Zechariah 9-11

Darby Translation

9 The burden of the word of Jehovah, in the land of Hadrach, and [on] Damascus shall it rest; (for Jehovah hath an eye upon men, and upon all the tribes of Israel;)

² and also [on] Hamath [which] bordereth thereon; on Tyre and Zidon, though she be very wise.

³ And Tyre hath built herself a stronghold, and hath heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

⁴ Behold, the Lord will take possession of her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

⁵ Ashkelon shall see [it], and fear; Gazah also, and she shall be greatly pained; Ekron also, for her expectation shall be put to shame: and the king shall perish from Gazah, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

⁶ And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines;

⁷ and I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; but he that remaineth, he also shall belong to our God, and shall be as a leader in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

⁸ And I will encamp about my house because of the army, because of those that pass by and that return; and the exactor shall not pass through them any more: for now have I seen [it] with mine eyes.

⁹ Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh to thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly and rIding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.

¹⁰ And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle-bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace unto the nations; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

¹¹ As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

¹² Turn again to the stronghold, prisoners of hope! even to-day do I declare I will render double unto thee.

¹³ For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will raise up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and make thee like the sword of a mighty man.

¹⁴ And Jehovah shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpet, and will march with whirlwinds of the south.

¹⁵ Jehovah of hosts will defend them; and they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling-stones; and they shall drink, [and] make a noise as from wine; and they shall be filled like a bowl, like the corners of the altar.

¹⁶ And Jehovah their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people; for [they shall be as] the stones of a crown, lifted up upon his land.

¹⁷ For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.

10 Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah will make lightnings, and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

² For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams: they comfort in vain. Therefore they have gone away as a flock, they are in distress, because there is no shepherd.

³ Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts visiteth his flock, the house of Judah, and maketh them as his majestic horse in the battle.

⁴ From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every exactor together.

⁵ And they shall be as mighty men, treading down the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight, for Jehovah is with them, and the riders on horses shall be put to shame.

⁶ And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back again; for I will have mercy upon them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Jehovah their God, and I will answer them.

⁷ And [they of] Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their hearts shall rejoice as through wine; and their children shall see [it], and rejoice; their heart shall be joyful in Jehovah.

⁸ I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall multiply as they used to multiply.

⁹ And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children and return.

¹⁰ And I will bring them again out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and [place] shall not be found for them.

¹¹ And he shall pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the billows in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

¹² And I will strengthen them in Jehovah; and they shall walk in his name, saith Jehovah.

11 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

² Howl, cypress, for the cedar is fallen; because the noble ones are spoiled. Howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the strong forest is come down.

³ A voice of howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

⁴ Thus saith Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter,

⁵ whose possessors slay them without being held guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah! for I am become rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.

⁶ For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah, and behold, I will deliver men, every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and I will not deliver out of their hand.

⁷ So I fed the flock of slaughter, truly the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

⁸ And I destroyed three shepherds in one month; and my soul was vexed with them, and their soul also loathed me.

⁹ And I said, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which perisheth let it perish; and let them which are left eat every one the flesh of another.

¹⁰ And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

¹¹ And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock that gave heed to me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.

¹² And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my hire; and if not, forbear. And they weighed for my hire thirty silver-pieces.

¹³ And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty silver-pieces, and cast them to the potter in the house of Jehovah.

¹⁴ And I cut asunder mine other staff, Bands, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶ For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit those that are about to perish, neither shall seek that which is strayed away, nor heal that which is wounded, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their hoofs in pieces.

¹⁷ Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye utterly darkened.