Zechariah 12; Zechariah 13; Zechariah 14

1 A prophecy, the word of ADONAI concerning Isra'el - here is the message from ADONAI, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit inside human beings:

2 "I will make Yerushalayim a cup that will stagger the surrounding peoples. Even Y'hudah will be caught up in the siege against Yerushalayim.

3 When that day comes, I will make Yerushalayim a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who try to lift it will hurt themselves, and all the earth's nations will be massed against her.

4 When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will strike all the horses with panic and their riders with madness; I will keep watch over Y'hudah, but I will strike blind all the horses of the peoples.

5 The leaders of Y'hudah will say to themselves, 'Those living in Yerushalayim are my strength through ADONAI-Tzva'ot their God.'

6 When that day comes, I will make the leaders of Y'hudah like a blazing fire pan in a pile of wood, like a fiery torch among sheaves of grain; they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right and on the left. Yerushalayim will be inhabited in her own place, Yerushalayim.

7 ADONAI will save the tents of Y'hudah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of those living in Yerushalayim will not appear greater than that of Y'hudah.

8 When that day comes, ADONAI will defend those living in Yerushalayim. On that day, even someone who stumbles will be like David; and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of ADONAI before them.

9 "When that day comes, I will seek to destroy all nations attacking Yerushalayim;

10 and I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me, whom they pierced." They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son.

11 When that day comes, there will be great mourning in Yerushalayim, mourning like that for Hadad-Rimmon in the Megiddo Valley.

12 Then the land will 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 Natan 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 Shim'i by itself, and their wives by themselves;

14 all the remaining families, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

1 When that day comes, a spring will be opened up for the house of David and the people living in Yerushalayim to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2 "When that day comes," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "I will cut off the very names of the idols from the land, so that no one even remembers them any more. I will also expel the [false] prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land;

3 so that if anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother who brought him into the world will tell him, 'You cannot continue to live, because you are speaking lies in the name of ADONAI'; then his own father and mother who brought him into the world will stab him to death.

4 When that day comes, each one of the prophets will be shamed by his vision when he prophesies. He will stop wearing a hair cloak to deceive people;

5 and instead, he will say, 'I'm no prophet, I just work the soil; since my youth I've only wanted to be an ordinary man.'

6 If someone asks him, 'Then what are these gashes between your shoulders?' he will answer, 'I got hurt at my friends' house.'

7 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the young ones.

8 In time, throughout that land," says ADONAI, "two-thirds of those in it will be destroyed - they will die, but one-third will remain.

9 That third part I will bring through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is my people' and they will say, 'ADONAI is my God.'"

1 Look, a day is coming for ADONAI when your plunder, [Yerushalayim], will be divided right there within you.

2 "For I will gather all the nations against Yerushalayim for war. The city will be taken, the houses will be rifled, the women will be raped, and half the city will go into exile; but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city."

3 Then ADONAI will go out and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle.

4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, to make a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5 You will flee to the valley in the mountains, for the valley in the mountains will reach to Atzel. You will flee, just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of 'Uziyah king of Y'hudah. Then ADONAI my God will come to you with all the holy ones.

6 On that day, there will be neither bright light nor thick darkness;

7 and one day, known to ADONAI, will be neither day nor night, although by evening there will be light.

8 On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter.

9 Then ADONAI will be king over the whole world. On that day ADONAI will be the only one, and his name will be the only name.

10 All the land will be made like the 'Aravah, from Geva to Rimmon in the Negev. Yerushalayim will be raised up and inhabited where she is, from Binyamin's Gate to the place where the earlier gate stood, and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hanan'el to the king's winepresses.

11 People will live there, the curse will be broken, and Yerushalayim will live in safety.

12 ADONAI will strike all the peoples who made war against Yerushalayim with a plague in which their flesh rots away while they are standing on their feet, their eyes rot away in their sockets, and their tongues rot away in their mouths.

13 When that day comes, there will be among them great panic, sent by ADONAI, so that everyone lays hands on his neighbor, who in turn attacks him.

14 Y'hudah too will fight against Yerushalayim; and the wealth of all the nations will be assembled - gold, silver and clothing in great abundance.

15 A plague like this plague will also affect the horses, mules, camels, donkeys and all the other animals in those camps.

16 Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up every year to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot.

17 If any of the families of the earth does not go up to Yerushalayim to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, no rain will fall on them.

18 If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, if they refuse to come, they will have no [annual] overflow [from the Nile]; moreover, there will be the plague with which ADONAI will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the festival of Sukkot.

19 This will be Egypt's punishment and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the festival of Sukkot.

20 When that day comes, this will be written on the bells worn by the horses: "Consecrated to ADONAI"; and the cooking pots in the house of ADONAI will be [as holy] as the sprinkling bowls before the altar.

21 Yes, every cooking pot in Yerushalayim and Y'hudah will be consecrated to ADONAI-Tzva'ot. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, take them and use them to stew the meat. When that day comes, there will no longer be merchants in the house of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.