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Judgment against Israel’s Enemies

This is the message[a] from the Lord against the land of Aram[b] and the city of Damascus, for the eyes of humanity, including all the tribes of Israel, are on the Lord.

Doom is certain for Hamath,
    near Damascus,
and for the cities of Tyre and Sidon,
    though they are so clever.
Tyre has built a strong fortress
    and has made silver and gold
    as plentiful as dust in the streets!
But now the Lord will strip away Tyre’s possessions
    and hurl its fortifications into the sea,
    and it will be burned to the ground.
The city of Ashkelon will see Tyre fall
    and will be filled with fear.
Gaza will shake with terror,
    as will Ekron, for their hopes will be dashed.
Gaza’s king will be killed,
    and Ashkelon will be deserted.
Foreigners will occupy the city of Ashdod.
    I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.
I will grab the bloody meat from their mouths
    and snatch the detestable sacrifices from their teeth.
Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God
    and become like a clan in Judah.[c]
The Philistines of Ekron will join my people,
    as the ancient Jebusites once did.
I will guard my Temple
    and protect it from invading armies.
I am watching closely to ensure
    that no more foreign oppressors overrun my people’s land.

Zion’s Coming King

Rejoice, O people of Zion![d]
    Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
    He is righteous and victorious,[e]
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
    riding on a donkey’s colt.
10 I will remove the battle chariots from Israel[f]
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River[g] to the ends of the earth.[h]
11 Because of the covenant I made with you,
    sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
    from death in a waterless dungeon.
12 Come back to the place of safety,
    all you prisoners who still have hope!
I promise this very day
    that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.
13 Judah is my bow,
    and Israel is my arrow.
Jerusalem[i] is my sword,
    and like a warrior, I will brandish it against the Greeks.[j]

14 The Lord will appear above his people;
    his arrows will fly like lightning!
The Sovereign Lord will sound the ram’s horn
    and attack like a whirlwind from the southern desert.
15 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect his people,
    and they will defeat their enemies by hurling great stones.
They will shout in battle as though drunk with wine.
    They will be filled with blood like a bowl,
    drenched with blood like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people,
    just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.
They will sparkle in his land
    like jewels in a crown.
17 How wonderful and beautiful they will be!
    The young men will thrive on abundant grain,
    and the young women will flourish on new wine.

The Lord Will Restore His People

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the spring,
    for he makes the storm clouds.
And he will send showers of rain
    so every field becomes a lush pasture.
Household gods give worthless advice,
    fortune-tellers predict only lies,
and interpreters of dreams pronounce
    falsehoods that give no comfort.
So my people are wandering like lost sheep;
    they are attacked because they have no shepherd.

“My anger burns against your shepherds,
    and I will punish these leaders.[k]
For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has arrived
    to look after Judah, his flock.
He will make them strong and glorious,
    like a proud warhorse in battle.
From Judah will come the cornerstone,
    the tent peg,
the bow for battle,
    and all the rulers.
They will be like mighty warriors in battle,
    trampling their enemies in the mud under their feet.
Since the Lord is with them as they fight,
    they will overthrow even the enemy’s horsemen.

“I will strengthen Judah and save Israel[l];
    I will restore them because of my compassion.
It will be as though I had never rejected them,
    for I am the Lord their God, who will hear their cries.
The people of Israel[m] will become like mighty warriors,
    and their hearts will be made happy as if by wine.
Their children, too, will see it and be glad;
    their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
When I whistle to them, they will come running,
    for I have redeemed them.
From the few who are left,
    they will grow as numerous as they were before.
Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations,
    they will still remember me in distant lands.
They and their children will survive
    and return again to Israel.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria.
I will resettle them in Gilead and Lebanon
    until there is no more room for them all.
11 They will pass safely through the sea of distress,[n]
    for the waves of the sea will be held back,
    and the waters of the Nile will dry up.
The pride of Assyria will be crushed,
    and the rule of Egypt will end.
12 By my power[o] I will make my people strong,
    and by my authority they will go wherever they wish.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
    so that fire may devour your cedar forests.
Weep, you cypress trees, for all the ruined cedars;
    the most majestic ones have fallen.
Weep, you oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forests have been cut down.
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds,
    for their rich pastures are destroyed.
Hear the young lions roaring,
    for their thickets in the Jordan Valley are ruined.

