Daily Text and Bible Reading: Monday, October 13 [Press play below]

Chapter 12

12.1 A pronouncement: “The word of Jehovah concerning Israel,” declares Jehovah, The One who stretched out the heavens, Who laid the foundation of the earth, And who formed the spirit of man within him.

12.2 “Here I am making Jerusalem a cup that causes all the surrounding peoples to stagger; and there will be a siege against Judah as well as against Jerusalem.

12.3 In that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone to all the peoples. All those who lift it are sure to be severely injured; and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against her.

12.4 In that day,” declares Jehovah, “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.

12.5 And the sheikhs of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strength to me by means of Jehovah of armies their God.’

12.6 In that day I will make the sheikhs of Judah like a fiery pot among wood and like a fiery torch in a row of cut grain, and they will consume all the surrounding peoples on the right and on the left; and Jerusalem will again be inhabited in her place, in Jerusalem.

12.7 “And Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first, so that the beauty of the house of David and the beauty of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be too great over Judah.

12.8 In that day Jehovah will be a defense around the inhabitants of Jerusalem; in that day the one who stumbles among them will be like David, and the house of David like God, like Jehovah’s angel who goes before them.

12.9 And in that day I will be certain to annihilate all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

12.10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of favor and supplication, and they will look to the one whom they pierced, and they will wail over him as they would wail over an only son; and they will grieve bitterly over him as they would grieve over a firstborn son.

12.11 In that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be great, like the wailing at Hadadrimmon in the Plain of Megiddo.

12.12 And the land will wail, each family by itself; the family of David’s house by itself, and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s house by itself, and their women by themselves;

12.13 the family of Levi’s house by itself, and their women by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their women by themselves;

12.14 and all the families that are left remaining, each family by itself, and their women by themselves.

Chapter 13

13.1 “In that day a well will be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for cleansing sin and impurity.

13.2 “In that day,” declares Jehovah of armies, “I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will rid the land of the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.

13.3 And if a man should prophesy again, his father and his mother who caused his birth will say to him, ‘You will not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of Jehovah.’ And his father and his mother who caused his birth will pierce him through because of his prophesying.

13.4 “In that day each of the prophets will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; and they will not wear an official garment of hair in order to deceive.

13.5 And he will say, ‘I am no prophet. I am a man cultivating the soil, because a man bought me when I was young.’

13.6 And if someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds between your shoulders?’ he will answer, ‘Wounds I received in the house of my friends.’”

13.7 “O sword, awake against my shepherd, Against the man who is my companion,” declares Jehovah of armies. “Strike the shepherd, and let the flock be scattered; And I will turn my hand against those who are insignificant.”

13.8 “And in all the land,” declares Jehovah, “Two parts in it will be cut off and perish; And the third part will be left remaining in it.

13.9 And I will bring the third part through the fire; And I will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people,’ And they will say, ‘Jehovah is our God.’”

Chapter 14

14.1 “Look! The day is coming, a day belonging to Jehovah, when the spoil from you will be divided in your midst.

14.2 I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for the war; and the city will be captured and the houses plundered and the women raped. And half of the city will go into exile, but the remaining ones of the people will not be cut off from the city.

14.3 “Jehovah will go out and war against those nations as when he fights in the day of a battle.

14.4 In that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half, from east to west, forming a very great valley; and half of the mountain will move to the north, and half of it to the south.

14.5 You will flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will extend all the way to Azel. You will have to flee, just as you fled because of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Jehovah my God will come, and all the holy ones will be with him.

14.6 “In that day there will be no precious light—things will be congealed.

14.7 And it will become one day that is known as belonging to Jehovah. It will not be day, nor will it be night; and at evening time there will be light.

14.8 In that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea. It will happen in summer and in winter.

14.9 And Jehovah will be King over all the earth. In that day Jehovah will be one, and his name one.

14.10 “The whole land will become like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will rise and be inhabited in her place, from the Gate of Benjamin all the way to the site of the First Gate, all the way to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel all the way to the winepresses of the king.

14.11 And people will inhabit her; and there will never again be a curse of destruction, and Jerusalem will be inhabited in security.

14.12 “And this is the scourge with which Jehovah will scourge all the peoples who wage war against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot away while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot away in their sockets, and their tongues will rot away in their mouths.

14.13 “In that day confusion from Jehovah will be widespread among them; and each one will grab hold of the hand of his companion, and his hand will come against the hand of his companion.

14.14 Judah will also be involved in the war at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in vast quantity.

14.15 “And a scourge like that scourge will also come against the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and all the livestock that are in those camps.

14.16 “Everyone who is left remaining out of all the nations that come against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to bow down to the King, Jehovah of armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

14.17 But if anyone among the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to bow down to the King, Jehovah of armies, no rain will fall on them.

14.18 And if the family of Egypt does not come up and does not come in, they will have no rain. Instead, they will have the scourge with which Jehovah scourges the nations that do not come up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

14.19 This will be the punishment for the sin of Egypt and the sin of all the nations that do not come up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

14.20 “In that day the words ‘Holiness belongs to Jehovah!’ will be written on the bells of the horses. And the cooking pots in the house of Jehovah will be like the bowls before the altar.

14.21 And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy and will belong to Jehovah of armies, and all those who are sacrificing will come in and use some of them for boiling. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of armies.”