The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12 The ^[a]burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, ^(A)who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and ^(B)forms the spirit of man within him: ² “Behold, I will make Jerusalem ^(C)a cup of ^[b]drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ^3 (D)And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem ^(E)a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. ⁴ In that day,” says the Lord, ^(F)“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ ⁶ In that day I will make the governors of Judah ^(G)like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

⁷ “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. ⁸ In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. ⁹ It shall be in that day that I will seek to ^(H)destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

^10 (I)“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will ^(J)look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him ^(K)as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. ¹¹ In that day there shall be a great ^(L)mourning in Jerusalem, ^(M)like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of ^[c]Megiddo. ^12 (N)And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(O)Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Idolatry Cut Off

13 “In that ^(P)day ^(Q)a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for ^(R)uncleanness.

² “It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will ^(S)cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause ^(T)the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. ³ It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall ^(U)not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who begot him ^(V)shall thrust him through when he prophesies.

⁴ “And it shall be in that day that ^(W)every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear ^(X)a robe of coarse hair to deceive. ^5 (Y)But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ ⁶ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your ^[d]arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Savior

The Day of the Lord^(AJ)

¹⁰ All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. ^[k]Jerusalem shall be raised up and ^(AW)inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, ^(AX)and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

¹² And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

The Nations Worship the King

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall ^(BE)go up from year to year to ^(BF)worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep ^(BG)the Feast of Tabernacles. ^17 (BH)And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of ^(BI)Egypt will not come up and enter in, ^(BJ)they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This shall be the ^[m]punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁰ In that day ^(BK)“HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The ^(BL)pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹ Yes, ^[n]every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a ^(BM)Canaanite ^(BN)in the house of the Lord of hosts.

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. ² And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, ^(A)who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, ^(B)but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ^4 (C)I^[a] must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is ^(D)day; the night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, ^(E)I am the light of the world.”

⁶ When He had said these things, ^(F)He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash ^(G)in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So ^(H)he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was ^[b]blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

⁹ Some said, “This is he.” Others said, ^[c]“He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

¹⁰ Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

¹¹ He answered and said, ^(I)“A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to ^[d]the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

¹² Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Excommunicate the Healed Man

¹³ They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

¹⁶ Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not ^[e]keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, ^(J)“How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And ^(K)there was a division among them.

¹⁷ They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”

He said, ^(L)“He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. ¹⁹ And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

²⁰ His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said these things because ^(M)they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he ^(N)would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, ^(O)“Give God the glory! ^(P)We know that this Man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶ Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

²⁸ Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹ We know that God ^(Q)spoke to ^(R)Moses; as for this fellow, ^(S)we do not know where He is from.”

³⁰ The man answered and said to them, ^(T)“Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! ³¹ Now we know that ^(U)God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. ³² Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. ^33 (V)If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

³⁴ They answered and said to him, ^(W)“You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they ^[f]cast him out.

True Vision and True Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had ^(X)found him, He said to him, “Do you ^(Y)believe in ^(Z)the Son of ^[g]God?”

³⁶ He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

³⁷ And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and ^(AA)it is He who is talking with you.”

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he ^(AB)worshiped Him.

³⁹ And Jesus said, ^(AC)“For judgment I have come into this world, ^(AD)that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

⁴⁰ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, ^(AE)and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ^(AF)“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Praising the Lord in His House at Night

A Song of Ascents.