2:1A crusher has come up before your face: keep a good look-out, let the way be watched, make yourself strong, let your power be greatly increased. 2:2For the Lord will make good the vine of Jacob, as well as the vine of Israel: for the wasters have made them waste and sent destruction on the branches of their vine. 2:3The body-covers of his fighting men have been made red, the men of war are clothed in bright red: the war-carriages are like flames of fire in the day when he gets ready, the horses are shaking. 2:4The war-carriages are rushing through the streets, pushing against one another in the wide ways, looking like burning lights, running like thunder-flames. 2:5He takes the record of his great men: they go falling on their way; they go quickly to the wall, the cover is made ready. 2:6The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away. 2:7And the queen is uncovered, she is taken away and her servant-girls are weeping like the sound of doves, hammering on their breasts. 2:8But Nineveh is like a pool of water whose waters are flowing away; Keep your place, they say; but no one is turning back. 2:9Take silver, take gold; for there is no end to the store; take for yourselves a weight of things to be desired. 2:10Everything has been taken from her, all is gone, she has nothing more: the heart is turned to water, the knees are shaking, all are twisted in pain, and colour has gone from all faces. 2:11Where is the lions' hole, the place where the young lions got their food, where the lion and the she-lion were walking with their young, without cause for fear? 2:12Food enough for his young and for his she-lions was pulled down by the lion; his hole was full of flesh and his resting-place stored with meat. 2:13See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your war-carriages burned in the smoke, and your young lions will be food for the sword: you will no longer get your food by force on the earth, and the voice of your she-lions will be stopped for ever.
3:1A curse is on the town of blood; it is full of deceit and violent acts; and there is no end to the taking of life. 3:2The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping, 3:3Horsemen driving forward, and the shining sword and the bright spear: and a great number of wounded, and masses of dead bodies; they are falling over the bodies of the dead: 3:4Because of all the false ways of the loose woman, expert in attraction and wise in secret arts, who takes nations in the net of her false ways, and families through her secret arts. 3:5See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your skirts pulled over your face, and let the nations see you unclothed, and the kingdoms your shame. 3:6I will make you completely disgusting and full of shame, and will put you up to be looked at by all. 3:7And it will come about that all who see you will go in flight from you and say, Nineveh is made waste: who will be weeping for her? where am I to get comforters for her? 3:8Are you better than No-amon, seated on the Nile streams, with waters all round her; whose wall was the sea and her earthwork the waters? 3:9Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers. 3:10But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains. 3:11And you will be overcome with wine, you will become feeble; you will be looking for a safe place from those who are fighting against you. 3:12All your walled places will be like fig-trees and your people like the first figs, falling at a shake into the mouth which is open for them. 3:13See, the people who are in you are women; the doorways of your land are wide open to your attackers: the locks of your doors have been burned away in the fire. 3:14Get water for the time when you are shut in, make strong your towns: go into the potter's earth, stamping it down with your feet, make strong the brickworks. 3:15There the fire will make you waste; you will be cut off by the sword: make yourself as great in number as the worms, as great in number as the locusts. 3:16Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven: 3:17Your crowned ones are like the locusts, and your scribes like the clouds of insects which take cover in the walls on a cold day, but when the sun comes up they go in flight, and are seen no longer in their place. 3:18Sorrow! how are the keepers of your flock sleeping, O king of Assyria! your strong men are at rest; your people are wandering on the mountains, and there is no one to get them together. 3:19Your pain may not be made better; you are wounded to death: all those hearing the news about you will be waving their hands in joy over you: for who has not undergone the weight of your evil-doing again and again?
Habakkuk
1:1The word which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 1:2How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation. 1:3Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument. 1:4For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted. 1:5See among the nations, and take note, and be full of wonder: for in your days I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you. 1:6For see, I am sending the Chaldaeans, that bitter and quick-moving nation; who go through the wide spaces of the earth to get for themselves living-places which are not theirs. 1:7They are greatly to be feared: their right comes from themselves. 1:8And their horses are quicker than leopards and their horsemen more cruel than evening wolves; they come from far away, like an eagle in flight rushing on its food. 1:9They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea. 1:10He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them. 1:11Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god. 1:12Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right. 1:13Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself? 1:14He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them. 1:15He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy. 1:16For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat. 1:17For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.
