13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow(A)
    and fill it with Ephraim.(B)
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
    against your sons, Greece,(C)
    and make you like a warrior’s sword.(D)

The Lord Will Appear

14 Then the Lord will appear over them;(E)
    his arrow will flash like lightning.(F)
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;(G)
    he will march in the storms(H) of the south,
15     and the Lord Almighty will shield(I) them.
They will destroy
    and overcome with slingstones.(J)
They will drink and roar as with wine;(K)
    they will be full like a bowl(L)
    used for sprinkling[a] the corners(M) of the altar.
16 The Lord their God will save his people on that day(N)
    as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
    like jewels in a crown.(O)
17 How 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(P) to all people,
    and plants of the field(Q) to everyone.
The idols(R) speak deceitfully,
    diviners(S) see visions that lie;
they tell dreams(T) that are false,
    they give comfort in vain.(U)
Therefore the people wander like sheep
    oppressed for lack of a shepherd.(V)

“My anger burns against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;(W)
for the Lord Almighty will care
    for his flock, the people of Judah,
    and make them like a proud horse in battle.(X)
From Judah will come the cornerstone,(Y)
    from him the tent peg,(Z)
from him the battle bow,(AA)
    from him every ruler.
Together they[b] will be like warriors in battle
    trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.(AB)
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.(AC)

“I will strengthen(AD) Judah
    and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
    because I have compassion(AE) on them.(AF)
They will be as though
    I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
    and I will answer(AG) them.
The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
    and their hearts will be glad as with wine.(AH)
Their children will see it and be joyful;
    their hearts will rejoice(AI) in the Lord.
I will signal(AJ) for them
    and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
    they will be as numerous(AK) as before.
Though I scatter them among the peoples,
    yet in distant lands they will remember me.(AL)
They and their children will survive,
    and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria.(AM)
I will bring them to Gilead(AN) and Lebanon,
    and there will not be room(AO) enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
    the surging sea will be subdued
    and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(AP)
Assyria’s pride(AQ) will be brought down
    and Egypt’s scepter(AR) will pass away.(AS)
12 I will strengthen(AT) them in the Lord
    and in his name they will live securely,(AU)
declares the Lord.

11 Open your doors, Lebanon,(AV)
    so that fire(AW) may devour your cedars!
Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
    the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks(AX) of Bashan;
    the dense forest(AY) has been cut down!(AZ)
Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
    their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;(BA)
    the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!(BB)

Two Shepherds

This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.(BC) Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.(BD) For 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(BE) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”(BF)

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

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

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

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

13 And 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(BN) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.(BO)

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

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For 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,(BP)
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm(BQ) and his right eye!
    May his arm be completely withered,
    his right eye totally blinded!”(BR)

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

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

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,(BT) who lays the foundation of the earth,(BU) and who forms the human spirit within a person,(BV) declares: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup(BW) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.(BX) Judah(BY) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations(BZ) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock(CA) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure(CB) themselves. 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.(CC) Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,(CD) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

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

“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.(CH) On that day the Lord will shield(CI) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest(CJ) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,(CK) like the angel of the Lord going before(CL) them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations(CM) that attack Jerusalem.(CN)

Mourning for the One They Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[c](CO) of grace and supplication.(CP) They will look on[d] me, the one they have pierced,(CQ) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,(CR) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.(CS) 11 On that day the weeping(CT) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.(CU) 12 The land will mourn,(CV) 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.(CW)

Cleansing From Sin

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

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols(CZ) from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”(DA) declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets(DB) and the spirit of impurity from the land. 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(DC) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.(DD)

“On that day every prophet will be ashamed(DE) of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment(DF) of hair(DG) in order to deceive.(DH) Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.[e](DI) If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body[f]?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

“Awake, sword,(DJ) against my shepherd,(DK)
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,(DL)
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
    “two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one-third will be left in it.(DM)
This third I will put into the fire;(DN)
    I will refine them like silver(DO)
    and test them like gold.(DP)
They will call(DQ) on my name(DR)
    and I will answer(DS) them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’(DT)
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.(DU)’”

The Lord Comes and Reigns

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

I will gather all the nations(DX) to Jerusalem to fight against it;(DY) the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.(DZ) Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.(EA) Then the Lord will go out and fight(EB) against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.(EC) On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,(ED) east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split(EE) in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake[g](EF) in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come,(EG) and all the holy ones with him.(EH)

On that day there will be neither sunlight(EI) nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique(EJ) day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night.(EK) When evening comes, there will be light.(EL)

On that day living water(EM) will flow(EN) out from Jerusalem, half of it east(EO) to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.(EP)

The Lord will be king(EQ) over the whole earth.(ER) On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.(ES)

10 The whole land, from Geba(ET) to Rimmon,(EU) south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up(EV) high from the Benjamin Gate(EW) to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate,(EX) and from the Tower of Hananel(EY) to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place.(EZ) 11 It will be inhabited;(FA) never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.(FB)

12 This is the plague with which the Lord will strike(FC) 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.(FD) 13 On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.(FE) They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.(FF) 14 Judah(FG) too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected(FH)—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague(FI) will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivors(FJ) from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship(FK) the King,(FL) the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.(FM) 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship(FN) the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.(FO) 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord[h] will bring on them the plague(FP) he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.(FQ) 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.(FR)

20 On that day holy to the Lord(FS) will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots(FT) in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls(FU) in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy(FV) to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day(FW) there will no longer be a Canaanite[i](FX) in the house(FY) of the Lord Almighty.(FZ)

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 9:15 Or bowl, / like
  2. Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / They
  3. Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
  4. Zechariah 12:10 Or to
  5. Zechariah 13:5 Or farmer; a man sold me in my youth
  6. Zechariah 13:6 Or wounds between your hands
  7. Zechariah 14:5 Or My mountain valley will be blocked and will extend to Azel. It will be blocked as it was blocked because of the earthquake
  8. Zechariah 14:18 Or part, then the Lord
  9. Zechariah 14:21 Or merchant

Bible Gateway Recommends