[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.
