Chapter 1
1: In the
eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD
came to Zechari'ah the son of Berechi'ah, son of Iddo, the
prophet, saying,
2: "The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
3: Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you,
says the LORD of hosts.
4: Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets
cried out, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil
ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or heed
me, says the LORD.
5: Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do
they live for ever?
6: But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my
servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So
they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal
with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us."
7: On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month which
is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word
of the LORD came to Zechari'ah the son of Berechi'ah, son of
Iddo, the prophet; and Zechari'ah said,
8: "I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding
upon a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the
glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
9: Then I said, `What are these, my lord?' The angel who
talked with me said to me, `I will show you what they are.'
10: So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees
answered, `These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the
earth.'
11: And they answered the angel of the LORD who was
standing among the myrtle trees, `We have patrolled the earth,
and behold, all the earth remains at rest.'
12: Then the angel of the LORD said, `O LORD of hosts,
how long wilt thou have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of
Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy
years?'
13: And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words
to the angel who talked with me.
14: So the angel who talked with me said to me, `Cry out,
Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for
Jerusalem and for Zion.
15: And I am very angry with the nations that are at
ease; for while I was angry but a little they furthered the
disaster.
16: Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to
Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says
the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out
over Jerusalem.
17: Cry again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities
shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again
comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'"
18: And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns!
19: And I said to the angel who talked with me,
"What are these?" And he answered me, "These are
the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and
Jerusalem."
20: Then the LORD showed me four smiths.
21: And I said, "What are these coming to do?"
He answered, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so
that no man raised his head; and these have come to terrify
them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their
horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."
Chapter 2
1: And I
lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line
in his hand!
2: Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he
said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its
breadth and what is its length."
3: And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward,
and another angel came forward to meet him,
4: and said to him, "Run, say to that young man,
`Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because
of the multitude of men and cattle in it.
5: For I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says
the LORD, and I will be the glory within her.'"
6: Ho! ho! Flee from the land of the north, says the
LORD; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the
heavens, says the LORD.
7: Ho! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of
Babylon.
8: For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent
me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you
touches the apple of his eye:
9: "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they
shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will
know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
10: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come
and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.
11: And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in
that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst
of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to
you.
12: And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the
holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
13: Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has
roused himself from his holy dwelling.
Chapter 3
1: Then he
showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of
the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
2: And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you,
O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not
this a brand plucked from the fire?"
3: Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with
filthy garments.
4: And the angel said to those who were standing before
him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him
he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you,
and I will clothe you with rich apparel."
5: And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his
head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed
him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.
6: And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua,
7: "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in
my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and
have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of
access among those who are standing here.
8: Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your
friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen:
behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.
9: For behold, upon the stone which I have set before
Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave
its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the
guilt of this land in a single day.
10: In that day, says the LORD of hosts, every one of you
will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig
tree."
Chapter 4
1: And the
angel who talked with me came again, and waked me, like a man
that is wakened out of his sleep.
2: And he said to me, "What do you see?" I
said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a
bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on
each of the lamps which are on the top of it.
3: And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right
of the bowl and the other on its left."
4: And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What
are these, my lord?"
5: Then the angel who talked with me answered me,
"Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my
lord."
6: Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD
to Zerub'babel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,
says the LORD of hosts.
7: What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerub'babel you
shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone
amid shouts of `Grace, grace to it!'"
8: Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9: "The hands of Zerub'babel have laid the
foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then
you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
10: For whoever has despised the day of small things
shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerub'babel. "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which
range through the whole earth."
11: Then I said to him, "What are these two olive
trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"
12: And a second time I said to him, "What are these
two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden
pipes from which the oil is poured out?"
13: He said to me, "Do you not know what these
are?" I said, "No, my lord."
14: Then he said, "These are the two anointed who
stand by the Lord of the whole earth."
Chapter 5
1: Again I
lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll!
2: And he said to me, "What do you see?" I
answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty
cubits, and its breadth ten cubits."
