Zechariah 11-12

English Standard Version

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

11 Open your doors, ^(A)O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, ^(B)oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
³The sound of ^(C)the wail of ^(D)the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of ^(E)the lions,
    ^(F)for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

⁴Thus said the Lord my God: ^(G)“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ⁵^(H)Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^(I)I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For ^(J)I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

⁷^(K)So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^(L)Favor, the other I named ^(M)Union. ^(N)And I tended the sheep. ⁸In one month ^(O)I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^(P)What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” ¹⁰And I took ^(Q)my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹²Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages ^(R)thirty pieces of silver. ¹³Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—^(S)the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the ^(T)thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ¹⁴Then I broke ^(U)my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^(V)a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^(W)who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^(X)devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

¹⁷^(Y)“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    ^(Z)who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
    and ^(AA)his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!”

The Lord Will Give Salvation

12 ^(AB)The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, ^(AC)who stretched out the heavens and ^(AD)founded the earth and ^(AE)formed the spirit of man within him: ²“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem ^(AF)a cup of staggering to ^(AG)all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem ^(AH)will also be against Judah. ³^(AI)On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. ^(AJ)All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And ^(AK)all the nations of the earth will gather against it. ⁴^(AL)On that day, declares the Lord, ^(AM)I will strike every horse ^(AN)with panic, and its rider ^(AO)with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples ^(AP)with blindness. ⁵Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

⁶^(AQ)“On that day I will make the clans of Judah ^(AR)like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And ^(AS)they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^(AT)Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

⁷“And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. ⁸^(AU)On that day ^(AV)the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^(AW)the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^(AX)like the angel of the Lord, going before them. ⁹^(AY)And on that day ^(AZ)I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

¹⁰“And ^(BA)I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and ^(BB)pleas for mercy, so that, ^(BC)when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, ^(BD)they shall mourn for him, ^(BE)as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. ¹¹^(BF)On that day ^(BG)the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great ^(BH)as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹²The land shall mourn, ^(BI)each family^[a] by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(BJ)Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of ^(BK)the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Footnotes

Zechariah 12:12 Or clan; throughout verses 12–14

Revelation 18

English Standard Version

The Fall of Babylon

18 After this I saw ^(A)another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and ^(B)the earth was made bright with his glory. ²And he called out with a mighty voice,

^(C)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    She has become ^(D)a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt ^(E)for every unclean spirit,
    a haunt ^(F)for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
³For all nations have drunk^[a]
    ^(G)the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and ^(H)the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
    and ^(I)the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

^(J)“Come out of her, my people,
    lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
⁵for ^(K)her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and ^(L)God has remembered her iniquities.
⁶^(M)Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
    and repay her ^(N)double for her deeds;
    mix a double portion for her ^(O)in the cup she mixed.
⁷^(P)As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
    ^(Q)‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
    and mourning I shall never see.’
⁸For this reason her plagues will come ^(R)in a single day,
    death and mourning and famine,
and ^(S)she will be burned up with fire;
    for ^(T)mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

⁹And ^(U)the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, ^(V)will weep and wail over her ^(W)when they see the smoke of her burning. ¹⁰^(X)They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

“Alas! Alas! ^(Y)You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For ^(Z)in a single hour your judgment has come.”

¹¹And ^(AA)the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, ¹²cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, ¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.^[b]

¹⁴“The fruit for which your soul longed
    has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
    are lost to you,
    never to be found again!”

¹⁵^(AB)The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, ^(AC)will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

¹⁶“Alas, alas, for the great city
    ^(AD)that was clothed in fine linen,
        in purple and scarlet,
    adorned with gold,
        with jewels, and with pearls!
¹⁷For ^(AE)in a single hour all this wealth ^(AF)has been laid waste.”

And ^(AG)all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off ¹⁸and ^(AH)cried out ^(AI)as they saw the smoke of her burning,

^(AJ)“What city was like the great city?”

¹⁹And they threw ^(AK)dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city
    ^(AL)where all who had ships at sea
    grew rich by her wealth!
For ^(AM)in a single hour she has been laid waste.
²⁰^(AN)Rejoice over her, O heaven,
    and you saints and ^(AO)apostles and prophets,
for ^(AP)God has given judgment for you against her!”

²¹Then ^(AQ)a mighty angel ^(AR)took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon ^(AS)the great city be thrown down with violence,
    and will be found no more;
²²and ^(AT)the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
    will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
    will be found in you no more,
and ^(AU)the sound of the mill
    will be heard in you no more,
²³and the light of a lamp
    will shine in you no more,
and ^(AV)the voice of bridegroom and bride
    will be heard in you no more,
for ^(AW)your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
    and all nations were deceived ^(AX)by your sorcery.
²⁴And ^(AY)in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
    and of ^(AZ)all who have been slain on earth.”