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.

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.