The final battle
1 An oracle. This is the word of Yahweh concerning Israel. Word of Yahweh, who spread out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth and formed humans with inner spirit:
2 “See, I am making of Jerusalem a cup that will send the nations reeling; it will happen when Jerusalem is besieged.
3 On that day I shall make Jeru sa lem an immovable rock for all the nations around her. All the nations will be united against her and all who try to lift the rock will be badly injured.”
4 Yahweh says: “On that day I will make every horse wild with fright, every rider demented. All the horses of the nations will be blinded but I will watch over Judah
5 and the leaders of the clans of Judah will say to themselves: ‘The strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem comes from Yahweh their God.’
6 On that day I will make the leaders of the clans of Judah like a fire in a woodland and a flaming torch among the sheaves. They will de vour right and left all the nations around them, while Jerusalem will continue to hold its site.
7 Yahweh will first save the towns and villages of Judah so that David’s people and the inhabitants of Jeru salem will not feel more im portant than the rest of Judah.
8 On that day Yahweh will strength en the inhabitants of Jeru salem in such a way that the weaklings among them shall be like David and David’s people who lead them, will be like God, like an angel of Yahweh.
9 On that day I will see to the de stroying of all the nations that came against Jerusalem.
10 I will pour out on the family of David and the inhabitants of Jeru salem a spirit of love and supplication. They will look at the one who was pierced and mourn for him as for an only child, weeping bitterly as for a first born.
11 The mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Had dadrim mon in the plain of Megiddo.
12 Each family will mourn individually: the family of David by themselves and their wives separately; the family of Nathan by themselves and their wives sepa rately,
13 the family of Levi by themselves and their wives separately, the family of Shimei by themselves and their wives separately
14 and the same with the other families, each family by themselves and their wives separately.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Zechariah, Chapter 12
• 12.1 This chapter announces the tragedy which will move the Jewish people: all the nations will be opposed to them and they will be saved by God. Verses 8-11, which John will recall in John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7, show the death of Christ in a veiled way. The Jews will be converted when they see the one they have pierced. From his sacrifice the fountain mentioned in 13:1 will spring forth, a fountain of forgiveness and of holiness.
Note that Haddadrimmon was a Phoenician god; the inhabitants of the plain of Megiddo celebrated his death every year.