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10 “I will pour out on the kingship[a] of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me,[b] the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.[c] 11 On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad Rimmon[d] in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself—the clan of the royal household of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the clan of the family of Nathan[e] by itself and their wives by themselves; 13 the clan of the descendants of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; and the clan of the Shimeites[f] by itself and their wives by themselves; 14 all the clans that remain, each separately with their wives.

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 12:10 tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”
  2. Zechariah 12:10 tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, some mss read אֶל אֵת אֲשֶׁר or אֱלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (ʾel ʾet ʾasher or ʾele ʾet ʾasher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (ʾelay ʾet ʾasher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear—they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable—and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.tn Or “on me.”
  3. Zechariah 12:10 tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bekhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).
  4. Zechariah 12:11 tn “Hadad Rimmon” is a compound of the names of two Canaanite deities, the gods of storm and thunder respectively. The grammar (a subjective genitive) allows, and the problem of comparing Israel’s grief at God’s “wounding” with pagan mourning seems to demand, that this be viewed as a place name, perhaps where Judah lamented the death of good king Josiah (cf. 2 Chr 35:25). However, some translations render this as “for” (NRSV, NCV, TEV, CEV), suggesting a person, while others translate as “of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT) which is ambiguous.
  5. Zechariah 12:12 sn By the time of Zechariah the line of descent from David had already been transferred from the Solomon branch to the Nathan branch (the clan of the family of Nathan). Nathan was a son of David (2 Sam 5:14) through whom Jesus eventually came (Luke 3:23-31). Matthew traces Jesus’ ancestry back through Solomon (Matt 1:6-16) but apparently this is to tie Joseph into the Davidic (and thus messianic) line. The “official” descent of Jesus may be viewed as passing through Solomon whereas the “physical” descent came through Nathan.
  6. Zechariah 12:13 sn The Shimeites were Levites (Exod 6:16-17; Num 3:17-18) who presumably were prominent in the postexilic era. Just as David and Nathan represented the political leadership of the community, so Levi and Shimei represented the religious leadership. All will lament the piercing of the Messiah.

10     but I will pour out a spirit of grace and mercy on David’s house
        and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They will look to me concerning the one whom they pierced;
        they will mourn over him like the mourning for an only child.
        They will mourn bitterly over him like the bitter mourning over the death of[a] an oldest child.

11 On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem
    will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the Megiddo Valley.
12 The land will mourn, each of the clans by itself:
    the clan of David’s house by themselves, and their women by themselves;
            the clan of Nathan’s house by themselves, and their women by themselves;
13             the clan of Levi’s house by themselves, and their women by themselves;
            and the Shimeites’ clan by themselves, and their women by themselves;
14             and all the remaining clans, each clan by itself, and their women by themselves.

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 12:10 Heb lacks the death of.