Bible / Zechariah (Douay: Zacharias)

Zechariah (Douay: Zacharias) 12

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 A revelation of the LORD’s word concerning Israel: The LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.

3 It will happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.

4 In that day,” says the LORD, “I will strike every horse with terror and his rider with madness. I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

5 The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of Armies their God.’

6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.

8 In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like the LORD’s angel before them.

9 It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 I will pour on David’s house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. They will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for his firstborn.

11 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

12 The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

14 all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.

  1. Zechariah (Douay: Zacharias) 12:3 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “The glory which our fathers blessed, has for us been turned into shame.”

      Quoted in First Apology, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 155), Chapter LII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Zechariah (Douay: Zacharias) 12:10 in modern BiblesCCC 1432 CCC 2561
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1432 “The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of…”
    • CCC 2561 “You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to…”
    • “For some of them, beholding Him in glory, saw His glorious life (conversationem) at the Father's right hand; others beheld Him coming on the clouds as the Son of man; and those who declared regarding Him, "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  3. Zechariah (Douay: Zacharias) 12:12 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “Hence also the Scripture said, His name shall rise up above the sun.' And again, Zechariah says, His name is the East.' And speaking of the same, he says that each tribe shall mourn.”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1