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Zechariah 12-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 12

Oracles Concerning the Nations and Judah.[a] 1 An oracle:[b] The word of the Lord concerning Israel—oracle of the Lord, who spreads out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and fashions the human spirit within:(A) 2 See, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling[c] for all peoples round about.(B) Judah will be besieged, even Jerusalem. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples. All who attempt to lift it will injure themselves badly, though all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 On that day—oracle of the Lord—I will strike every horse with fright, and its rider with madness. But over the house of Judah I will keep watch, while I strike blind all the horses of the peoples. 5 Then the clans of Judah will say to themselves, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have their strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.”(C) 6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a brazier of fire in the woodland and like a burning torch among sheaves, and they will devour right and left all the surrounding peoples; but Jerusalem will again inhabit its own place.(D)

7 The Lord will save 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 Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like David on that day; and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

9 On that day I will seek the destruction of all nations that come against Jerusalem.(E) 10 I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of mercy and supplication, so that when they look on him whom they have thrust through,[d](F) they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and they will grieve for him as one grieves over a firstborn.(G)

Catalogue of Mourners. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.[e] 12 And the land shall mourn, each family apart: the family of the house of David, and their women; the family of the house of Nathan, and their women; 13 the family of the house of Levi, and their women; the family of Shimei, and their women; 14 and all the rest of the families, each family apart, and the women apart.

Chapter 13

Oracles Concerning the End of False Prophecy.[f] 1 On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David[g] and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to purify from sin and uncleanness.(H)

2 On that day—oracle of the Lord of hosts—I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, so that they will be mentioned no more; I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land. 3 If any still prophesy, their father and mother who bore them will say, “You will not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” Their father and mother who bore them will thrust them through when they prophesy.(I)

4 On that day, all prophets will be ashamed of the visions they prophesy; and they will not put on the hairy mantle[h] to mislead,(J) 5 but each will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a tiller of the soil, for I have owned land since my youth.”(K) 6 And if anyone asks, “What are these wounds on your chest?”[i] each will answer, “I received these wounds in the house of my friends.”(L)

The Song of the Sword

7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    against the one who is my associate
    —oracle of the Lord of hosts.
Strike the shepherd
    that the sheep may be scattered;[j](M)
    I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In all the land—oracle of the Lord—
    two thirds of them will be cut off and perish,
    and one third will be left.
9 I will bring the one third through the fire;
    I will refine them as one refines silver,(N)
    and I will test them as one tests gold.
They will call upon my name, and I will answer them;(O)
    I will say, “They are my people,”(P)
    and they will say, “The Lord is my God.”

Chapter 14

Devastation and Rescue of Jerusalem. 1 [k]A day is coming for the Lord when the spoils taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: The city will be taken, houses will be plundered, women raped; half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle.(Q) 4 On that day God’s feet will stand[l] on the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem to the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a very deep valley,(R) and half of the mountain will move to the north and half of it to the south. 5 You will flee by the valley between the mountains, for the valley between the mountains will reach to Azal. Thus you will flee as you fled because of the earthquake[m] in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.(S) Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all his holy ones with him.(T)

Jerusalem Restored. 6 On that day there will no longer be cold or frost. 7 There will be one continuous day—it is known to the Lord—not day and night, for in the evening there will be light. 8 On that day, fresh water will flow from Jerusalem,(U) half to the eastern sea, and half to the western sea. This will be so in summer and in winter. 9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth;(V) on that day the Lord will be the only one, and the Lord’s name the only one. 10 All the land will turn into a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, which will stand exalted in its place—from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the first gate, to the Corner Gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 The city will be inhabited; never again will it be doomed. Jerusalem will dwell securely.(W)

The Fate of Jerusalem’s Foes. 12 And this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.(X) 13 On that day a great panic from the Lord will be upon them.(Y) They will seize each other’s hands, and their hands will be raised against each other. 14 Even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. The riches of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together—gold, silver, and garments—in great abundance. 15 Like the plague on human beings will be the plague upon the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and upon all the beasts that are in those camps.

The Future: Jerusalem, Judah, and the Nations. 16 Everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to bow down to the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of Booths.[n](Z) 17 Should any of the families of the earth(AA) not go up to Jerusalem to bow down to the King, the Lord of hosts, then there will be no rain for them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, upon them will fall the plague,(AB) with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the feast of Booths.

20 On that day, “Holy to the Lord”(AC) will be written on the horses’ bells.[o] The pots in the house of the Lord will be as the basins before the altar. 21 Every pot[p] in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts. All who come to sacrifice will take them and cook in them. No longer will there be merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.

