁰ On that day holy to the Lord^(DA) will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots^(DB) in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls^(DC) in front of the altar. ²¹ Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy^(DD) to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day^(DE) there will no longer be a Canaanite^[g](DF) in the house^(DG) of the Lord Almighty.^(DH)

¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(A) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(B) Darius^(C) and Artaxerxes,^(D) kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.^(E)

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication^(F) of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of this house of God they offered^(G) a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering^[a] for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ And they installed the priests in their divisions^(H) and the Levites in their groups^(I) for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.^(J)

The Passover

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.^{(K) 20} The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered^(L) the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. ²¹ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves^(M) from the unclean practices^(N) of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord,^(O) the God of Israel. ²² For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(P) because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude^(Q) of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Psalm 147