Zechariah 9-12

New International Version

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

9 A prophecy:^(A)

The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak
    and will come to rest on Damascus^(B)—
for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel
    are on the Lord—^[a]
²and on Hamath^(C) too, which borders on it,
    and on Tyre^(D) and Sidon,^(E) though they are very skillful.
³Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
    she has heaped up silver like dust,
    and gold like the dirt of the streets.^(F)
⁴But the Lord will take away her possessions
    and destroy^(G) her power on the sea,
    and she will be consumed by fire.^(H)
⁵Ashkelon^(I) will see it and fear;
    Gaza will writhe in agony,
    and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king
    and Ashkelon will be deserted.
⁶A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
    and I will put an end^(J) to the pride of the Philistines.
⁷I will take the blood from their mouths,
    the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God^(K)
    and become a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.^(L)
⁸But I will encamp^(M) at my temple
    to guard it against marauding forces.^(N)
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
    for now I am keeping watch.^(O)

The Coming of Zion’s King

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!^(P)
    Shout,^(Q) Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,^(R)
    righteous and victorious,^(S)
lowly and riding on a donkey,^(T)
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.^(U)
¹⁰I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
    and the battle bow will be broken.^(V)
He will proclaim peace^(W) to the nations.
    His rule will extend from sea to sea
    and from the River^[b] to the ends of the earth.^(X)
¹¹As for you, because of the blood of my covenant^(Y) with you,
    I will free your prisoners^(Z) from the waterless pit.^(AA)
¹²Return to your fortress,^(AB) you prisoners of hope;
    even now I announce that I will restore twice^(AC) as much to you.
¹³I will bend Judah as I bend my bow^(AD)
    and fill it with Ephraim.^(AE)
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
    against your sons, Greece,^(AF)
    and make you like a warrior’s sword.^(AG)

The Lord Will Appear

¹⁴Then the Lord will appear over them;^(AH)
    his arrow will flash like lightning.^(AI)
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;^(AJ)
    he will march in the storms^(AK) of the south,
¹⁵    and the Lord Almighty will shield^(AL) them.
They will destroy
    and overcome with slingstones.^(AM)
They will drink and roar as with wine;^(AN)
    they will be full like a bowl^(AO)
    used for sprinkling^[c] the corners^(AP) of the altar.
¹⁶The Lord their God will save his people on that day^(AQ)
    as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
    like jewels in a crown.^(AR)
¹⁷How attractive and beautiful they will be!
    Grain will make the young men thrive,
    and new wine the young women.

The Lord Will Care for Judah

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
    it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain^(AS) to all people,
    and plants of the field^(AT) to everyone.
²The idols^(AU) speak deceitfully,
    diviners^(AV) see visions that lie;
they tell dreams^(AW) that are false,
    they give comfort in vain.^(AX)
Therefore the people wander like sheep
    oppressed for lack of a shepherd.^(AY)

³“My anger burns against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;^(AZ)
for the Lord Almighty will care
    for his flock, the people of Judah,
    and make them like a proud horse in battle.^(BA)
⁴From Judah will come the cornerstone,^(BB)
    from him the tent peg,^(BC)
from him the battle bow,^(BD)
    from him every ruler.
⁵Together they^[d] will be like warriors in battle
    trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.^(BE)
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.^(BF)

⁶“I will strengthen^(BG) Judah
    and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
    because I have compassion^(BH) on them.^(BI)
They will be as though
    I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
    and I will answer^(BJ) them.
⁷The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
    and their hearts will be glad as with wine.^(BK)
Their children will see it and be joyful;
    their hearts will rejoice^(BL) in the Lord.
⁸I will signal^(BM) for them
    and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
    they will be as numerous^(BN) as before.
⁹Though I scatter them among the peoples,
    yet in distant lands they will remember me.^(BO)
They and their children will survive,
    and they will return.
¹⁰I will bring them back from Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria.^(BP)
I will bring them to Gilead^(BQ) and Lebanon,
    and there will not be room^(BR) enough for them.
¹¹They will pass through the sea of trouble;
    the surging sea will be subdued
    and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.^(BS)
Assyria’s pride^(BT) will be brought down
    and Egypt’s scepter^(BU) will pass away.^(BV)
¹²I will strengthen^(BW) them in the Lord
    and in his name they will live securely,^(BX)”
declares the Lord.