Footnotes

  1. 12:1–10 The oracles deal with (1) the status of Judah in relation to other political powers in the world that threaten its existence and (2) the reordering of Judah’s internal structures so that its future can be realized. That future is linked to the fortunes of the house of David, which is mentioned five times between 12:7 and 13:1 (12:7, 8, 10, 12; 13:1).
  2. 12:1 An oracle: part two of Second Zechariah begins with the same heading as that of part one (9:1; also Mal 1:1), suggesting two distinct blocks of material. The unusual cluster of introductory terms that follow the heading greatly intensifies the claim of prophetic authority, apparently an issue in postexilic prophecy.
  3. 12:2 Cup of reeling: like a cup filled with intoxicating drink, Jerusalem will cause the nations to stumble and fall (cf. Is 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15; 49:12; Lam 4:21).
  4. 12:10 They look on him…thrust through: another possible rendering is “they shall look to me concerning him…thrust through.” In either case, the victim is an enigmatic figure, perhaps referring to a Davidic descendant, a priestly leader, or even a true prophet. Some historical event, unknown to us from any surviving source, may underlie this reference. The Gospel of John applies this text to the piercing of Christ’s side after his death (19:37).
  5. 12:11 The mourning for the pierced victim in Jerusalem is compared to the annual ritual mourning in the plain of Megiddo over the death of the Phoenician fertility god, Hadadrimmon. According to others, Hadadrimmon is the name of a place near Megiddo, and the reference would then be to the mourning over the death of King Josiah at the hands of Pharaoh Neco in 609 B.C.; cf. 2 Kgs 23:29–30; 2 Chr 35:22–25.
  6. 13:1–6 False prophecy is a major theme of Second Zechariah (chaps. 9–14) and figures in many other passages (10:1–2; 11; 12:10). Problems of idolatry and false prophecy occurred in postexilic Judah as they had in preexilic times. The understanding of the role of the prophet as an intermediary was challenged because (1) there was no king in Jerusalem, and (2) the texts of earlier prophets were beginning to be accorded the authority of prophetic tradition.
  7. 13:1 For the house of David: anticipation that a cleansed leadership will enable the re-established monarchy to be rid of the misdeeds of its past.
  8. 13:4 Hairy mantle: worn by prophets as a sign of their calling, for example, Elijah (1 Kgs 19:13; 2 Kgs 1:8) and John the Baptist (Mt 3:4).
  9. 13:6 Wounds on your chest: lit., “wounds between your hands.” The false prophets, like the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:28), apparently inflicted wounds on themselves. Here it seems that persons accused of false prophecy deny having inflicted wounds on themselves and instead claim that they have received them at the houses of their friends.
  10. 13:7 Strike the shepherd…may be scattered: in Matthew’s Gospel (26:31) Jesus makes use of this text before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and the flight of the disciples.
  11. 14:1–21 The marked eschatalogical thrust of Zec 9–14 culminates in this apocalyptic description, with its astonishing images of the day of the Lord. This last and longest chapter focuses on the restoration of Jerusalem and the return of the people of Zion so that the rest of the world will acknowledge God’s sovereignty. Four units constitute this chapter: vv. 1–5 concentrate on the destruction and rescue of Jerusalem and the escape of a remnant; vv. 6–11 describe the transformation of the climate and the topography of Jerusalem; vv. 12–15 depict the defeat of Jerusalem’s enemies; and vv. 16–21 outline a vision for the end time, in which even foreign nations will make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to acknowledge God’s universal reign.
  12. 14:4 God’s feet will stand: a remarkable anthropomorphic image adds emphasis to the traditional Old Testament scene of God appearing on a mountain and causing extreme reactions such as quaking, melting, shattering (see Ex 19:18; Ps 97:5; Hb 3:6). The Mount of Olives is split, which opens a way for those fleeing from the Lord’s appearance to escape from Jerusalem.
  13. 14:5 Earthquake: Amos 1:1 mentions an earthquake in the time of King Uzziah (cf. Is 6:4).
  14. 14:16 Feast of Booths: fall harvest festival, also known as the “festival of Ingathering” (Ex 23:16; 34:22) or “Booths” (Lv 23:33–36; Dt 16:13–15; 31:9–13). The singling out of this festival indicates its special status in the sacred calendar; it is frequently referred to as “the feast” (1 Kgs 8:1–2; 2 Chr 5:3; Ez 45:25).
  15. 14:20 Horses’ bells: even these bells, part of the trappings of animals used for war, will become holy in the end time, like the bells of the high priest’s garb (cf. Ex 28:34).
  16. 14:21 Every pot: vessels used for mundane food preparation will, in the end time, be as holy as Temple vessels.
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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.