The Good and Evil Shepherds

This is what the Lord my God says: “Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter. The buyers slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers say, ‘Praise the Lord! Now I’m rich!’ Even the shepherds have no compassion for them. Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” says the Lord. “I will let them fall into each other’s hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”

So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month.

But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too. So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!”

10 Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through my actions.

12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter[p]”—this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.

14 Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. 16 This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.

17 “What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd
    who abandons the flock!
The sword will cut his arm
    and pierce his right eye.
His arm will become useless,
    and his right eye completely blind.”

Future Deliverance for Jerusalem

12 This[q] message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord: “This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.

“On that day,” says the Lord, “I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, their God.’

“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure.

“The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them! For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 “Then I will pour out a spirit[r] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. 11 The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

12 “All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan, 13 the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei. 14 Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives.

A Fountain of Cleansing

13 “On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity.

“And on that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten. I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them. If anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother will tell him, ‘You must die, for you have prophesied lies in the name of the Lord.’ And as he prophesies, his own father and mother will stab him.

“On that day people will be ashamed to claim the prophetic gift. No one will pretend to be a prophet by wearing prophet’s clothes. He will say, ‘I’m no prophet; I’m a farmer. I began working for a farmer as a boy.’ And if someone asks, ‘Then what about those wounds on your chest?[s]’ he will say, ‘I was wounded at my friends’ house!’

The Scattering of the Sheep

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    the man who is my partner,”
    says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“Strike down the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn against the lambs.
Two-thirds of the people in the land
    will be cut off and die,” says the Lord.
    “But one-third will be left in the land.
I will bring that group through the fire
    and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
    and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

The Lord Will Rule the Earth

14 Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.

Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal.[t] Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.[u]

On that day the sources of light will no longer shine,[v] yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.

On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean,[w] flowing continuously in both summer and winter.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped.

10 All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.

12 And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. 14 Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured—great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. 15 This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.

16 In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. 17 Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will have no rain. 18 If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the Lord will punish[x] them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. 19 Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

20 On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: Holy to the lord. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the Lord will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. 21 In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders[y] in the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Footnotes

  1. 9:1a Hebrew An Oracle: The message.
  2. 9:1b Hebrew land of Hadrach.
  3. 9:7 Hebrew like a leader in Judah.
  4. 9:9a Hebrew O daughter of Zion!
  5. 9:9b Hebrew and is being vindicated.
  6. 9:10a Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 9:13.
  7. 9:10b Hebrew the river.
  8. 9:10c Or the end of the land.
  9. 9:13a Hebrew Zion.
  10. 9:13b Hebrew the sons of Javan.
  11. 10:3 Or these male goats.
  12. 10:6 Hebrew save the house of Joseph.
  13. 10:7 Hebrew of Ephraim.
  14. 10:11 Or the sea of Egypt, referring to the Red Sea.
  15. 10:12 Hebrew In the Lord.
  16. 11:13 Syriac version reads into the treasury; also in 11:13b. Compare Matt 27:6-10.
  17. 12:1 Hebrew An Oracle: This.
  18. 12:10 Or the Spirit.
  19. 13:6 Hebrew wounds between your hands?
  20. 14:5a The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  21. 14:5b As in Greek version; Hebrew reads with you.
  22. 14:6 Hebrew the precious ones shall diminish; or the precious ones and frost. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  23. 14:8 Hebrew half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea.
  24. 14:18 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek and Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads will not punish.
  25. 14:21 Hebrew Canaanites.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

