12:1 The burden of the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) for Yisrael, saith YHWH (יהוה), which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the yesod (foundation) of the eretz, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
12:2 Hinnei, I will make Yerushalayim a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Yehudah [and] against Yerushalayim.
12:3 And B'Yom ha Hu will I make Yerushalayim a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the eretz be gathered together against it.
12:4 B'Yom ha Hu, saith YHWH (יהוה), I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Yehudah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
12:5 And the governors of Yehudah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Yerushalayim [shall be] my strength in YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot their Elohim (אלהים).
12:6 B'Yom ha Hu will I make the governors of Yehudah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Yerushalayim shall be inhabited again in her own place, [even] in Yerushalayim.
12:7 YHWH (יהוה) also shall save the tents of Yehudah first, that the kavod of the house of David and the kavod of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim do not magnify [themselves] against Yehudah.
12:8 B'Yom ha Hu shall YHWH (יהוה) defend the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David [shall be] as Elohim (אלהים), as the messenger of YHWH (יהוה) before them.
12:9 And it shall come to pass B'Yom ha Hu, [that] I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Yerushalayim.
12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
12:11 B'Yom ha Hu shall there be a great mourning in Yerushalayim, as the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12:12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Natan apart, and their wives apart;
12:13 The family of the house of apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
12:14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart[Zech. 12:12]....What is the cause of the mourning? -- R. Dosa and the Rabbis differ on the point. One explained. The cause is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, and the other explained, The cause is the slaying of the Evil Inclination.
It is well with him who explains that the cause is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, since that well agrees with the Scriptural verse, And they shall look upon me because they have thrust him through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son; but according to him who explains the cause to be the slaying of the Evil Inclination, is this an occasion for mourning? Is it not rather an occasion for rejoicing? Why then should they weep?