The Destroyers of Jerusalem Destroyed 1 UST Pay attention! Yahweh has appointed a time when enemies will plunder the city of Jerusalem, deciding who will take what valuables while they are still in the city where you have to watch them. BSB BSB: Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
2 UST Yahweh will gather the armies of all the nations to come and fight against Jerusalem. Those armies will capture the city, ransack the houses, and rape the women. Half of the people who live there they will take away to other lands as captives, but they will not remove the rest of the people from the city. BSB BSB: For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
3 UST Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, just as he fought his enemies in battles long ago. BSB BSB: Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
4 UST On that day, Yahweh himself will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is east of Jerusalem. He will split the Mount of Olives in two from east to west, and a very large valley will open up between the two parts. Half of the mountain will move away toward the north, and half of it will move away toward the south. BSB BSB: On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south.
6 UST At that time, there will be no daylight; the bright lights in the sky will grow dim. BSB BSB: On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.
7 UST That will be a unique day, and only Yahweh knows when it will happen. It will not follow the normal cycle of day and night. Even in the evening, when it is usually dark, there will still be light. BSB BSB: It will be a unique day known only to the LORD, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.
8 UST At that time, fresh water will flow out from Jerusalem. Half of it will flow east to the Salt Sea, and half of it will flow west to the Great Sea. The water will keep flowing throughout the whole year. BSB BSB: And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.
9 UST Then Yahweh will rule as king over the whole earth. At that time, people everywhere will worship Yahweh alone, and they will honor him alone as God. BSB BSB: On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.
10 UST The whole land from Geba in the north to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become a flat plain. But Jerusalem will rise up high and will remain where it has always stood. The city will stretch from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the First Gate, on to the Gate of the Corners, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. BSB BSB: All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem will be turned into a plain, but Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain in her place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.
11 UST People will live in Jerusalem, and enemies will never again completely destroy it. The people who live in Jerusalem will always be safe. BSB BSB: People will live there, and never again will there be an utter destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell securely.
12 UST Yahweh will cause all the nations who fought against Jerusalem to have these terrible diseases. Their flesh will rot away while they are still alive and standing. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. BSB BSB: And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
13 UST At that time, Yahweh will cause those people to panic completely. They will grab one another by the hand, and they will attack each other. BSB BSB: On that day a great panic from the LORD will come upon them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other.
14 UST The people of Judah will also fight with Jerusalem. They will gather the wealth of all the surrounding nations— huge amounts of gold, silver, and clothing. BSB BSB: Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
15 UST The horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the camps of those enemies will suffer from that same disease. BSB BSB: And a similar plague will strike the horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
All Nations Will Worship the King (Leviticus 23:33–44; Nehemiah 8:13–18)
16 UST Then everyone who survives from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go up to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters, when the people live in temporary shelters. BSB BSB: Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 UST If any of the people groups on the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, then Yahweh will not send any rain on their land{, and their crops will fail}. BSB BSB: And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.
18 UST If the people of Egypt do not go up to Jerusalem to worship there, Yahweh will not judge them the same way.{ Since they depend on the Nile River rather than on rain, Yahweh will} cause them to have the same diseases experienced by all the other nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. BSB BSB: And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
19 UST That is how Yahweh will punish the people of Egypt and the people of every other nation that does not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. BSB BSB: This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
20 UST At that time, someone will engrave the words“Sacred to Yahweh” on the bells that hang on the horses. People will consider the cooking pots in the temple of Yahweh to be just as sacred as the bowls that the priests use in front of the altar. BSB BSB: On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar.
21 UST Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be sacred to Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies. Everyone who comes to offer sacrifices will take some of those pots and boil the meat of their sacrifices in them. At that time, there will no longer be any merchant selling goods in the temple of Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies. BSB BSB: Indeed, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take some pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Hosts.