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10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime, and he will answer with lightning and showers. Every field will become a lush pasture. How foolish to ask the idols for anything like that! Fortune-tellers’ predictions are all a bunch of silly lies; what comfort is there in promises that don’t come true? Judah and Israel have been led astray and wander like lost sheep; everyone attacks them, for they have no shepherd to protect them.

“My anger burns against your ‘shepherds’—your leaders—and I will punish them—these goats. For the Lord Almighty has arrived to help his flock of Judah. I will make them strong and glorious like a proud steed in battle. From them will come the Cornerstone, the Peg on which all hope hangs, the Bow that wins the battle, the Ruler over all the earth.[a] They will be mighty warriors for God, grinding their enemies’ faces into the dust beneath their feet. The Lord is with them as they fight; their enemy is doomed.

“I will strengthen Judah, yes, and Israel too; I will reestablish them because I love them. It will be as though I had never cast them all away, for I, the Lord their God, will hear their cries. They shall be like mighty warriors. They shall be happy as with wine. Their children, too, shall see the mercies of the Lord and be glad. Their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord. When I whistle to them, they’ll come running, for I have bought them back again. From the few that are left, their population will grow again to former size. Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations, still they will remember me and return again to God; with all their children, they will come home again to Israel. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and Assyria and resettle them in Israel—in Gilead and Lebanon; there will scarcely be room for all of them! 11 They shall pass safely through the sea of distress,[b] for the waves will be held back. The Nile will become dry—the rule of Assyria and Egypt over my people will end.”

12 The Lord says, “I will make my people strong with power from me! They will go wherever they wish, and wherever they go they will be under my personal care.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 10:4 the Ruler over all the earth, i.e., the Messiah.
  2. Zechariah 10:11 the sea of distress, or “the Sea of Egypt,” referring to the Red Sea, which the people of Israel were miraculously brought through when God delivered them out of slavery the first time.

The Lord Will Care for Judah

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
    it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain(A) to all people,
    and plants of the field(B) to everyone.
The idols(C) speak deceitfully,
    diviners(D) see visions that lie;
they tell dreams(E) that are false,
    they give comfort in vain.(F)
Therefore the people wander like sheep
    oppressed for lack of a shepherd.(G)

“My anger burns against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;(H)
for the Lord Almighty will care
    for his flock, the people of Judah,
    and make them like a proud horse in battle.(I)
From Judah will come the cornerstone,(J)
    from him the tent peg,(K)
from him the battle bow,(L)
    from him every ruler.
Together they[a] will be like warriors in battle
    trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.(M)
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.(N)

“I will strengthen(O) Judah
    and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
    because I have compassion(P) on them.(Q)
They will be as though
    I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
    and I will answer(R) them.
The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
    and their hearts will be glad as with wine.(S)
Their children will see it and be joyful;
    their hearts will rejoice(T) in the Lord.
I will signal(U) for them
    and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
    they will be as numerous(V) as before.
Though I scatter them among the peoples,
    yet in distant lands they will remember me.(W)
They and their children will survive,
    and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria.(X)
I will bring them to Gilead(Y) and Lebanon,
    and there will not be room(Z) enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
    the surging sea will be subdued
    and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(AA)
Assyria’s pride(AB) will be brought down
    and Egypt’s scepter(AC) will pass away.(AD)
12 I will strengthen(AE) them in the Lord
    and in his name they will live securely,(AF)
declares the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / They