Zechariah

Introduction

The prophet Zechariah brought his messages to the returned exiles of Judah beginning in the second year of King Darius of Persia (520 BC). The book has two main parts. The first contains two sequences of prophecies, primarily in the form of symbolic vision reports. The second main part is made up mostly of poetic oracles concerned with the nation’s leaders.

After a general call to repentance, Zechariah records a series of eight visions to encourage the people in rebuilding the temple. The first and last describe four differently coloured horses and their riders sent over the earth. The second and third visions show that hostile foreign powers no longer threaten the country. The sixth and seventh visions report the removal of the people’s sins. The two central visions depict God establishing Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor. The overall message is that God has everything in place for the rebuilding project.

The second sequence of prophecies has six parts. Ever since the disaster of the exile and the temple’s destruction, the people had been fasting at certain times of the year. The messages here urge the people to practice justice as the true form of fasting and to focus on rebuilding. Then Zechariah announces that all their fasts will become joyful celebrations.

The book’s final section predicts that after the people suffer under bad shepherds, God will send a righteous king from David’s line. The Lord will triumph over every enemy and be king over the whole earth.

Chapter 1

A call to return to the Lord

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:

²‘The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ³Therefore tell the people: this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Return to me,” declares the Lord Almighty, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁴Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.” But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. ⁵Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live for ever? ⁶But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?

‘Then they repented and said, “The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.” ’

The man among the myrtle trees

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.

⁸During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

⁹I asked, ‘What are these, my lord?’

The angel who was talking with me answered, ‘I will show you what they are.’

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, ‘They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth.’

¹¹And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.’

¹²Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?’ ¹³So the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

¹⁴Then the angel who was speaking to me said, ‘Proclaim this word: this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, ¹⁵and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.”

¹⁶‘Therefore this is what the Lord says: “I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,” declares the Lord Almighty.

¹⁷‘Proclaim further: this is what the Lord Almighty says: “My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.” ’

Four horns and four craftsmen

¹⁸Then I looked up, and there before me were four horns. ¹⁹I asked the angel who was speaking to me, ‘What are these?’

He answered me, ‘These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.’

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ²¹I asked, ‘What are these coming to do?’

He answered, ‘These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no-one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.’

Chapter 2

A man with a measuring line

¹Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. ²I asked, ‘Where are you going?’

He answered me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.’

³While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him ⁴and said to him: ‘Run, tell that young man, “Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. ⁵And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,” declares the Lord, “and I will be its glory within.”

⁶‘Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,’ declares the Lord.

⁷‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!’ ⁸For this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you – for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye – ⁹I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.

¹⁰‘Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the Lord. ¹¹‘Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. ¹²The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.’

Chapter 3

Clean garments for the high priest

¹Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. ²The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’

³Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴The angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’

Then he said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.’

⁵Then I said, ‘Put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: ⁷‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: “If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

⁸‘ “Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. ⁹See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

¹⁰‘ “In that day each of you will invite your neighbour to sit under your vine and fig-tree,” declares the Lord Almighty.’

Chapter 4

The gold lampstand and the two olive trees

¹Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. ²He asked me, ‘What do you see?’

I answered, ‘I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. ³Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’

⁴I asked the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’

⁵He answered, ‘Do you not know what these are?’

‘No, my lord,’ I replied.

⁶So he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁷‘What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of “God bless it! God bless it!” ’

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

¹⁰‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?’

¹¹Then I asked the angel, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’

¹²Again I asked him, ‘What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?’

¹³He replied, ‘Do you not know what these are?’

‘No, my lord,’ I said.

¹⁴So he said, ‘These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.’

Chapter 5

The flying scroll

¹I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.

²He asked me, ‘What do you see?’

I answered, ‘I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.’

³And he said to me, ‘This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. ⁴The Lord Almighty declares, “I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.” ’

The woman in a basket

⁵Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, ‘Look up and see what is appearing.’

⁶I asked, ‘What is it?’

He replied, ‘It is a basket.’ And he added, ‘This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.’

⁷Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! ⁸He said, ‘This is wickedness,’ and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.

⁹Then I looked up – and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

¹⁰‘Where are they taking the basket?’ I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

¹¹He replied, ‘To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.’

Chapter 6

Four chariots

¹I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains – mountains of bronze. ²The first chariot had red horses, the second black, ³the third white, and the fourth dappled – all of them powerful. ⁴I asked the angel who was speaking to me, ‘What are these, my lord?’

⁵The angel answered me, ‘These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. ⁶The one with the black horses is going towards the north country, the one with the white horses towards the west, and the one with the dappled horses towards the south.’

⁷When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, ‘Go throughout the earth!’ So they went throughout the earth.

⁸Then he called to me, ‘Look, those going towards the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.’

A crown for Joshua

⁹The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁰‘Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.¹²Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. ¹³It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.” ¹⁴The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁵Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.’

Chapter 7

Justice and mercy, not fasting

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. ²The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord³by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, ‘Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?’

⁴Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ⁵‘Ask all the people of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? ⁷Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?” ’

⁸And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: ⁹‘This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. ¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”

¹¹‘But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. ¹²They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

¹³‘ “When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,” says the Lord Almighty. ¹⁴“I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no-one travelled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.” ’

Chapter 8

The Lord promises to bless Jerusalem

¹The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

²This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.’

³This is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.’

⁴This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. ⁵The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.’

⁶This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘It may seem marvellous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvellous to me?’ declares the Lord Almighty.

⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. ⁸I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.’

⁹This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Now hear these words, “Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.” This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁰Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No-one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbour. ¹¹But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,’ declares the Lord Almighty.

¹²‘The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. ¹³Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.’