11 Open your doors, Lebanon,^(BY)
    so that fire^(BZ) may devour your cedars!
²Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
    the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks^(CA) of Bashan;
    the dense forest^(CB) has been cut down!^(CC)
³Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
    their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;^(CD)
    the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!^(CE)

Two Shepherds

⁴This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.^(CF) ⁵Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.^(CG) ⁶For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors^(CH) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”^(CI)

⁷So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter,^(CJ) particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested^(CK) me, and I grew weary of them ⁹and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish.^(CL) Let those who are left eat^(CM) one another’s flesh.”

¹⁰Then I took my staff called Favor^(CN) and broke it, revoking^(CO) the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹²I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.^(CP)

¹³And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver^(CQ) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.^(CR)

¹⁴Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.

¹⁷“Woe to the worthless shepherd,^(CS)
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm^(CT) and his right eye!
    May his arm be completely withered,
    his right eye totally blinded!”^(CU)

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

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

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,^(CW) who lays the foundation of the earth,^(CX) and who forms the human spirit within a person,^(CY) declares: ²“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup^(CZ) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.^(DA) Judah^(DB) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³On that day, when all the nations^(DC) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock^(DD) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure^(DE) themselves. ⁴On 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.^(DF) ⁵Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,^(DG) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot^(DH) in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume^(DI) all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact^(DJ) 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.^(DK) ⁸On that day the Lord will shield^(DL) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(DM) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(DN) like the angel of the Lord going before^(DO) them. ⁹On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations^(DP) that attack Jerusalem.^(DQ)

Mourning for the One They Pierced

¹⁰“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit^[e]^(DR) of grace and supplication.^(DS) They will look on^[f] me, the one they have pierced,^(DT) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,^(DU) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.^(DV) ¹¹On that day the weeping^(DW) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.^(DX) ¹²The land will mourn,^(DY) 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, ¹³the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴and all the rest of the clans and their wives.^(DZ)

Footnotes

Zechariah 9:1 Or Damascus. / For the eye of the Lord is on all people, / as well as on the tribes of Israel,
Zechariah 9:10 That is, the Euphrates
Zechariah 9:15 Or bowl, / like
Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / ⁵They
Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
Zechariah 12:10 Or to

Luke 23:26-56

New International Version

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(A)

²⁶As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene,^(B) who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.^(C) ²⁷A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed^(D) for him. ²⁸Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.^(E) ²⁹For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’^(F) ³⁰Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’^[a]^(G)

³¹For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”^(H)

³²Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.^(I) ³³When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴Jesus said, “Father,^(J) forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[b]^(K) And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.^(L)

³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.^(M) They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”^(N)

³⁶The soldiers also came up and mocked him.^(O) They offered him wine vinegar^(P) ³⁷and said, “If you are the king of the Jews,^(Q) save yourself.”

³⁸There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.^(R)

³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”^(S)

⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”^(T)

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^[c]”^(U)

⁴³Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”^(V)

The Death of Jesus^(W)

⁴⁴It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,^(X) ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple^(Y) was torn in two.^(Z) ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice,^(AA) “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”^[d]^(AB) When he had said this, he breathed his last.^(AC)

⁴⁷The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God^(AD) and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” ⁴⁸When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts^(AE) and went away. ⁴⁹But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee,^(AF) stood at a distance,^(AG) watching these things.

The Burial of Jesus^(AH)

⁵⁰Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, ⁵¹who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.^(AI) ⁵²Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. ⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. ⁵⁴It was Preparation Day,^(AJ) and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee^(AK) followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes.^(AL) But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.^(AM)

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