3: Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes
out over the face of the whole land; for every one who steals
shall be cut off henceforth according to it, and every one who
swears falsely shall be cut off henceforth according to it.
4: I will send it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it
shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who
swears falsely by my name; and it shall abide in his house and
consume it, both timber and stones."
5: Then the angel who talked with me came forward and
said to me, "Lift your eyes, and see what this is that goes
forth."
6: And I said, "What is it?" He said,
"This is the ephah that goes forth." And he said,
"This is their iniquity in all the land."
7: And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was
a woman sitting in the ephah!
8: And he said, "This is Wickedness." And he
thrust her back into the ephah, and thrust down the leaden
weight upon its mouth.
9: Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women
coming forward! The wind was in their wings; they had wings like
the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between earth
and heaven.
10: Then I said to the angel who talked with me,
"Where are they taking the ephah?"
11: He said to me, "To the land of Shinar, to build
a house for it; and when this is prepared, they will set the
ephah down there on its base."
Chapter 6
1: And again I
lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from
between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of
bronze.
2: The first chariot had red horses, the second black
horses,
3: the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled
gray horses.
4: Then I said to the angel who talked with me,
"What are these, my lord?"
5: And the angel answered me, "These are going forth
to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before
the LORD of all the earth.
6: The chariot with the black horses goes toward the
north country, the white ones go toward the west country, and
the dappled ones go toward the south country."
7: When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get
off and patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the
earth." So they patrolled the earth.
8: Then he cried to me, "Behold, those who go toward
the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north
country."
9: And the word of the LORD came to me:
10: "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobi'jah, and
Jedai'ah, who have arrived from Babylon; and go the same day to
the house of Josi'ah, the son of Zephani'ah.
11: Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and
set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehoz'adak, the high
priest;
12: and say to him, `Thus says the LORD of hosts,
"Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall
grow up in his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.
13: It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD, and
shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule upon his throne.
And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful
understanding shall be between them both."'
14: And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a
reminder to Heldai, Tobi'jah, Jedai'ah, and Josi'ah the son of
Zephani'ah.
15: "And those who are far off shall come and help
to build the temple of the LORD; and you shall know that the
LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass,
if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your
God."
Chapter 7
1: In the
fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to
Zechari'ah in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is
Chislev.
2: Now the people of Bethel had sent Share'zer and
Reg'em-mel'ech and their men, to entreat the favor of the LORD,
3: and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of
hosts and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the
fifth month, as I have done for so many years?"
4: Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me;
5: "Say to all the people of the land and the
priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in
the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you
fasted?
6: And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat
for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
7: When Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, with
her cities round about her, and the South and the lowland were
inhabited, were not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by
the former prophets?"
8: And the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah, saying,
9: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true
judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother,
10: do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the
sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against
his brother in your heart."
11: But they refused to hearken, and turned a stubborn
shoulder, and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
12: They made their hearts like adamant lest they should
hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by
his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath
came from the LORD of hosts.
13: "As I called, and they would not hear, so they
called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts,
14: "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all
the nations which they had not known. Thus the land they left
was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant
land was made desolate."
Chapter 8
1: And the
word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
2: "Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for
Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great
wrath.
3: Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called
the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the
holy mountain.
4: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women
shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in
hand for very age.
5: And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and
girls playing in its streets.
6: Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the
sight of the remnant of this people in these days, should it
also be marvelous in my sight, says the LORD of hosts?
7: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my
people from the east country and from the west country;
8: and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem; and they shall be my people and I will be their God,
in faithfulness and in righteousness."
9: Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Let your hands be
strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from
the mouth of the prophets, since the day that the foundation of
the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might
be built.
10: For before those days there was no wage for man or
any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe
for him who went out or came in; for I set every man against his
fellow.
11: But now I will not deal with the remnant of this
people as in the former days, says the LORD of hosts.
12: For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall
yield its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the
heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of
this people to possess all these things.
13: And as you have been a byword of cursing among the
nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save
you and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be
strong."
