Jerusalem to Be Attacked

1The [a]oracle (a burdensome message) of the word of the LORD concerning Israel.

Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him: 2“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling (staggering) to all the surrounding peoples; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3And in that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will come and be gathered against it. 4In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with panic and his rider with madness; but I will open My eyes and watch over the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the [opposing] nations with blindness. 5Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are our strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’

6“In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, and like a flaming torch among sheaves [of grain]. They will devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left; and the people of Jerusalem will again live [securely] in their own place, in Jerusalem. 7The LORD shall save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. 8In that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem, and the one who is impaired among them in that day [of persecution] will become [strong and noble] like David; and the house of David [b]will be like God, like the [c]Angel of the LORD [who is] before them. 9And in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10“I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace (unmerited favor) and supplication. And they will look at Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him as one who weeps bitterly over a firstborn. 11In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of [d]Megiddo [over beloved King [e]Josiah]. 12The land will mourn, every family by itself; the [royal] family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan [David’s son] by itself and their wives by themselves; 13the [priestly] family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei [grandson of Levi] by itself and their wives by themselves; 14all the families that remain, each by itself, and their wives by themselves [each with an overwhelming individual regret for having blindly rejected their Messiah].

[a] 1 See note 9:1.
[b] 8 I.e. maintain its supremacy.
[c] 8 See Ex 14:19; 23:20; 32:34; 33:2, 14, 15, 22; Hos 12:3, 4.
[d] 11 Heb Megiddon.
[e] 11 King Josiah was mortally wounded at the age of thirty-nine, and his death sparked an extraordinarily deep sense of grief among the people. That same kind of deep grief will characterize the mourning of Israel when they recognize their once-crucified Messiah who has come to reign.