---
title: Zechariah 12:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/zechariah-12-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/zechariah-12-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Zechariah 12:1
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Zechariah 12:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel.  Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "A pronouncement: 'The word of Jehovah concerning Israel,' declares Jehovah, The One who stretched out the heavens, Who laid the foundation of the earth, And who formed the spirit of man within him."

## JW Usage

JWs read Zechariah 12 as a Jehovah-only chapter — the speaker throughout is Jehovah, the creator who stretches out the heavens. They use it to affirm Jehovah's unique creator-identity but do not connect that speaker to the pierced one of verse 10.

## Protestant Usage

Zechariah 12:1 establishes the speaker for the entire oracle: Jehovah, the One who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth. This speaker-identification is decisive for verse 10 — when the same Jehovah says "they will look to the one whom they pierced", the pierced one is the same Jehovah who created the heavens. Lock down who is talking before reading what he says.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [When Was Jehovah Pierced?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/zechariah12-pierced-yahweh.md) — Zechariah 12:10 / John 19:37 / Revelation 1:7 [Deity of Christ]