New Living Translation
Zechariah • Chapter 10
1
Ask the LORD for rain in the spring,<br>for he makes the storm clouds.<br>And he will send showers of rain<br>so every field becomes a lush pasture.<br>
2
Household gods give worthless advice,<br>fortune-tellers predict only lies,<br>and interpreters of dreams pronounce<br>falsehoods that give no comfort.<br>So my people are wandering like lost sheep;<br>they are attacked because they have no shepherd.<br>
3
“My anger burns against your shepherds,<br>and I will punish these leaders.<br>For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has arrived<br>to look after Judah, his flock.<br>He will make them strong and glorious,<br>like a proud warhorse in battle.<br>
4
From Judah will come the cornerstone,<br>the tent peg,<br>the bow for battle,<br>and all the rulers.<br>
5
They will be like mighty warriors in battle,<br>trampling their enemies in the mud under their feet.<br>Since the LORD is with them as they fight,<br>they will overthrow even the enemy’s horsemen.<br>
6
“I will strengthen Judah and save Israel ;<br>I will restore them because of my compassion.<br>It will be as though I had never rejected them,<br>for I am the LORD their God (Elohim), who will hear their cries.<br>
7
The people of Israel will become like mighty warriors,<br>and their hearts will be made happy as if by wine.<br>Their children, too, will see it and be glad;<br>their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.<br>
8
When I whistle to them, they will come running,<br>for I have redeemed them.<br>From the few who are left,<br>they will grow as numerous as they were before.<br>
9
Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations,<br>they will still remember me in distant lands.<br>They and their children will survive<br>and return again to Israel.<br>
10
I will bring them back from Egypt<br>and gather them from Assyria.<br>I will resettle them in Gilead and Lebanon<br>until there is no more room for them all.<br>
11
They will pass safely through the sea of distress,<br>for the waves of the sea will be held back,<br>and the waters of the Nile will dry up.<br>The pride of Assyria will be crushed,<br>and the rule of Egypt will end.<br>
12
By my power I will make my people strong,<br>and by my authority they will go wherever they wish.<br>I, the LORD, have spoken!”<br>