Jerusalem to Be Attacked

12 The pronouncement of the word of the Lord concerning Israel:

The Lord who ^(A)stretches out the heavens, ^(B)lays the foundation of the earth, and ^(C)forms the spirit of a person within him, declares: ² “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a ^(D)cup ^[a]that causes staggering to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against ^(E)Judah. ³ It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy ^(F)stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will ^(G)injure themselves severely. And all the ^(H)nations of the earth will be gathered against it. ⁴ On that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with insanity. But I will ^[b]watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ Then the ^[c]clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a ^[d]strong support for us through the Lord of armies, their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the ^[e]clans of Judah like a ^(I)firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^[f]the ^(J)inhabitants of Jerusalem again live on their own sites in Jerusalem. ⁷ The Lord also will ^(K)save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of ^(L)David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will ^(M)protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who ^[g](N)is feeble among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like ^(O)God, like the ^(P)angel of the Lord before them. ⁹ And on that day I will ^(Q)seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And I will ^(R)pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^[h]the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they ^(S)pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one ^(T)mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. ¹¹ On that day the ^(U)mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the ^[i]plain of ^[j]Megiddo. ¹² The land will 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 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 the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that are left, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

False Prophets Ashamed

13 “On that day a ^(V)fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for ^(W)sin and for ^(X)defilement.

² “And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “that I will ^(Y)eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the ^(Z)prophets and the ^(AA)unclean spirit from the land. ³ And if anyone still ^(AB)prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall ^(AC)not live, because you have spoken ^(AD)falsely in the name of the Lord’; and his ^(AE)father and mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. ⁴ Also it will come about on that day that the prophets will each be ^(AF)ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a ^(AG)hairy robe in order to deceive; ⁵ but he will say, ‘I am ^(AH)not a prophet; I am a cultivator of the ground, because a man ^[k]sold me as a slave in my youth.’ ⁶ And someone will say to him, ‘What are these wounds ^(AI)between your ^[l]arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded at the house of ^[m]my friends.’

God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Enemies

14 Behold, a ^(AT)day is coming for the Lord when ^(AU)the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. ² For I will ^(AV)gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the ^(AW)houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go forth and ^(AX)fight against those nations, as ^[o]when He fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day His feet will ^(AY)stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be ^(AZ)split ^[p]in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south. ⁵ And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled from the ^(BA)earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. ^(BB)Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with ^[q]Him!

⁶ On that day there will be ^(BC)no light; the ^[r]luminaries will die out. ⁷ For it will be ^(BD)a unique day which is ^(BE)known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at the ^(BF)time of evening there will be light.

⁸ And on that day ^(BG)living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

God Will Be King over All

⁹ And the Lord will be ^(BH)King over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be the only ^(BI)one, and His name the only one.

¹⁰ All the land will change into a plain from ^(BJ)Geba to ^(BK)Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but ^[s]Jerusalem will ^(BL)rise and ^(BM)remain on its site from ^(BN)Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the ^(BO)Corner Gate, and from the ^(BP)Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. ¹¹ People will live in it, and there will ^(BQ)no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will ^(BR)live in security.

¹² Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will ^(BS)rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. ¹³ And it will come about on that day that a great panic from the Lord will ^[t]fall on them; and they will ^(BT)seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will ^[u]be raised against the hand of another. ^14 (BU)Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the ^(BV)wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵ And just like this ^(BW)plague, there will be a plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps.

¹⁶ Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will ^(BX)go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the ^(BY)Feast of Booths. ¹⁷ And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the ^(BZ)King, the Lord of armies, there will be ^(CA)no rain on them. ¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the ^(CB)plague with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. ¹⁹ This will be the ^[v]punishment of Egypt, and the ^[w]punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

²⁰ On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “^(CC)Holy to the Lord.” And the ^(CD)cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹ Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be ^(CE)holy to the Lord of armies; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a ^[x](CF)Canaanite in the house of the Lord of armies on that day.

The Lord Implored to Avenge His People.

Walk According to His Commandments

^1 (A)The elder to the ^(B)chosen ^(C)lady and her children, whom I ^(D)love in truth; and not only I, but also all who ^(E)know the truth, ^2 (F)because of the truth which remains ^(G)in us and will be ^(H)with us forever: ^3 (I)Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

^4 (J)I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received a commandment to do from the Father. ⁵ Now I ask you, lady, ^(K)not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had ^(L)from the beginning, that we ^(M)love one another. ⁶ And ^(N)this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, ^(O)just as you have heard ^(P)from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.

⁷ For ^(Q)many deceivers have ^(R)gone out into the world, those who ^(S)do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is ^(T)the deceiver and the ^(U)antichrist. ^8 (V)Watch yourselves, ^(W)that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. ^9 [a]Anyone who ^[b]goes too far and ^(X)does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, ^(Y)do not receive him into your house, and do not ^[c]give him a greeting; ¹¹ for the one who ^[d]gives him a greeting ^[e](Z)participates in his evil deeds.

^12 (AA)Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak ^[f]face to face, so that ^[g]your ^(AB)joy may be made complete.

¹³ The children of your ^(AC)chosen sister greet you.