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Zechariah 10-12
New International Version
Zechariah 10-12
New International Version
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(A) to all people,
and plants of the field(B) to everyone.
2 The idols(C) speak deceitfully,
diviners(D) see visions that lie;
they tell dreams(E) that are false,
they give comfort in vain.(F)
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.(G)
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;(H)
for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.(I)
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone,(J)
from him the tent peg,(K)
from him the battle bow,(L)
from him every ruler.
5 Together they[a] will be like warriors in battle
trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.(M)
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.(N)
6 “I will strengthen(O) Judah
and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion(P) on them.(Q)
They will be as though
I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
and I will answer(R) them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
and their hearts will be glad as with wine.(S)
Their children will see it and be joyful;
their hearts will rejoice(T) in the Lord.
8 I will signal(U) for them
and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
they will be as numerous(V) as before.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,
yet in distant lands they will remember me.(W)
They and their children will survive,
and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.(X)
I will bring them to Gilead(Y) and Lebanon,
and there will not be room(Z) 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.(AA)
Assyria’s pride(AB) will be brought down
and Egypt’s scepter(AC) will pass away.(AD)
12 I will strengthen(AE) them in the Lord
and in his name they will live securely,(AF)”
declares the Lord.
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,(AG)
so that fire(AH) may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks(AI) of Bashan;
the dense forest(AJ) has been cut down!(AK)
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;(AL)
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!(AM)
Two Shepherds
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.(AN) 5 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.(AO) 6 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(AP) and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”(AQ)
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter,(AR) particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested(AS) me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish.(AT) Let those who are left eat(AU) one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took my staff called Favor(AV) and broke it, revoking(AW) 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.(AX)
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(AY) and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.(AZ)
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,(BA)
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm(BB) and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!”(BC)
Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed
12 A prophecy:(BD) The word of the Lord concerning Israel.
The Lord, who stretches out the heavens,(BE) who lays the foundation of the earth,(BF) and who forms the human spirit within a person,(BG) declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup(BH) that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.(BI) Judah(BJ) will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations(BK) of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock(BL) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure(BM) themselves. 4 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.(BN) 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong,(BO) because the Lord Almighty is their God.’
6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot(BP) in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume(BQ) all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact(BR) in her place.
7 “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.(BS) 8 On that day the Lord will shield(BT) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest(BU) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,(BV) like the angel of the Lord going before(BW) them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations(BX) that attack Jerusalem.(BY)
Mourning for the One They Pierced
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[b](BZ) of grace and supplication.(CA) They will look on[c] me, the one they have pierced,(CB) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,(CC) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.(CD) 11 On that day the weeping(CE) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.(CF) 12 The land will mourn,(CG) 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.(CH)
Footnotes
- Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / 5 They
- Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
- Zechariah 12:10 Or to
Zechariah 10-12
King James Version
Zechariah 10-12
King James Version
10 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
12 And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.
11 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
4 Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
12 The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
New International Version (NIV) 
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