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]
and on Hamath(C) too, which borders on it,
    and on Tyre(D) and Sidon,(E) though they are very skillful.
Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
    she has heaped up silver like dust,
    and gold like the dirt of the streets.(F)
But the Lord will take away her possessions
    and destroy(G) her power on the sea,
    and she will be consumed by fire.(H)
Ashkelon(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.
A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
    and I will put an end(J) to the pride of the Philistines.
I 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)
But 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

Rejoice 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)
10 I 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)
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant(Y) with you,
    I will free your prisoners(Z) from the waterless pit.(AA)
12 Return to your fortress,(AB) you prisoners of hope;
    even now I announce that I will restore twice(AC) as much to you.
13 I 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

14 Then 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.
16 The 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)
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(AS) to all people,
    and plants of the field(AT) to everyone.
The 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)

“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)
From Judah will come the cornerstone,(BB)
    from him the tent peg,(BC)
from him the battle bow,(BD)
    from him every ruler.
Together 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)

“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.
The 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.
I will signal(BM) for them
    and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
    they will be as numerous(BN) as before.
Though 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.
10 I 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.
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.(BS)
Assyria’s pride(BT) will be brought down
    and Egypt’s scepter(BU) will pass away.(BV)
12 I 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!
Wail, 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)
Listen 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

This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.(CF) 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.(CG) 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(CH) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”(CI)

So 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. In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested(CK) me, and I grew weary of them and 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.”

10 Then I took my staff called Favor(CN) and broke it, revoking(CO) 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.(CP)

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(CQ) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.(CR)

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,(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: “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. On 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. 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.(DF) Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,(DG) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

“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.

“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) On 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. On 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) 11 On that day the weeping(DW) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.(DX) 12 The 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, 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.(DZ)

Cleansing From Sin

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

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols(EC) from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”(ED) declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets(EE) 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(EF) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.(EG)

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

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

“Awake, sword,(EM) against my shepherd,(EN)
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,(EO)
    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.(EP)
This third I will put into the fire;(EQ)
    I will refine them like silver(ER)
    and test them like gold.(ES)
They will call(ET) on my name(EU)
    and I will answer(EV) them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’(EW)
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.(EX)’”

The Lord Comes and Reigns

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

I will gather all the nations(FA) to Jerusalem to fight against it;(FB) the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.(FC) Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.(FD) Then the Lord will go out and fight(FE) against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.(FF) On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,(FG) east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split(FH) 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[i](FI) in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come,(FJ) and all the holy ones with him.(FK)

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

On that day living water(FP) will flow(FQ) out from Jerusalem, half of it east(FR) to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.(FS)

The Lord will be king(FT) over the whole earth.(FU) On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.(FV)

10 The whole land, from Geba(FW) to Rimmon,(FX) south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up(FY) high from the Benjamin Gate(FZ) to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate,(GA) and from the Tower of Hananel(GB) to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place.(GC) 11 It will be inhabited;(GD) never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.(GE)

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

16 Then the survivors(GM) from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship(GN) the King,(GO) the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.(GP) 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship(GQ) the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.(GR) 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord[j] will bring on them the plague(GS) he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.(GT) 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.(GU)

20 On that day holy to the Lord(GV) will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots(GW) in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls(GX) in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy(GY) to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day(GZ) there will no longer be a Canaanite[k](HA) in the house(HB) of the Lord Almighty.(HC)

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 9:1 Or Damascus. / For the eye of the Lord is on all people, / as well as on the tribes of Israel,
  2. Zechariah 9:10 That is, the Euphrates
  3. Zechariah 9:15 Or bowl, / like
  4. Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / They
  5. Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
  6. Zechariah 12:10 Or to
  7. Zechariah 13:5 Or farmer; a man sold me in my youth
  8. Zechariah 13:6 Or wounds between your hands
  9. 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
  10. Zechariah 14:18 Or part, then the Lord
  11. Zechariah 14:21 Or merchant