Zechariah 9; Zechariah 10; Zechariah 11; Zechariah 12; Revelation 20

Zechariah 9

1 A pronouncement. The LORD's word is against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place, for the city of Aram and all the tribes of Israel belong to the LORD.

2 Hamath also borders on it. Tyre and Sidon, indeed, each is exceedingly wise.

3 Tyre built a fortress for herself. She piled up silver like dust and gold like mud in the streets,

4 but the LORD will take her possessions away and knock her wealth into the sea. She will be devoured with fire.

5 Ashkelon will look and be afraid. Gaza will writhe in agony, and also Ekron, because her hope has dried up. The king will perish from Gaza; Ashkelon won't be inhabited.

6 An illegitimate child will dwell in Ashdod; I will eliminate the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will remove bloody food from his mouth and pieces of unclean food from between his teeth. He will be a survivor who belongs to our God. He will be like a chieftain in Judah; Ekron will be like a Jebusite.

8 I will encamp before my house as a guard against anyone departing or returning. A slave driver will no longer pass through against them, for I have seen you with my eyes.

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion. Sing aloud, Daughter Jerusalem. Look, your king will come to you. He is righteous and victorious. He is humble and riding on an ass, on a colt, the offspring of a donkey.

10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the warhorse from Jerusalem. The bow used in battle will be cut off; he will speak peace to the nations. His rule will stretch from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

11 Moreover, by the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

12 Return to the stronghold, prisoners of hope. Moreover, declare today that I will return double to you.

13 Indeed, I myself will bend Judah as a bow; I will fill it with Ephraim. Zion, I will rouse your sons against your sons. Greece, I will make you like a warrior's sword.

14 The LORD will appear above them; his arrow will go forth like lightning. The LORD God will blow the horn; he will march forth on the stormy winds of the south.

15 The LORD of heavenly forces will protect them. They will devour and subdue like sling stones. They will drink, mumbling like one having wine. They will be filled like a bowl, like the corners of the altar.

16 The LORD their God will deliver them on that day as the flock of his people; they will be the jewels in a crown dotting his land.

17 What is his goodness, and what is his beauty? Grain will make his young men flourish; so too wine his young women.

Zechariah 10

1 Ask the LORD for rain when it is time for the spring rain. The LORD is the one who makes the thunderstorms. He gives them rain showers. He gives vegetation in the field to each of them.

2 The household divine images speak idolatry, and diviners see lies. They interpret dreams falsely and provide empty comfort. Therefore, they wander like sheep, but they are oppressed because there is no shepherd.

3 My anger burns hot against the shepherds; I will punish the goats. The LORD of heavenly forces will take care of his splendor, the house of Judah. He will make them like his majestic horse in battle.

4 The cornerstone, the tent peg, and the bow used in battle will come from Judah. Every oppressor will leave Judah simultaneously.

5 Judah will be like warriors, trampling through the muddy streets during battle. They will do battle because the LORD is with them. All the cavalry will be ashamed.

6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I hadn't rejected them, for I am the LORD their God; I will respond to them.

7 Ephraim will be like a warrior. They will be as glad as if they were drinking wine. Their children will watch and be glad. Their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.

8 I will whistle for them and gather them, because I have ransomed them. They will be as numerous as they were previously.

9 Though I sowed them among the peoples, they will remember me in the distant places where they are living with their children until they return.

10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt; I will collect them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon until there is no more room for them.

11 They will pass through the sea of distress and strike the sea with waves. All the depths of the river will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down; the scepter of Egypt will turn away.

12 I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will walk in his name, says the LORD.

Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire will devour your cedars.

2 Scream, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; those majestic ones have been devastated. Scream, oaks of Bashan, for the deep forest has fallen.

3 The sound of screaming appears among the shepherds because their majesty has been devastated. The sound of roaring can be heard among the young lions because the pride of the Jordan has been devastated.

4 This is what the LORD my God says: Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

5 Those who buy them will kill them, but they will go unpunished. Those who sell them will say, "Blessed is the LORD, for I have become rich." And their own shepherds won't spare them.

6 In fact, I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD. But look what I am about to bring upon humanity, upon each of them by their neighbor's hand and by the hand of their king: They will beat the land to pieces, but I won't rescue anyone from their hand.

