Sacharja 12 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord will destroy Jerusalem’s enemies

1 This is a prophecy. It is the LORD’s message about Israel. The LORD spreads out the heavens. He lays the foundation of the earth. He creates the human spirit within a person. He says,

2 ‘Jerusalem will be like a cup in my hand. It will make all the surrounding nations drunk from the wine of my anger. Judah will be attacked by its enemies. So will Jerusalem.

3 At that time all the nations on earth will gather together against Jerusalem. Then it will become like a rock that can’t be moved. All the nations that try to move it will only hurt themselves.

4 On that day I will fill every horse with panic. I will make every rider crazy,’ announces the LORD. ‘I will watch over the people of Judah. But I will make all the horses of the nations blind.

5 Then the family groups of Judah will say in their hearts, “The people of Jerusalem are strong. That’s because the LORD who rules over all is their God.”

6 ‘At that time Judah’s family groups will be like a brazier in a pile of wood. They will be like a burning torch among bundles of corn. They will destroy all the surrounding nations on every side. But Jerusalem will remain unharmed in its place.

7 ‘I will save the houses in Judah first. The honour of David’s family line is great. So is the honour of those who live in Jerusalem. But their honour will not be greater than the honour of the rest of Judah.

8 At that time I will be like a shield to those who live in Jerusalem. Then even the weakest among them will be great warriors like David. And David’s family line will be like the angel of the LORD who leads them.

9 On that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

Israel’s people will mourn over the one they pierced

10 ‘I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on David’s family line. I will also send it on those who live in Jerusalem. They will look to me. I am the one they have pierced. They will mourn over me as someone mourns over an only child who has died. They will be full of sorrow over me. Their sorrow will be just like someone’s sorrow over an eldest son.

11 At that time there will be a lot of weeping in Jerusalem. It will be as great as the weeping of the people at Hadad Rimmon. Hadad Rimmon is in the valley of Megiddo. They were weeping over Josiah’s death.

12 Everyone in the land will mourn. Each family will mourn by themselves and their wives by themselves. That will include the family lines of David, Nathan,

13 Levi, Shimei and

14 all the others.

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English Standard Version

The Lord Will Give Salvation

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:

2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.

3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.

4 On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst 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.

7 “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah.

8 On that day the Lord will protect 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, going before them.

9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him 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.

11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

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.

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