Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

9 An Oracle.

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

Restoration of Judah and Israel

Two Kinds of Shepherds

⁴ “Thus says the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.^{(AF) 5} Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them.^{(AG) 6} For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord. I will cause them, every one, to fall each into the hand of a neighbor and each into the hand of the king, and they shall devastate the earth, and I will deliver no one from their hand.”^(AH)

⁷ So on behalf of the sheep merchants,^[l] I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep.^{(AI) 8} In one month I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me.^{(AJ) 9} So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!” ¹⁰ I took my staff Favor and broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples.^{(AK) 11} So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep merchants^[m] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord.^{(AL) 12} I then said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.^{(AM) 13} Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it into the treasury”^[n]—this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury^[o] in the house of the Lord.^{(AN) 14} Then I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me: “Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd.^{(AO) 16} For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering,^[p] or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy,^[q] but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

Jerusalem’s Victory

12 An Oracle.

The word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within:^{(AQ) 2} See, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding peoples; it will be against Judah also in the siege against Jerusalem.^{(AR) 3} On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth shall come together against it.^{(AS) 4} On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But on the house of Judah I will keep a watchful eye, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.^{(AT) 5} Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.”^(AU)

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

⁷ And the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.^{(AW) 8} On that day the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, at their head.^{(AX) 9} And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.^(AY)

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that, when they look on the one^[r] whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.^{(AZ) 11} On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.^{(BA) 12} The land shall mourn, each 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 and all the families that are left, each by itself and their wives by themselves.

The Thousand Years

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years^{(A) 3} and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.^(B)

⁴ Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus^[a] and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its brand on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.^{(C) 5} (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.^(D)

Satan’s Doom

⁷ When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands of the sea.^{(E) 9} They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven^[b] and consumed them.^{(F) 10} And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The Dead Are Judged

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his^[c] presence, and no place was found for them.^{(G) 12} And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.^{(H) 13} And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done.^{(I) 14} Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire,^{(J) 15} and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.