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

1 An Oracle The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place- for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord -

2 and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.

3 Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust and gold like the dirt of the streets.

4 Listen! The Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea; she herself will be consumed by fire.

5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain, as will Ekron, for her hope will fail. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.

6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will remove the blood from their mouths and the detestable things from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah and Ekron like the Jebusites.

8 I will set up camp at My house against an army, against those who march back and forth, and no oppressor will march against them again, for now I have seen with My own eyes.

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

11 As for you, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless cistern.

12 Return to a stronghold, you prisoners who have hope; today I declare that I will restore double to you.

13 For I will bend Judah [as My bow]; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior's sword.

14 Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will fly like lightning. The Lord God will sound the trumpet and advance with the southern storms.

15 The Lord of Hosts will defend them. They will consume and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine. They will be as full as the sprinkling basin, like [those] at the corners of the altar.

16 The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of His people; for they are like jewels in a crown, sparkling over His land.

17 How lovely and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

1 Ask the Lord for rain in the season of spring rain. The Lord makes the rain clouds, and He will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.

2 For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore [the people] wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

3 My anger burns against the shepherds, so I will punish the leaders. For the Lord of Hosts has tended His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.

4 From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the battle bow, from them every ruler. Together

5 they will be like warriors in battle trampling down the mud of the streets. They will fight because the Lord is with them, and they will put horsemen to shame.

6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had never rejected them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.

7 Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will be glad as if with wine. Their children will see it and be glad; their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

8 I will whistle and gather them because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they once were.

9 Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember Me in the distant lands; they and their children will live and return.

10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them.

11 He will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

12 I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they will march in His name- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. Yahweh's declaration.

1 Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars.

2 Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the glorious [trees] are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the stately forest has fallen!

3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roar of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

4 The Lord my God says this: "Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

5 Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

6 Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land"-the Lord's declaration. "Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver [it] from them."

7 So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.

8 In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.

9 Then I said, "I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is going astray go astray; let the rest devour each other's flesh."

10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples.

11 It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

12 Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep [them]." So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.

13 "Throw it to the potter," the Lord said to me-this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter.

14 Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 The Lord also said to me: "Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat [sheep] and tear off their hooves.

17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind!"

1 An Oracle The word of the Lord concerning Israel. A declaration of the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him.

2 "Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.

3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.

4 On that day"-the Lord's declaration-"I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness.

5 Then [each of] the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God.

6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem.

7 The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David's house and the glory of Jerusalem's residents may not be greater than that of Judah.

8 On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the one who is 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 set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 "Then I will pour out a spiritof grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.

11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

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

13 the family of Levi's house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself and their women by themselves;

14 all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

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

2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years.

3 He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the 1,000 years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

4 Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. [I] also [saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God's word, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for 1,000 years.

5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over these, but they will be priests of God and the Messiah, and they will reign with Him for 1,000 years.

7 When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison

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

9 They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

10 The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

11 Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.

12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

13 Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works.

14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

15 And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.