Episode 231: The day of the Lord

Zechariah 9-14

A bastard will live in Ashdod

9 ¹ This is the burden of the word of God.

^3-4 God will cast out and burn Tyrus.

⁶ A bastard will live in Ashdod.

⁷ I [God] will take blood out of his mouth, and abominations from between his teeth.

⁸ No oppressor will come near because I will see them with my own eyes.

A king will ride on a donkey

⁹ Be glad and shout, people of Jerusalem, because your king comes to you, humble and riding on a young donkey.

¹⁰ He will rule over the whole world.

¹⁴ God will be seen over them, and his arrow will fly like lightning.

He will blow a trumpet and go with whirlwinds to the south.

¹⁵ God will defend the people, who will drink wine and make noise.

¹⁷ Wine will make the young women cheerful.

God will his for them

10 ¹ Ask God for rain in the time of the latter rain.

² The people wander without a shepherd.

³ I was angry with the shepherds, and I punished the goats.

⁵ They will kill their enemies, because God is with them.

⁸ I [God] will hiss for them.

Feed the flock of slaughter

11 ¹ Open your doors, Lebanon, so fire can burn your cedar trees.

² Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen!

Howl, oaks, because the forest is destroyed!

³ The shepherds and lions are howling because the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

⁴ This is what God says,

Feed the flock of the slaughter.

⁶ I won't pity the inhabitants of the land.

I'll force neighbors to kill their neighbors.

Two sticks: Beauty and Bands

⁷ I will feed the flock of slaughter.

So I took two sticks, one I called "Beauty" and the other I called "Bands".

Let everyone eat the flesh of another.

⁸ I cut off three shepherds in one month, because I hate them, and they hate me.

⁹ Then I said,

Whatever is dying, let it die.

Let everyone eat the flesh of another.

¹⁰ I took my staff, which I called "Beauty", and broke it in two pieces.

Thirty pieces of silver

¹² And I said to the people, "How much will you pay for this?"

They paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ God said to me, "Give the money to the potter."

So I gave it to the potter in God's house.

¹⁴ Then I broke my other stick, that I called "Bands", breaking the bond between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ God said to me,

¹⁶ I'll appoint a shepherd who will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws to pieces.

¹⁷ Woe to the lazy shepherd! His arm will dry up, and his right eye will be darkened.

Mad riders on blind horses

12 ¹ The burden of word of God, who stretched out the sky and laid the foundations of the earth.

³ Whoever attacks Jerusalem will be cut in pieces, even though all the people on earth are gathered against it.

⁴ In that day, I'll smite every horse with blindness, and its rider with madness.

⁶ I'll make Judah devour the people around them.

⁹ I'll try to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

¹⁰ And they will look upon the one whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as though he were their only son.

Parents will kill their child prophets

13 ² In that day, I'll make the prophets and unclean spirits leave the land.

³ And when a prophet prophesies, his parents will say to him,

You will die for speaking lies in God's name.

And they will kill him with a sword.

⁴ And prophets will be ashamed of their visions

God will kill two-thirds of the people and burn the rest

⁷ God will kill the shepherd, scatter the sheep, and kill the little ones.

⁸ I'll kill two-thirds of the people, but I'll leave one-third alive.

⁹ I'll refine the remaining third by burning them with fire.

The day of the Lord

14 ¹ The day of Lord is coming.

² I [God] gather all nations to go to war against Jerusalem.

The city will be taken, the women raped, and half of the city enslaved.

³ Then God will fight against the nations that he gathered to attack Jerusalem

⁴ God's feet will stand on the mount of Olives.

⁵ And the mountain will split in two, with half going north and half going south.

⁷ On that day, the day won't be day or night. But the evening will be light.

⁸ Water will flow from Jerusalem, some toward the former sea, and some toward the hinder sea.

⁹ And God will be king of the earth.

Their flesh, eyes, and tongues will rot away

¹² God will smite the people who fought against Jerusalem with a plague. Their flesh will rot away while they are standing, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and tongues will rot in their mouths.

¹³ Neighbors will kill neighbors.

¹⁵ There will also be a plague on all the beasts.

¹⁶ The survivors of the nations that attacked Jerusalem will come worship God in Jerusalem.

^17-18 Those who refuse to worship God, will have no more rain, and will suffer the plague that God will send on the heathen.

²⁰ On that day, there will be bells on the horses that say, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.

²¹ Every pot will be holiness to the Lord.

And all the Canaanites will be removed from God's house.