14: For thus says the LORD of hosts: "As I purposed
to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I
did not relent, says the LORD of hosts,
15: so again have I purposed in these days to do good to
Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not.
16: These are the things that you shall do: Speak the
truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are
true and make for peace,
17: do not devise evil in your hearts against one
another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate,
says the LORD."
18: And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
19: "Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the
fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the
seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of
Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts;
therefore love truth and peace.
20: "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet
come, even the inhabitants of many cities;
21: the inhabitants of one city shall go to another,
saying, `Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and
to seek the LORD of hosts; I am going.'
22: Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek
the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the
LORD.
23: Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men
from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of
a Jew, saying, `Let us go with you, for we have heard that God
is with you.'"
Chapter 9
1: An Oracle
The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will
rest upon Damascus. For to the LORD belong the cities of Aram,
even as all the tribes of Israel;
2: Hamath also, which borders thereon, Tyre and Sidon,
though they are very wise.
3: Tyre has built herself a rampart, and heaped up silver
like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4: But lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and
hurl her wealth into the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.
5: Ash'kelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and
shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are
confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ash'kelon shall be
uninhabited;
6: a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod; and I will
make an end of the pride of Philistia.
7: I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its
abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant
for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall
be like the Jeb'usites.
8: Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that
none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again overrun
them, for now I see with my own eyes.
9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant
and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the
foal of an ass.
10: I will cut off the chariot from E'phraim and the war
horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and
he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be
from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant
with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.
12: Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today
I declare that I will restore to you double.
13: For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made E'phraim
its arrow. I will brandish your sons, O Zion, over your sons, O
Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword.
14: Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow go
forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet, and
march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15: The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall
devour and tread down the slingers; and they shall drink their
blood like wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the
corners of the altar.
16: On that day the LORD their God will save them for
they are the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17: Yea, how good and how fair it shall be! Grain shall
make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.
Chapter 10
1: Ask rain
from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD
who makes the storm clouds, who gives men showers of rain, to
every one the vegetation in the field.
2: For the teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see
lies; the dreamers tell false dreams, and give empty
consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are
afflicted for want of a shepherd.
3: "My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I
will punish the leaders; for the LORD of hosts cares for his
flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his proud
steed in battle.
4: Out of them shall come the cornerstone, out of them
the tent peg, out of them the battle bow, out of them every
ruler.
5: Together they shall be like mighty men in battle,
trampling the foe in the mud of the streets; they shall fight
because the LORD is with them, and they shall confound the
riders on horses.
6: "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will
save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have
compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not
rejected them; for I am the LORD their God and I will answer
them.
7: Then E'phraim shall become like a mighty warrior, and
their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall
see it and rejoice, their hearts shall exult in the LORD.
8: "I will signal for them and gather them in, for I
have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as of old.
9: Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far
countries they shall remember me, and with their children they
shall live and return.
10: I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and
gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them to the land of
Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them.
11: They shall pass through the sea of Egypt, and the
waves of the sea shall be smitten, and all the depths of the
Nile dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, and the
scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12: I will make them strong in the LORD and they shall
glory in his name," says the LORD.
Chapter 11
1: Open your
doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!
2: Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the
glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick
forest has been felled!
3: Hark, the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is
despoiled! Hark, the roar of the lions, for the jungle of the
Jordan is laid waste!
4: Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of
the flock doomed to slaughter.
5: Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and
those who sell them say, `Blessed be the LORD, I have become
rich'; and their own shepherds have no pity on them.
6: For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of
this land, says the LORD. Lo, I will cause men to fall each into
the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king;
and they shall crush the earth, and I will deliver none from
their hand."
7: So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be
slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. And I took two
staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union. And I tended
the sheep.
8: In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I
became impatient with them, and they also detested me.
9: So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is
to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be
destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one
another."
10: And I took my staff Grace, and I broke it, annulling
the covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11: So it was annulled on that day, and the traffickers
in the sheep, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of
the LORD.
12: Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you,
give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed
out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.
