1 The heavy burden which the LORD hath devised for Israel. Thus sayeth the LORD, which spread the heavens abroad, laid the foundation of the earth, and giveth man the breath of life,
2 "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of surfeit, unto all the people that are round about her: Yea Judah himself also shall be in the siege against Jerusalem.
3 At the same time will I make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all people, so that all such as lift it up, shall be torn and rent, and all the people of the earth shall be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, sayeth the LORD, I will make all horses abashed, and those that ride upon them to be out of their wits. I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and smite all the horses of the people with blindness.
5 And the princes of Judah shall say in their hearts, 'The inhabiters of Jerusalem shall give me consolation in the LORD of Hosts their God.'
6 In that time will I make the princes of Judah like a hot burning oven with wood, and like a cresset of fire among the straw: so that they shall consume all the people round about them, both upon the righthand and the left. Jerusalem also shall be inhabited again: namely, in the same place where Jerusalem standeth.
7 The LORD shall preserve the tents of Judah, like as afore time: so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the citizens of Jerusalem, shall be but little regarded in comparison of the glory of Judah.
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the citizens of Jerusalem: so that the weakest then among them shall be as David: and the house of David shall be like as God's house, and as the Angel of the LORD before them.
9 "At the same time will I go about to destroy all such people as come against Jerusalem.
10 Moreover, upon the house of David and upon the citizens of Jerusalem, will I pour out the spirit of grace and prayer, so that they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall beweep him, as men mourn for their only begotten son: Yea, and be sorry for him, as men are sorry for their first child
11 Then shall there be a great mourning at Jerusalem, like as the lamentation at Hadadrimmon in the field of Megiddo.
12 And the land shall bewail, every kindred by themselves: the kindred of the house of David themselves alone, and their wives by themselves;
13 The kindred of the house of Nathan themselves alone, and their wives by themselves; The kindred of the house of Levi themselves alone, and their wives by themselves; The kindred of the house of Shimei themselves alone, and their wives by themselves.
14 In like manner, all the other generations, everyone by themselves alone, and there wives by themselves.