Zechariah 12

The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

1This is a heavy message from the LORD about Israel. The LORD spreads out the heavens and sets the earth in place. He also makes the spirit inside each person.

NoteIn old English, a "burden" here means a heavy message from God, not a load someone carries.

2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

2The LORD says, "Look, I will make Jerusalem like a cup of strong wine. The nations all around will drink it and stagger. Armies will surround Judah and Jerusalem too."

NoteA "cup of trembling" is a cup of strong wine. People who drink it wobble and fall down.

3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

3On that day I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all nations. Everyone who tries to lift it away will get badly hurt. Even if every nation on earth comes against her, this will happen.

4In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.

4On that day, says the LORD, I will make every warhorse panic. I will make every rider lose his mind. I will keep a careful, kind watch over the people of Judah. But I will make the enemy horses blind.

5And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

5Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, "The people of Jerusalem are my strength. Their strength comes from the LORD of Hosts, the God who leads heaven's armies."

6In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

6On that day I will make Judah's leaders like a pot of hot coals in a woodpile. They will be like a burning torch among dry stalks of grain. They will burn up the nations around them, on the right and the left. But the people of Jerusalem will stay safe in their own city.

7The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

7The LORD will rescue the people living in Judah's tents first. Then the family of King David and the people of Jerusalem will not seem greater than the rest of Judah.

8In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.

8On that day the LORD will guard the people of Jerusalem. The weakest person among them will be strong like King David. And David's family will be like God to them. They will be like the angel of the LORD going ahead of them.

9And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

9On that day I will set out to destroy every nation that attacks Jerusalem.

10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

10I will pour out on David's family and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of kindness that makes them pray. They will look at me, the one they pierced. They will cry for him the way a parent cries for an only child. They will hurt inside for him the way a parent hurts for a first son.

11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

11On that day the people in Jerusalem will cry very loudly. It will be like the great crying at Hadad-rimmon, on the plain of Megiddo.

NoteHadad-rimmon, near Megiddo, was a place people remembered for very loud crying over a death.

12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

12Everyone in the land will mourn, each family by itself. David's family will mourn alone, and their wives alone. Nathan's family will mourn alone, and their wives alone.

13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

13Levi's family will mourn alone, and their wives alone. Shimei's family will mourn alone, and their wives alone.

14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

14All the families that are left will mourn alone too, and their wives alone.