Zechariah 12

¹ A proclamation. The word of Yahweh about Israel (and also about Judah). Yahweh, who spread outthe heaven and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within, declares:

² 'Look, I shal make Jerusalem a cup to set al the surrounding peoples reeling. (That wil be at the timeof the siege of Jerusalem.)

³ 'When that day comes, I shal make Jerusalem a stone too heavy for al the peoples to lift; al thosewho try to lift it will hurt themselves severely, although al the nations of the world wil be massed against her.

⁴ When that day comes -- declares Yahweh -- I shall strike al the horses with panic and their riders withmadness. And I shal strike al the peoples with blindness. (But I shall keep watch over Judah.)

⁵ Then the rulers of Judah will say to themselves, "The strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem lies inYahweh Sabaoth their God."

⁶ When that day comes, I shal make the rulers of Judah like a brazier burning in a pile of wood, like atorch flaming in a sheaf; and they wil devour al the peoples round them to right and left. And Jerusalem wil beful of people as before, where she stands (in Jerusalem).

⁷ Yahweh wil first save the tents of Judah, so that the glory of the House of David and the glory of theinhabitants of Jerusalem do not increase at Judah's expense.

⁸ When that day comes, Yahweh will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the frailest of them wil belike David when that day comes, and the House of David wil be like God, like the angel of Yahweh, at theirhead.

⁹ 'When that day comes, I shal set about destroying all the nations who advance against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem I shall pour out a spirit of grace andprayer, and they wil look to me. They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child,and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child.

¹¹ When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem wil be as great as the mourning for HadadRimmon in the Plain of Megiddo.

¹² And the country wil mourn clan by clan: The clan of the House of David by itself, and their women bythemselves; the clan of the House of Nathan by itself, and their women by themselves;

¹³ the clan of the House of Levi by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the House ofShimei by itself, and their women by themselves;

¹⁴ al the rest of the clans, every clan by itself, and their women by themselves.'