The LORD will Deliver Jerusalem

1A declaration: a message from the LORD to Israel. “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who frames the spirit of man within himself, declares, 2‘Look, I am making Jerusalem an unstable cupa toward all of its surrounding armies when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3It will come about at that timeb that I will make Jerusalem a heavy weight; so everyone who burdens themselves with it will be crushed,c even though all of the nations of the earth gather themselves against it. 4At that time,’d declares the LORD, ‘I will strike every horse with panic and every rider with insanity. I will keep my eyes on the house of Judah, but I will blind every horse of the invadinge armies. 5The leaders of Judah will say to themselves, “Those who live in Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, their God.” 6‘At that time,f I will make the leaders of Judah like a brazier filled with blazing wood, or like a torch setting fire to harvested grain. They will devour all the invadingg armies, both on the right hand and on the left. As a result, Jerusalem will again be inhabited in its rightful place—as the realh Jerusalem.’”

7The LORD will deliver the tents of Judah first, so that neither the glory of the housei of David nor the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem overshadows Judah. 8At that time,j the LORD will defend those who live in Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them at that time will be like David. The entire house of David will be like God—indeed, like the angel of the LORD in their midst!

9“‘At that time,k I will search out and destroy all of the nations who have come against Jerusalem. 10I will pour out on the house of David and on the residents of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications, and they will look to me—the one whom they pierced.’”l

Mourning in Jerusalem

Then they will mourn for him, as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him, as for a firstborn son. 11At that time,m Jerusalem will mourn deeply, like the mourning about Hadad-rimmonn that took place in the plain of Megiddo. 12And so the land will mourn, families by families, alone by themselves—the family of the house of David by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself with their wives by themselves, 13the family of the house of Levi by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of Shimei by itself with their wives by themselves— 14all of the surviving families by themselves, along with their wives by themselves.