The Lord Will Give Salvation

12 ^(A)The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, ^(B)who stretched out the heavens and ^(C)founded the earth and ^(D)formed the spirit of man within him: ² “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem ^(E)a cup of staggering to ^(F)all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem ^(G)will also be against Judah. ^3 (H)On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. ^(I)All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And ^(J)all the nations of the earth will gather against it. ^4 (K)On that day, declares the Lord, ^(L)I will strike every horse ^(M)with panic, and its rider ^(N)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 ^(O)with blindness. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

^6 (P)“On that day I will make the clans of Judah ^(Q)like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And ^(R)they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^(S)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 (T)On that day ^(U)the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^(V)the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^(W)like the angel of the Lord, going before them. ^9 (X)And on that day ^(Y)I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

¹⁰ “And ^(Z)I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and ^(AA)pleas for mercy, so that, ^(AB)when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, ^(AC)they shall mourn for him, ^(AD)as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. ^11 (AE)On that day ^(AF)the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great ^(AG)as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land shall mourn, ^(AH)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 ^(AI)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 ^(AJ)the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

13 ^(A)“On that day there shall be ^(B)a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Idolatry Cut Off

² “And ^(C)on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^(D)I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that ^(E)they shall be remembered no more. And also ^(F)I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. ³ And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ^(G)‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

⁴ “On that day ^(H)every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, ⁵ but he will say, ^(I)‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’^{[a] 6} And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’^[b] he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck

The Coming Day of the Lord

14 Behold, ^(A)a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. ² For ^(B)I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and ^(C)the city shall be taken ^(D)and the houses plundered ^(E)and the women raped. ^(F)Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ^3 (G)Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. ^4 (H)On that day his feet shall stand ^(I)on ^(J)the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and ^(K)the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by ^(L)a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. ⁵ And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from ^(M)the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.^[a]

^6 (N)On that day ^(O)there shall be ^(P)no light, cold, or frost.^{[b] 7 (Q)}And there shall be a unique^[c] day, ^(R)which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but ^(S)at evening time there shall be light.

^8 (T)On that day ^(U)living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to ^(V)the eastern sea^[d] and half of them to ^(W)the western sea.^{[e] (X)}It shall continue in summer as in winter.

⁹ And ^(Y)the Lord will be king over all the earth. ^(Z)On that day the Lord will be ^(AA)one and ^(AB)his name one.

^10 (AC)The whole land shall be turned into a plain from ^(AD)Geba to ^(AE)Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But ^(AF)Jerusalem shall remain aloft ^(AG)on its site from ^(AH)the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to ^(AI)the Corner Gate, and from ^(AJ)the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. ¹¹ And it shall be inhabited, for ^(AK)there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.^{[f] (AL)}Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

¹² And this shall be ^(AM)the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war 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.

¹³ And ^(AN)on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that ^(AO)each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. ¹⁴ Even ^(AP)Judah will fight at Jerusalem.^[g] And ^(AQ)the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵ And ^(AR)a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

¹⁶ Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem ^(AS)shall go up year after year to worship ^(AT)the King, the Lord of hosts, and ^(AU)to keep ^(AV)the Feast of Booths. ¹⁷ And if ^(AW)any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship ^(AX)the King, the Lord of hosts, ^(AY)there will be no rain on them. ¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain;^[h] there shall be ^(AZ)the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up ^(BA)to keep the Feast of Booths. ¹⁹ This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up ^(BB)to keep the Feast of Booths.

²⁰ And ^(BC)on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ^(BD)“Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. ²¹ And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be ^(BE)holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And ^(BF)there shall no longer be ^(BG)a trader^[i] in the house of the Lord of hosts ^(BH)on that day.

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

Greeting

^1 (A)The elder to the elect lady and her children, ^(B)whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who ^(C)know ^(D)the truth, ^2 (E)because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

^3 (F)Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love

^4 (G)I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—^(H)not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—^(I)that we love one another. ⁶ And ^(J)this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just ^(K)as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. ⁷ For ^(L)many deceivers ^(M)have gone out into the world, ^(N)those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch yourselves, ^(O)so that you may not lose what we^[a] have worked for, but ^(P)may win a full reward. ⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, ^(Q)does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching ^(R)has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, ^(S)do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, ¹¹ for whoever greets him ^(T)takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

^12 (U)Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. ^(V)Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, ^(W)so that our joy may be complete.

¹³ The children of your elect sister greet you.