The Coming Deliverance of Judah
1 The burden of the word of theLordagainst Israel. Thus says theLord,who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, andforms the spirit of man within him:
2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalema cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.
3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalema very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
4 In that day,” says theLord,“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalemaremy strength in theLordof hosts, their God.’
6 In that day I will make the governors of Judahlike a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.
7 “TheLordwill save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.
8 In that day theLordwill defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of Davidshallbelike God, like the Angel of theLordbefore them.
9 It shall be in that daythatI will seek todestroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Mourning for the Pierced One
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they willlook on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Himas one mourns forhisonlyson,and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
11 In that day there shall be a greatmourning in Jerusalem,like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house ofNathan 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 Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves;
14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.