¹⁴This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,’ says the Lord Almighty, ¹⁵‘so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶These are the things you are to do: speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; ¹⁷do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,’ declares the Lord.

¹⁸The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

¹⁹This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.’

²⁰This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, ²¹and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, “Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.” ²²And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.’

²³This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, “Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.” ’

Chapter 9

Judgment on Israel’s enemies

¹A prophecy:

The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak

and will come to rest on Damascus –

for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel

are on the Lord –

²and on Hamath too, which borders on it,

and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skilful.

³Tyre has built herself a stronghold;

she has heaped up silver like dust,

and gold like the dirt of the streets.

⁴But the Lord will take away her possessions

and destroy her power on the sea,

and she will be consumed by fire.

⁵Ashkelon will see it and fear;

Gaza will writhe in agony,

and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.

Gaza will lose her king

and Ashkelon will be deserted.

⁶A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,

and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.

⁷I will take the blood from their mouths,

the forbidden food from between their teeth.

Those who are left will belong to our God

and become a clan in Judah,

and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

⁸But I will encamp at my temple

to guard it against marauding forces.

Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,

for now I am keeping watch.

The coming of Zion’s king

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the warhorses from Jerusalem,

and the battle-bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

¹²Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;

even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

¹³I will bend Judah as I bend my bow

and fill it with Ephraim.

I will rouse your sons, Zion,

against your sons, Greece,

and make you like a warrior’s sword.

The Lord will appear

¹⁴Then the Lord will appear over them;

his arrow will flash like lightning.

The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;

he will march in the storms of the south,

¹⁵and the Lord Almighty will shield them.

They will destroy

and overcome with slingstones.

They will drink and roar as with wine;

they will be full like a bowl

used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.

¹⁶The Lord their God will save his people on that day

as a shepherd saves his flock.

They will sparkle in his land

like jewels in a crown.

¹⁷How attractive and beautiful they will be!

Grain will make the young men thrive,

and new wine the young women.

Chapter 10

The Lord will care for Judah

¹Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;

it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.

He gives showers of rain to all people,

and plants of the field to everyone.

²The idols speak deceitfully,

diviners see visions that lie;

they tell dreams that are false,

they give comfort in vain.

Therefore the people wander like sheep

oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

³‘My anger burns against the shepherds,

and I will punish the leaders;

for the Lord Almighty will care

for his flock, the people of Judah,

and make them like a proud horse in battle.

⁴From Judah will come the cornerstone,

from him the tent peg,

from him the battle-bow,

from him every ruler.

⁵Together they will be like warriors in battle

trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.

They will fight because the Lord is with them,

and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.

⁶‘I will strengthen Judah

and save the tribes of Joseph.

I will restore them

because I have compassion on them.

They will be as though

I had not rejected them,

for I am the Lord their God

and I will answer them.

⁷The Ephraimites will become like warriors,

and their hearts will be glad as with wine.

Their children will see it and be joyful;

their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

⁸I will signal for them

and gather them in.

Surely I will redeem them;

they will be as numerous as before.

⁹Though I scatter them among the peoples,

yet in distant lands they will remember me.

They and their children will survive,

and they will return.

¹⁰I will bring them back from Egypt

and gather them from Assyria.

I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,

and there will not be room enough for them.

¹¹They will pass through the sea of trouble;

the surging sea will be subdued

and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.

Assyria’s pride will be brought down

and Egypt’s sceptre will pass away.

¹²I will strengthen them in the Lord

and in his name they will live securely,’

declares the Lord.

Chapter 11

¹Open your doors, Lebanon,

so that fire may devour your cedars!

²Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;

the stately trees are ruined!

Wail, oaks of Bashan;

the dense forest has been cut down!

³Listen to the wail of the shepherds:

their rich pastures are destroyed!

Listen to the roar of the lions;

the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

Two shepherds

⁴This is what the Lord my God says: ‘Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. ⁵Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, “Praise the Lord, I am rich!” Their own shepherds do not spare them. ⁶For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbours and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.’

⁷So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favour and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them ⁹and said, ‘I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.’

¹⁰Then I took my staff called Favour and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹²I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’ – the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

¹⁴Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to me, ‘Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.

¹⁷‘Woe to the worthless shepherd,

who deserts the flock!

May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!

May his arm be completely withered,

his right eye totally blinded!’

Chapter 12

Jerusalem’s enemies to be destroyed

¹A prophecy: the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: ²‘I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. ⁴On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, “The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.”

⁶‘On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a brazier in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

⁷‘The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honour of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. ⁹On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

Mourning for the one they pierced

¹⁰‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. ¹¹On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹²The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

Chapter 13

Cleansing from sin

¹‘On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

²‘On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. ³And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, “You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.” Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

⁴‘On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive. ⁵Each will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.” ⁶If someone asks, “What are these wounds on your body?” they will answer, “The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.”

The shepherd struck, the sheep scattered

⁷‘Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is close to me!’

declares the Lord Almighty.

‘Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered,

and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

⁸In the whole land,’ declares the Lord,

‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.

⁹This third I will put into the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold.

They will call on my name

and I will answer them;

I will say, “They are my people,”

and they will say, “The Lord is our God.” ’

Chapter 14

The Lord comes and reigns

¹A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

²I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. ³Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. ⁴On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

⁶On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. ⁷It will be a unique day – a day known only to the Lord – with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

⁸On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

⁹The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

¹⁰The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. ¹¹It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

¹²This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. ¹⁴Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected – great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁷If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. ¹⁸If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁹This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

²⁰On that day ‘Holy to the Lord’ will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. ²¹Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.