ZechariahChapter 12

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¹This is a heavy message, the word of the LORD about Israel. The LORD stretches out the heavens. He lays the foundation of the earth. He forms the spirit inside every person. This is what he says:a ²"Look, I will make Jerusalem like a cup that makes all the nations around her drunk and dizzy. Judah will be surrounded by enemies, and Jerusalem will be too. ³On that day all the nations of the earth will gather against Jerusalem. Then I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who try to lift it away will badly hurt themselves. ⁴On that day," says the LORD, "I will make every horse panic. I will make every rider go crazy. I will keep a careful eye on the people of Judah. But I will make all the horses of the nations blind. ⁵Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, 'The people of Jerusalem are my strength. For the LORD of Hosts is their God.' ⁶On that day I will make the family groups of Judah like a pot of fire in a pile of wood. They will be like a burning torch among bundles of grain. They will burn up all the peoples around them on the right and on the left. But the people of Jerusalem will stay safe there. ⁷The LORD will save the tents of Judah first. He will do this so that the glory of David's family and of the people of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah's. ⁸On that day the LORD will protect the people of Jerusalem, so that the weakest of them will be like David. And David's family will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going ahead of them. ⁹On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁰Then I will pour out on David's family and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer. They will look on me, the one they have pierced. They will mourn for him like someone mourns for an only child. They will cry bitterly for him like someone cries for a firstborn son. ¹¹On that day the crying in Jerusalem will be very great. It will be like the crying of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹²The land will mourn, each family group by itself. The family of David will mourn by themselves, and their wives by themselves. The family of Nathan will mourn by themselves, and their wives by themselves. ¹³The family of Levi will mourn by themselves, and their wives by themselves. The family of Shimei will mourn by themselves, and their wives by themselves. ¹⁴All the other family groups will mourn by themselves, and their wives by themselves.