Zechariah 12 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Future Deliverance for Jerusalem

Zec 12:1This[fn] message concerning the fate of Israel came from the LORD: “This message is from the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit.

Zec 12:2

Zec 12:2I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah.

Zec 12:3

Zec 12:3On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.

Zec 12:4

Zec 12:4“On that day,” says the LORD, “I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies.

Zec 12:5

Zec 12:5And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, their God.’

Zec 12:6

Zec 12:6“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure.

Zec 12:7

Zec 12:7“The LORD will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah.

Zec 12:8

Zec 12:8On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the LORD who goes before them!

Zec 12:9

Zec 12:9For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zec 12:10

Zec 12:10“Then I will pour out a spirit[fn] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.

Zec 12:11

Zec 12:11The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

Zec 12:12

Zec 12:12“All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan,

Zec 12:13

Zec 12:13the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei.

Zec 12:14

Zec 12:14Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives.