Old/New Testament
9 This is the message with which the Eternal burdened His prophet.
He has set His message against the land of Hadrach,
and the city of Damascus is its resting place.
For the eyes of all humanity—especially His people from the tribes of Israel—
are fixed on the Eternal.
2 His message is also against Hamath, on the northern border of Syria,
and Tyre and Sidon, coastal cities filled with self-proclaimed wise citizens.
3 Tyre, that prosperous city, has strong defenses
including an earthen rampart around her thick walls;
She mounds up silver like dust,
and gold is as common as dirt in the street.
4 But the Lord will steal her treasures
and sink the ships of her livelihood in the depths of the sea.
Tyre, that watery city, will be consumed by unquenchable fire.
5 Ashkelon will witness the fall of Tyre from her own coast and quake with fear;
Gaza, not far to her south, will writhe in great agony;
Ekron will, too, because all hope will be lost.
Gaza’s monarchy will end when her king dies,
and Ashkelon’s streets will be left empty.
6 Children of unholy unions will live in Ashdod’s houses,
the pride of the Philistines turned over to mongrels.
Eternal One: I will make this happen.
7 I will cleanse those children from pagan practices
such as drinking blood and chewing on forbidden meats.
Those people will then belong to our God, a remnant for the Lord.
They will become like a clan[a] in Judah,
And those in Ekron will be like the surviving Jebusites
who became God’s people when David conquered Jerusalem.
8 Eternal One: When that day comes, I will set up an army camp before My house
to guard My lands against those who’d march against My people.
Never again will they bow to an oppressor,
for I am watching over them Myself.
9 Cry out with joy, O daughter of Zion!
Shout jubilantly, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Look—your King is coming;
He is righteous and able to save.
He comes seated humbly on a donkey,
on a colt, a foal of a donkey.[b]
10 I will dismantle Ephraim’s chariots,
retire the warhorses from Jerusalem,
send home the archers to their families in peace.
He will make peace with the nations;
His sovereignty will extend from coast to coast,
from the Euphrates River to the limits of the earth.
Like many earlier prophets, Zechariah tells of a day when an ideal King will enter Jerusalem to the uproarious shouts and jubilant celebration of the people. Unlike other kings, this King enters humbly riding on a donkey, a beast of burden, not on a warhorse. He comes to establish real justice. God has given Him the victory, and now He shares that victory with the people. In that day, as His reign reaches the ends of the earth, war and the instruments of war are laid aside in the greater interests of an abiding, universal peace.
11 Eternal One: As for you, because of the covenant promise I made with you through your ancestor David,
a covenant sealed in blood,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pits of death.
12 Return to your walled cities, safe and secure,
O hostages of hope.
I announce today that I will restore to you twice as much as what was taken.
13 For My people will be My weapons:
Judah, My drawn bow, loaded with Ephraim, My arrow.
I will stir your sons, Zion, making them My attacking hordes against the sons of Greece,
and I will brandish you like a warrior’s sword.
14 Then the Eternal will appear over them,
and His arrow will move like lightning;
The Eternal Lord will sound the battle trumpet
and cloak His marching forces in an approaching storm from the south.
15 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will shield His people,
and they will feast and trample the sling stones hurled uselessly by their enemies.
They will drink in and roar at the battle like men filled with wine;
they will be full like a bowl collecting the blood of a sacrifice,
drenched like the corners of the altar during a festival offering.
16 On that glorious day, the Eternal their God will save His people, for they are His flock;
they will sparkle over His lands like jewels in a crown,
17 For goodness and beauty will abound!
Grain will grow and nourish the young men;
Wine will flow and flourish the young women.
10 Pray to the Eternal, asking for rain in the spring;
He is the One bringing the storm clouds.
He fills them with heavy rain,
showers of rain for the plants of the field for everyone.
2 For household gods[c] speak nothing but tricks,
diviners see deceptions, dreamers tell lies,
And all offer useless comfort.
And so, the people wander without purpose,
Suffering like sheep because they have no shepherd.
3 Eternal One: My anger burns against these imitation shepherds,
and I will bring punishment to those goats.
The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
brings caring to His flock, the people of Judah,
And will make them like His brave royal steed, arrayed for battle.
4 The people of Judah will supply the leadership:
the stable cornerstone, the secure tent peg, the powerful battle bow.
Every commander will come from there.
