The Coming Deliverance of Jerusalem 1 UST This is a message that Yahweh gave concerning Israel. Yahweh, the one who created the sky, who formed the earth, and who breathed life into humanity, solemnly declares this: BSB BSB: This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
2 UST “Listen! I am about to cause the city of Jerusalem to be like an intoxicating drink that makes all the nations around it stagger helplessly when their armies besiege Jerusalem and the region of Judah. BSB BSB: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem.
3 UST Then every nation on earth will come to attack Jerusalem, but I will make it like a solid rock that will badly hurt everyone that comes to attack it. BSB BSB: On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured.
4 UST This is what I, Yahweh, declare: On that day I will cause all the horses of the enemy armies to panic and all their riders to go insane. I will watch over the people of Judah and protect them, but I will cause all the horses of those enemy nations to go blind. BSB BSB: On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike with blindness all the horses of the nations.
5 UST Then the leaders of the clans of Judah will say to themselves that the people who live in Jerusalem are strong because Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, is their God. BSB BSB: Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts: ‘The people of Jerusalem are my strength, for the LORD of Hosts is their God.’
6 UST On that day I will make the leaders of the clans of Judah able to destroy their enemies completely and quickly. They will defeat all the surrounding peoples on every side of them, and the people of Jerusalem will live safely in their own city again.” BSB BSB: On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and on the left, while the people of Jerusalem remain secure there.
7 UST Yahweh will first rescue the people who live in the villages of Judah, so that the descendants of King David and the people who live in Jerusalem will not consider themselves more important than the rest of the people of Judah. BSB BSB: The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.
8 UST On that day Yahweh will protect the people who live in Jerusalem. Then even the weakest person among them will fight as powerfully as King David{, the great warrior,} once did. God will give the descendants of King David such great power that{ as they lead the people,} it will seem as though Yahweh’s own angel is going ahead of them. BSB BSB: On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going before them.
9 UST “At that time, I will set out to destroy all the nations that come to attack Jerusalem. BSB BSB: So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Mourning the One They Pierced (John 19:31–37)
10 UST I will act very kindly toward the descendants of King David and the people who live in Jerusalem, and I will cause them to plead with me for mercy. They will look to me, the one whom they pierced, and they will mourn for me as strongly as parents mourn for an only son who has died. They will weep many tears for me, as many tears as people weep when a firstborn son dies.” BSB BSB: Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
11 UST On that day the people in Jerusalem will mourn very loudly. They will mourn as loudly as the people did at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo{, where they grieved for King Josiah after he died in battle}. BSB BSB: On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
12 UST All the people in the land will mourn, each clan by itself. The clan descended from King David will mourn by itself, and their wives will mourn by themselves. The clan descended from Nathan,{ King David’s son,} will mourn by itself, and their wives will mourn by themselves. BSB BSB: The land will mourn, each clan on its own: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives,
13 UST The clan descended from Levi will mourn by itself, and their wives will mourn by themselves. The clan descended from Shimei will mourn by itself, and their wives will mourn by themselves. BSB BSB: the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives,
14 UST All the clans that remain will each mourn by itself, and their wives will mourn by themselves. BSB BSB: and all the remaining clans and their wives.