The Father Shields Jerusalem
12 1 A prophetic burden: the word of our Father concerning Israel. This is the declaration of our Father, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit within a person:
2 Look, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling; and Judah too will be caught up in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will be badly hurt, and all the nations of the earth will gather against her. 4 On that day, declares our Father, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will keep my eyes on the house of Judah, but I will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem are strong, for their strength is in their Father, the Father of heaven's armies."
6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing firepot among the wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the surrounding peoples on the right and on the left, while Jerusalem remains secure in her own place.
7 Our Father will save the villages of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of those who live in Jerusalem may not be exalted above Judah. 8 On that day our Father will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like him, like the messenger of our Father going before them. 9 And on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Looking on the One They Pierced
10 And I will pour out on the house of David and on those who live in Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of pleas for mercy, so that they will look on me — on Jesus, whom they have pierced — and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly over him as one grieves over a firstborn. a a v10 Here our Father points to his Son: the One pierced is Jesus. The Gospel of John sees this verse fulfilled at the cross, and Revelation echoes it — those who once rejected him will one day look on him and mourn, and find the way home.
11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. b b v11 Megiddo was the great battle-plain of Israel, remembered for deep national mourning — a byword for the most bitter grief a people could know. 12 The land will mourn, each family on its own: the family of the house of David on its own and their wives on their own; the family of the house of Nathan on its own and their wives on their own; 13 the family of the house of Levi on its own and their wives on their own; the family of the Shimeites on its own and their wives on their own; 14 and all the remaining families, each family on its own, and their wives on their own.