5 Together they will be like a formidable force of champions in battle,
trampling the enemy in the muck and mire of the roads.
They will fight on because the Eternal fights with them;
they will bring shame and defeat to riders on horseback.
6 Eternal One: I will give strength to the people of Judah
and liberate the northern descendants of Joseph.
I will restore their standing because I care for them,
and they will live as if I never sent them away,
For I am the Eternal their God, and I will answer their call.
7 The Ephraimites, too, will grow strong like warriors
and feel deep joy as if they were warmed by wine.
Their children will see all this and be happy;
their hearts will celebrate what the Eternal has done.
8 Eternal One: I will whistle for My people and gather them in,
for I will redeem them, rescue them, ransom them,
And restore their numbers to what they were before I turned My back on them.
9 Even though I will scatter them among the nations,
they will remember Me in faraway lands.
They will make sure their children will survive to return one day.
10 From the lands of Egypt and Assyria I will restore them.
I will gather them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no room remains in this good land for them.
11 An ocean of trouble will meet Him, but He will pass safely through;
sea waves will be quieted, and the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s prideful domination will be reduced to nothing,
and Egypt’s rule of other nations will end.
12 I will give strength to My people,
and in My name will they live.
So says the Eternal One.
11 Eternal One: Open your gates, O Lebanon;
let the fire in to destroy your cedars!
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedars have fallen
and their glory lies smoldering in the dust.
Wail, stately oaks of Bashan,
for your thick forest lies on the ground!
3 Listen to the shepherds in the land,
wailing for their power and splendor that lies smoldering in the dust!
Listen to the roar of the lions,
the pride of the Jordan that lies smoldering in the dust!
One of the most beautiful and pervasive images in prophetic poetry and praise psalms is that of the good shepherd. It’s an appropriate and recognizable image for such a pastoral people. The Eternal One, the psalm says, is the Shepherd (Psalm 23). The Anointed King also comes to shepherd His people. But there are wicked shepherds, too; self-appointed and self-interested, they use and abuse the people.
4 The Eternal my God has this to say:
Eternal One: Take care of the flock headed for slaughter. 5 The people who buy My sheep kill them without repercussion. Their sellers mockingly say, “I’m rich. Praise the Eternal One!” Even their own shepherds have no mercy on them. 6 Because of this I promise that I, the Eternal One, will no longer show pity to the citizens of this land. Instead, I will hand each one over to his neighbor, each one over to his king. Those power mongers will oppress them and abuse the land, and I will do nothing to free the sheep.
7 And so I became the shepherd of the sheep headed for slaughter because of the poorest sheep. I took two staffs in my hand—one I named Favor of God and the other I named Unity of the People. With those I took care of the sheep. 8 In the span of one month, I expelled three shepherds who cared nothing for the sheep. I had become tired of the way they have cared for my flock, and they have cared nothing for me.
Zechariah (to the sheep): 9 I will watch over you no longer. Those who are meant to die will die. Those who are meant to perish will perish. Whoever is left behind will devour his neighbor!
10 Then I took my staff named Favor of God, and I snapped it in half, dissolving the covenant I had made with all the people. 11 On that very day when the covenant was broken, the sheep traders[d] watching me knew it was the word of the Eternal One.
Zechariah (to the sheep traders): 12 If you think it is right, give me what I have earned. If you don’t, then keep it for yourselves.
They took 30 pieces of silver, the price set as my wages, the price of a slave.
Eternal One (to Zechariah): 13 Give My deserved portion of your fee to the potter.
And I did as He told me. I took the 30 shekels of silver—the noble price of my valuable service—and gave them to the potter in the Eternal’s temple.[e] 14 Afterward I broke my other staff, Unity of the People, which severed the bond between the people of Judah and Israel.
Eternal One (to Zechariah): 15 Take up once again the tools of a shepherd, this time a foolish shepherd, 16 because I am going to raise up in this land a new breed of shepherd: one who does not care for the perishing, search for the young, heal the injured, or feed the hungry. This new shepherd will feast on the fat from his own flock, tearing their hoofs from their flesh.
17 Watch out, worthless shepherd who abandons the flock!
You will be made defenseless.
May the sword strike his right arm
and pierce his right eye!
May his arm hang limp at his side so he has no strength,
and may his right eye be forever blinded so he can’t shoot an arrow!