13: Then the LORD said to me, "Cast it into the
treasury" -- the lordly price at which I was paid off by
them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into
the treasury in the house of the LORD.
14: Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the
brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15: Then the LORD said to me, "Take once more the
implements of a worthless shepherd.
16: For lo, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who
does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal
the maimed, or nourish the sound, but devours the flesh of the
fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
17: Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!
May the sword smite his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be
wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!"
Chapter 12
1: An Oracle
The word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus says the LORD, who
stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the
spirit of man within him:
2: "Lo, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of
reeling to all the peoples round about; it will be against Judah
also in the siege against Jerusalem.
3: On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for
all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt
themselves. And all the nations of the earth will come together
against it.
4: On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse
with panic, and its rider with madness. But upon the house of
Judah I will open my eyes, when I strike every horse of the
peoples with blindness.
5: Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, `The
inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of
hosts, their God.'
6: "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like
a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among
sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all
the peoples round about, while Jerusalem shall still be
inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.
7: "And the LORD will give victory to the tents of
Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory
of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of
Judah.
8: On that day the LORD will put a shield about the
inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that
day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like
God, like the angel of the LORD, at their head.
9: And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations
that come against Jerusalem.
10: "And I will pour out on the house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and
supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have
pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only
child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a
first-born.
11: On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as
great as the mourning for Hadadrim'mon in the plain of Megid'do.
12: The land shall 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 Nathan 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'e-ites by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
14: and all the families that are left, each by itself,
and their wives by themselves.
Chapter 13
1: "On
that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and
uncleanness.
2: "And on that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will
cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall
be remembered no more; and also I will remove from the land the
prophets and the unclean spirit.
3: And if any one again appears as a prophet, his father
and mother who bore him will say to him, `You shall not live,
for you speak lies in the name of the LORD'; and his father and
mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
4: On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his
vision when he prophesies; he will not put on a hairy mantle in
order to deceive,
5: but he will say, `I am no prophet, I am a tiller of
the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.'
6: And if one asks him, `What are these wounds on your
back?' he will say, `The wounds I received in the house of my
friends.'"
7: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the
man who stands next to me," says the LORD of hosts.
"Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I
will turn my hand against the little ones.
8: In the whole land, says the LORD, two thirds shall be
cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.
9: And I will put this third into the fire, and refine
them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested.
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 my
God.'"
Chapter 14
1: Behold, a
day of the LORD is coming, when the spoil taken from you will be
divided in the midst of you.
2: For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to
battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and
the women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but
the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3: Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those
nations as when he fights on a day of battle.
4: On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of
Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of
Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide
valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward,
and the other half southward.
5: And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up,
for the valley of the mountains shall touch the side of it; and
you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of
Uzzi'ah king of Judah. Then the LORD your God will come, and all
the holy ones with him.
6: On that day there shall be neither cold nor frost.
7: And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the
LORD), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be
light.
8: On that day living waters shall flow out from
Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to
the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.
9: And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on
that day the LORD will be one and his name one.
10: The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba
to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft
upon its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the
former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Han'anel
to the king's wine presses.
11: And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more
curse; Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
12: And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will
smite all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their
flesh shall rot while they are still on their feet, their eyes
shall rot in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their
mouths.
13: And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall
fall on them, so that each will lay hold on the hand of his
fellow, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand
of the other;
14: even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. And the
wealth of all the nations round about shall be collected, gold,
silver, and garments in great abundance.
15: And a plague like this plague shall fall on the
horses, the mules, the camels, the asses, and whatever beasts
may be in those camps.
16: Then every one that survives of all the nations that
have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to
worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of
booths.
17: And if any of the families of the earth do not go up
to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will
be no rain upon them.
18: And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present
themselves, then upon them shall come the plague with which the
LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of
booths.
19: This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the
punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the
feast of booths.
20: And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells
of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." And the pots in the
house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar;
21: and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred
to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and
take of them and boil the flesh of the sacrifice in them. And
there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of
hosts on that day. |