Zechariah
Chapter 12
1 God has a message for Israel. God, who created the skies, set the earth’s foundations, and made humans’ spirit within them, says this message.
2 I will make Jerusalem a cup that makes all the surrounding people tremble, when they attack both Judah and Jerusalem.
3 On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for everyone: anyone who tries to lift it will get hurt, even if all the world’s people unite against it.
4 On that day, God says, I will strike every horse with panic and their riders with madness; I will watch over the people of Judah and make every horse of the nations blind.
5 The leaders of Judah will think, “The people of Jerusalem will give me strength through God, who commands heavenly armies.”
6 On that day, I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire in a fireplace and like a blazing torch in a bundle of grain; they will burn up all the nearby nations on every side. And people will live in Jerusalem again, just like before.
7 God will save the homes of Judah first, so that the honor of David’s family and Jerusalem’s people won’t be greater than that of Judah.
8 On that day, God will protect Jerusalem’s people; the weakest among them will be like David; and David’s family will be like God, like God’s angel with them.
9 On that day, I will try to destroy all the countries that attack Jerusalem.
10 I will give the family of David and the people of Jerusalem a spirit of kindness and prayer. They will look at me, the one they have hurt, and they will be sad for him, like the sadness for an only child, and feel deep sorrow for him, like the sorrow for a firstborn.
11 On that day, there will be a great sadness in Jerusalem, like the sadness of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo.
12 The land will be sad, each family by itself; David’s family by itself, and their wives by themselves; Nathan’s family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
13 The Levi family separately, and their wives separately; the Shimei family separately, and their wives separately.
14 Every remaining family, each on its own, and their wives by themselves.