12 This is the message with which the Eternal burdened His prophet concerning Israel—the Eternal One, who began existence by stretching out the sky and founding the earth and forming the spirit deep in man.
Eternal One: 2 Watch what I’m about to do! I’m going to make Jerusalem like a cup of strong alcohol to confuse all her neighboring peoples. When they lay siege to Jerusalem, Judah will also be in the fight.[f] 3 On that day, when the enemies begin the attack, I will make Jerusalem a solid stone which cannot be moved; any who try to lift her will only be weighed down and seriously hurt themselves. All the nations on earth will come together to oppose her. 4 And on that day I promise I, the Eternal One, will confound every horse and drive every rider to madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the people of Judah even as I blind every war horse from every enemy nation. 5 Every clan of Judah will see what I am doing and believe, “The people of Jerusalem cannot be beaten because the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and their True God, leads them.”[g] 6 On that day, I will make the clans of Judah unstoppable against their enemies, a blazing pot igniting a pile of tinder, a flaming torch consuming dry bundles of wheat. They will devour all the surrounding peoples, those to the right and those to the left, but Jerusalem will remain safe and secure, bustling with citizens. 7 The Eternal will ensure that victory comes first to the tents of Judah, so that the respect due the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem will not outstrip the respect owed to Judah as a whole. So Jerusalem need not boast, but neither should it fear. 8 When that day comes, the Eternal will protect her citizens as a shield does. He will make the weak who stumble become like David, brave in battle; the royal line of David will be like God, like the Special Messenger of the Eternal One who goes before them in travels and in battle.
9 On that day, rest assured, I will set out to destroy all the nations who attack Jerusalem. 10 And I pledge that I will pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem. As a result, they will look upon Me whom they pierced,[h] they will grieve over Him as one grieves for an only child, and they will moan and weep for Him as one weeps for a firstborn son. 11 On that day, the grieving in Jerusalem will be as great as the pagans’ grieving ritual honoring Hadadrimmon on the plain of Megiddo each year. 12-14 The land itself will seem to mourn as family after family begins to grieve privately: the family of David and their wives, the family of Nathan’s descendants and their wives, the family of Levi and their wives, the family of Shimei and their wives, and all the families that are left and their wives. They will all mourn, a profound and private grief.
In one of the final, decisive battles, the rider on the white horse leads the armies of heaven against the enemy armies of the beast and the false prophet. His enemies are easily defeated, and the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. When the battle is over, the rider known as “King of kings and Lord of lords” turns His attention to the dragon.
20 Then I saw a messenger coming from heaven. In his hand was a key to the abyss and a great chain that had been forged in heaven. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years with the great chain. 3 The messenger cast him into the abyss and locked it and sealed him in it so that he could not go about deceiving the nations until the 1,000 years had come to completion. Afterward he must be released for a short time.
4 Then I saw some thrones, and those seated in judgment were given the right to judge. Standing there were the souls of those who were beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and the word of God. They had refused to worship the beast or its detestable image and had not received the mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands. They had come back to life and reigned with the Anointed One, our Liberating King, for 1,000 years. 5 Now as for the rest of the dead, they were not given life until the 1,000 years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy are the ones who take part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power; they will serve as priests of God and His Anointed, and they will reign with Him for 1,000 years.
7 When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison. 8 And he will crawl out of the abyss in order to deceive the nations located at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog[a] as Ezekiel described them, in order to rally them together for one final battle. They are in number as the grains of sand on the shore. 9 They marched in unholy array over the expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. As they laid siege to the city, fire rained down from heaven and incinerated them. 10 And the devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown; and the unholy trio will be tortured day and night throughout the ages.
Since the beginning, Satan, the dragon, has brought trouble on all the sons and daughters of Adam. Now John sees the truth of his destiny. Ultimately the one who brings such pain and sorrow upon the world will be bound and thrown into the lake of fire. But evil is not easily defeated; John watches as he mounts one last, futile attack against God’s people and His beloved. Never again will he raise his ugly head against those who remain faithful to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
11 The scene changed. I saw a great white throne, and One was seated upon it. The earth and heaven receded from His presence; there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Some books were opened. Then another book was opened; it was called the book of life. And the dead were judged according to what had been recorded in the first books; these were the records of everything they had done. 13 And the sea surrendered its dead. Death and Hades gave up their dead as well. And all were judged according to their works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And everyone whose name could not be found among the names written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.