The Lord Will Give Salvation
1 iThe oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, jwho stretched out the heavens and kfounded the earth and jformed the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem la cup of staggering to mall the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem nwill also be against Judah. 3 oOn that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. pAll who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And mall the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 oOn that day, declares the Lord, qI will strike every horse rwith panic, and its rider rwith madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples rwith 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 o“On that day I will make the clans of Judah slike a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And tthey shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while uJerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.
7 “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 oOn that day vthe Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that wthe feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, xlike the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9 oAnd on that day yI will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Him Whom They Have Pierced
10 “And zI will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and zpleas for mercy, so that, awhen they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, bthey shall mourn for him, cas one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 oOn that day dthe mourning in Jerusalem will be as great eas the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, feach family1 by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of gNathan 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 hthe Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.
1 i“On that day there shall be ja fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Idolatry Cut Off
2 “And ion that day, declares the Lord of hosts, kI will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that lthey shall be remembered no more. And also mI will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, n‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
4 “On that day oevery prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, p‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’2 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’3 he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck
7 “Awake, O sword, against qmy shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
r“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
sand one third shall be left alive.
9 And tI will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
uThey will call upon my name,
and vI will answer them.
wI will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
The Coming Day of the Lord
1 Behold, xa day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For yI will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and zthe city shall be taken aand the houses plundered band the women raped. cHalf of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 dThen the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 eOn that day his feet shall stand fon gthe Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and gthe Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by ha very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from ithe earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.4
6 eOn that day jthere shall be jno light, cold, or frost.5 7 kAnd there shall be a unique6 day, lwhich is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but mat evening time there shall be light.
8 eOn that day nliving waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to othe eastern sea7 and half of them to othe western sea.8 pIt shall continue in summer as in winter.
9 And qthe Lord will be king over all the earth. rOn that day the Lord will be sone and this name one.
10 uThe whole land shall be turned into a plain from vGeba to wRimmon south of Jerusalem. But xJerusalem shall remain aloft yon its site from zthe Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to athe Corner Gate, and from bthe Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And it shall be inhabited, for cthere shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.9 dJerusalem shall dwell in security.
12 And this shall be ethe plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
13 And fon that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that geach will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even hJudah will fight at Jerusalem.10 And ithe wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And ja plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.
16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem kshall go up year after year to worship lthe King, the Lord of hosts, and mto keep nthe Feast of Booths. 17 And if oany of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship lthe King, the Lord of hosts, pthere will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain;11 there shall be jthe plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up mto keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up mto keep the Feast of Booths.
20 And qon that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, r“Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be rholy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And sthere shall no longer be ta trader12 in the house of the Lord of hosts qon that day.
Greeting
1 Paul and Timothy, servants1 of Christ Jesus,
To all the asaints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the boverseers2 and cdeacons:3
2 dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 eI thank my God fin all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 gbecause of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began ha good work in you iwill bring it to completion at jthe day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you kin my heart, for you are all lpartakers with me of grace,4 both min my imprisonment and in nthe defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For oGod is my witness, phow I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that qyour love may abound more and more, rwith knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, sand so be pure and blameless tfor the day of Christ, 11 filled uwith the fruit of righteousness that comes vthrough Jesus Christ, wto the glory and praise of God.
The Advance of the Gospel
12 I want you to know, brothers,5 that what has happened to me has really xserved to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard6 and yto all the rest that zmy imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold ato speak the word7 without fear.
15 bSome indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, cknowing that I am put here for dthe defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ eout of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
To Live Is Christ
Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that fthrough your prayers and gthe help of hthe Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope ithat I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full jcourage now as always Christ kwill be honored in my body, lwhether by life or by death. 21 For to me mto live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 nI am hard pressed between the two. My desire is oto depart and pbe with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 qConvinced of this, rI know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your sprogress and tjoy in the faith, 26 so that in me uyou may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
27 Only vlet your manner of life be wworthy8 of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you xthat you are standing firm in one spirit, with yone mind zstriving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is aa clear sign to them of their destruction, but bof your salvation, and that from God. 29 For cit has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also bsuffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same dconflict that eyou saw I had and now hear that I still have.
