Zechariah 12:1-14

A prophecy. A message of YAHWEH to Israel. “I, YAHWEH, the Heaven-Unfolder, the Earth-Foundation-Layer, and the Spirit-Shaper of every human spirit, announce to you: “Behold! I am about to make Jerusalem an intoxicating cup filled with the wine of my wrath. Any nation around her who dares to drink from it will stagger and fall. And a siege will be laid against Judah and Jerusalem. “In that day, when all the nations join forces against her, I will make Jerusalem like a heavy stone. All who lift it will severely injure themselves. “In that day, I will confuse every horse with panic and their riders with madness,” says YAHWEH. “Yes, I will strike the horses of the enemies with blindness, but I will watch over the people of Judah. Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong because YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, is their God.’ “In that day, I will make Judah’s leaders like a blazing pot in a pile of dry brush, like a flaming torch in straw. They will destroy in all directions the surrounding nations. The people of Jerusalem will continue to live safely in their own city. I, YAHWEH, will save the tents of Judah first so that the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem do not receive more honor than the rest of Judah. “In that day, my wraparound presence will protect the people of Jerusalem. And in that day I will transform the weakest among them to become as mighty as David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of YAHWEH going before them.” “I am determined in that day to destroy all the nations who attack Jerusalem. But I will pour out over the rulers and people of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Prayer. And they will gaze upon me, the Pierced One. They will mourn for the one they pierced as though for an only child and weep bitterly for him as people weep for a firstborn child. In that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Megiddo. And the people of the land will mourn each clan by itself and their women by themselves: The clan of David’s family and their women, the clan of Nathan’s family and their women, the clan of Levi’s family and their women, the clan of Shimei’s family and their women, and all the rest of the clans and their women.”