Zechariah 12

Judah’s Security

1 A pronouncement:

The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

A declaration of the  Lord,

who stretched out the heavens,  * 12:1 Is 45:12; 51:13; Jr 10:12; 51:15

laid the foundation of the earth,  * 12:1 Jb 38:4; Heb 1:10

and formed the spirit of man within him.

2 "Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering  * 12:2 Is 51:22–23; Jr 25:15–16; Rv 16:19 for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.  * 12:2 Jr 4:16; Ezk 38:8–9,14–16; Zch 14:23 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.  * 12:3 Jl 3:1–24 On that day" — this is the Lord’s declaration — "I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.  * 12:4 Dt 28:28 I will keep a watchful eye on  * 12:4 Is 37:17; Jr 32:19 the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. 5 Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. 6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,  * 12:6 Jr 5:14; Ob 18 like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,  * 12:8 2Kg 19:34; 20:6; Is 37:35; 38:6; Zch 9:15 so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.  * 12:8 Lv 26:8; Jos 23:109 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

10 "Then I will pour out a spirit  * 12:10 Or out the Spirit,* 12:10 Is 44:3; Ezk 36:27; 39:29; Jl 2:28–29; Zch 4:6; Ac 2:17 of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at  * 12:10 Or to me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.  * 12:10 Jr 6:26; Jn 19:37; Rv 1:711 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s  * 12:12 = a son of David,* 12:12 2Sm 5:14; Lk 3:31 house by itself and their women by themselves; 13 the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei  * 12:13 = a descendant of Levi,* 12:13 Ex 6:17; Nm 3:18; 1Ch 6:17 by itself and their women by themselves; 14 all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.