7 So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs for myself. I named one Delight; the other I named Harmony. I shepherded the flock.

8 I removed three shepherds in one month when I grew impatient with them. Moreover, they detested me.

9 Then I said, "I won't shepherd you. Let the dying die, and let what is to be removed be removed. Let those who are left devour the flesh of their neighbor."

10 Then I took the staff Delight, and I chopped it up in order to break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.

11 It was broken on that day. As a result, the afflicted of the flock knew that it was the LORD's word.

12 And I said to them, "If it appears good to you, give me my wages; but if not, then stop." So they weighed out my wages, thirty shekels of silver.

13 The LORD said to me, "Put it in the treasury. They value me at too magnificent a price." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and put them in the treasury of the LORD's house.

14 Then I chopped up my second staff Harmony, to break the alliance between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself again the equipment of a foolish shepherd,

16 because I am about to appoint a shepherd in the land. He won't tend to those who have been removed. He won't seek the young or heal the broken. He won't sustain the one standing. Instead, he will devour the flesh of the fat ones, even tearing off their hooves.

17 Doom, foolish shepherd who forsakes the flock. A sword will strike his arm and his right eye. His arm will wither completely; his right eye will become blind."

Zechariah 12

1 A pronouncement. The LORD's word against Israel, an utterance of the LORD who stretches out the heavens, who establishes the earth, and who fashions the spirit of humanity within it:

2 I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that will stagger all the surrounding nations. There will be a siege against Judah and against Jerusalem.

3 On that day I will make Jerusalem into a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who carry it will hurt themselves; nevertheless, the nations of the earth will conspire against it.

4 On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness. I will keep my eyes open for the house of Judah; I will strike blind every horse of the peoples.

5 The chieftains of Judah will say to themselves, We are strong; the inhabitants of Jerusalem will say, The LORD their God of heavenly forces is strong.

6 On that day I will place the chieftains of Judah like a pot on a wood fire and like a burning torch among the bundles of grain. They will devour all the surrounding nations to the right and the left. Jerusalem will dwell again in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 The LORD will first deliver the tents of Judah so that the splendor of David's house and the splendor of Jerusalem's inhabitants won't overshadow Judah.

8 On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Anyone among them who stumbles on that day will become like David, and David's house will become like God, like the LORD's messenger in front of them.

9 On that day I intend to destroy all the nations who come against Jerusalem,

10 but I will pour out a spirit of grace and mercy on David's house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look to me concerning the one whom they pierced; they will mourn over him like the mourning for an only child. They will mourn bitterly over him like the bitter mourning over the death of an oldest child.

11 On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the Megiddo Valley.

12 The land will mourn, each of the clans by itself: the clan of David's house by themselves, and their women by themselves; the clan of Nathan's house by themselves, and their women by themselves;

13 the clan of Levi's house by themselves, and their women by themselves; and the Shimeites' clan by themselves, and their women by themselves;

14 and all the remaining clans, each clan by itself, and their women by themselves.

Revelation 20

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain.

2 He seized the dragon, the old snake, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

3 He threw him into the abyss, then locked and sealed it over him. This was to keep him from continuing to deceive the nations until the thousand years were over. After this he must be released for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and people took their seats on them, and judgment was given in their favor. They were the ones who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and God's word, and those who hadn't worshipped the beast or its image, who hadn't received the mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and ruled with Christ for one thousand years.

5 The rest of the dead didn't come to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first resurrection.

6 Favored and holy are those who have a share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will rule with him for one thousand years.

7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.

8 He will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog. He will gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

9 They came up across the whole earth and surrounded the saints' camp, the city that God loves. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

10 Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet also were. There painful suffering will be inflicted upon them day and night, forever and always.

11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who is seated on it. Before his face both earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Another scroll was opened too; this is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged on the basis of what was written in the scrolls about what they had done.

13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and the Grave gave up the dead that were in them, and people were judged by what they had done.

14 Then Death and the Grave were thrown into the fiery lake. This, the fiery lake, is the second death.

15 Then anyone whose name wasn't found written in the scroll of life was thrown into the fiery lake.