Well, not really. Even without looking at the original Hebrew, it should be apparent that this text in no way refers to Jesus. For starters, the context of the prophecy is a description of events in the last days, right before the coming of the Messiah. How could the latter-day inhabitants of Jerusalem possibly be guilty for an event that happened nearly two thousand years ago? Furthermore, Jesus was pierced not by the Jews, but by Roman soldiers. (Error on both of these points has led to unspeakable persecution of the Jews by the Church.) And what of the passage, "...and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one is in bitterness for his firstborn"? One mourns for his only son and is in bitterness for his firstborn by grieving over the fact that his firstborn son is no longer in the world. If the Christians are right, and the Jews depicted here are witnessing the second coming of Jesus ("they shall *look* upon me etc."), then why would the Jews be mourning in this fashion? I might expect to see remorse over their rejection of the Messiah, but not the kind of grief one feels at the death of a loved one. Additionally, this would seem a rather cavalier way to introduce G-d's death, as even the Christians aren't claiming that G-d's death is foretold elsewhere.

It should also be apparent from the text that it is being mistranslated. "They shall look upon *me* whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for *him*"? This odd phrasing always bothered me when I was a Messianic Jew, and I wondered what it could mean. In Hebrew, this part of the verse reads, "v'hibitu eilei eit asher dakaru" - "and they shall look to me because of the one who was pierced". This ties in with the Talmudic prophecy that, in the last days, Israel's sufferings as described in Isaiah 53 will be epitomized in a man called Moshiach ben Yosef, the anointed one of the tribe of Joseph. This person will be martyred for his faith; upon seeing him dead, the Jewish people will be spurred to repentance and such great observance of Torah that their combined righteousness will force the coming of the Messiah.

1. Mourning for the pierced One, "Yeshua":

         a. It all begins with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit; bringing grace and
             repentant prayer to the Jews.
         b. Notice who the pierced One is: Yahweh Himself, showing powerfully that
             "Jesus is Yahweh".

       i. Christ was pierced: His head with thorns, hands and feet with nails, and
          His side by the Roman spear.
      ii. Paul catches some of this mystery when He insists that the Jews had
          "crucified the Lord of glory" (I Corinthians 2:8).