2:1I will take my position and be on watch, placing myself on my tower, looking out to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my protest. 2:2And the Lord gave me an answer, and said, Put the vision in writing and make it clear on stones, so that the reader may go quickly. 2:3For the vision is still for the fixed time, and it is moving quickly to the end, and it will not be false: even if it is slow in coming, go on waiting for it; because it will certainly come, it will not be kept back. 2:4As for the man of pride, my soul has no pleasure in him; but the upright man will have life through his good faith. 2:5A curse on the cruel and false one! the man full of pride, who never has enough; who makes his desires wide as the underworld! he is like death; he is never full, but he makes all nations come to him, getting all peoples together to himself. 2:6Will not all these take up a word of shame against him and a bitter saying against him, and say, A curse on him who goes on taking what is not his and is weighted down with the property of debtors! 2:7Will not your creditors suddenly be moved against you, and your troublers get up from their sleep, and you will be to them like goods taken in war? 2:8Because you have taken their goods from great nations, all the rest of the peoples will take your goods from you; because of men's blood and violent acts against the land and the town and all who are living in it. 2:9A curse on him who gets evil profits for his family, so that he may put his resting-place on high and be safe from the hand of the wrongdoer! 2:10You have been a cause of shame to your house by cutting off a number of peoples, and sinning against your soul. 2:11For the stone will give a cry out of the wall, and it will be answered by the board out of the woodwork. 2:12A curse on him who is building a place with blood, and basing a town on evil-doing! 2:13See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing? 2:14For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters. 2:15A curse on him who gives his neighbour the wine of his wrath, making him overcome with strong drink from the cup of his passion, so that you may be a witness of their shame! 2:16You are full of shame in place of glory: take your part in the drinking, and let your shame be uncovered: the cup of the Lord's right hand will come round to you and your glory will be covered with shame. 2:17For the violent acts against Lebanon will come on you, and the destruction of the cattle will be a cause of fear to you, because of men's blood and the violent acts against the land and the town and all who are living in it. 2:18What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice? 2:19A curse on him who says to the wood, Awake! to the unbreathing stone, Up! let it be a teacher! See, it is plated with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. 2:20But the Lord is in his holy Temple: let all the earth be quiet before him.
3:1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, put to Shigionoth. 3:2O Lord, word of you has come to my ears; I have seen your work, O Lord; when the years come near make it clear; in wrath keep mercy in mind. 3:3God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. The heavens were covered with his glory, and the earth was full of his praise. 3:4He was shining like the light; he had rays coming out from his hand: there his power was kept secret. 3:5Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet. 3:6From his high place he sent shaking on the earth; he saw and nations were suddenly moved: and the eternal mountains were broken, the unchanging hills were bent down; his ways are eternal. 3:7The curtains of Cushan were troubled, and the tents of Midian were shaking. 3:8Was your wrath burning against the rivers? were you angry with the sea, that you went on your horses, on your war-carriages of salvation? 3:9Your bow was quite uncovered. Selah. By you the earth was cut through with rivers. 3:10The mountains saw you and were moved with fear; the clouds were streaming with water: the voice of the deep was sounding; the sun did not come up, and the moon kept still in her place. 3:11At the light of your arrows they went away, at the shining of your polished spear. 3:12You went stepping through the land in wrath, crushing the nations in your passion. 3:13You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of the one on whom your holy oil was put; wounding the head of the family of the evil-doer, uncovering the base even to the neck. Selah. 3:14You have put your spears through his head, his horsemen were sent in flight like dry stems; they had joy in driving away the poor, in making a meal of them secretly. 3:15The feet of your horses were on the sea, on the mass of great waters. 3:16Hearing it, my inner parts were moved, and my lips were shaking at the sound; my bones became feeble, and my steps were uncertain under me: I gave sounds of grief in the day of trouble, when his forces came up against the people in bands. 3:17For though the fig-tree has no flowers, and there is no fruit on the vine, and work on the olive comes to nothing, and the fields give no food; and the flock is cut off from its resting-place, and there is no herd in the cattle-house: 3:18Still, I will be glad in the Lord, my joy will be in the God of my salvation. 3:19The Lord God is my strength, and he makes my feet like roes' feet, guiding me on my high places. For the chief music-maker on corded instruments.
Zephaniah
1:1The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. 1:2I will take away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord. 1:3I will take away man and beast; I will take away the birds of the heaven and the fishes of the sea; causing the downfall of the evil-doers, and cutting man off from the face of the earth, says the Lord. 1:4And my hand will be stretched out on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem, cutting off the name of the Baal from this place, and the name of the false priests, 1:5And the worshippers of the army of heaven on the house-tops, and the Lord's worshippers who take oaths by Milcom, 1:6And those who are turned back from going after the Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from him. 1:7Let there be no sound before the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near: for the Lord has made ready an offering, he has made his guests holy. 1:8And it will come about in the day of the Lord's offering, that I will send punishment on the rulers and the king's sons and all who are clothed in robes from strange lands. 1:9And in that day I will send punishment on all those who come jumping over the doorstep and make their master's house full of violent behaviour and deceit. 1:10And in that day, says the Lord, there will be the sound of a cry from the fish doorway, and an outcry from the new town, and a great thundering from the hills, and cries of grief from the people of the Hollow; 1:11Because of the downfall of all the people of Canaan: all those who were weighted down with silver have been cut off. 1:12And it will come about at that time, that I will go searching through Jerusalem with lights; and I will send punishment on the men who have become like wine stored over-long, who say to themselves, The Lord will not do good and will not do evil. 1:13And their wealth will be violently taken away, and their houses will be made waste: they will go on building houses and never living in them, and planting vine-gardens but not drinking the wine from them. 1:14The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and coming very quickly; the bitter day of the Lord is near, coming on more quickly than a man of war. 1:15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and sorrow, a day of wasting and destruction, a day of dark night and deep shade, a day of cloud and thick dark. 1:16A day of sounding the horn and the war-cry against the walled towns and the high towers. 1:17And I will send trouble on men so that they will go about like the blind, because they have done evil against the Lord: and their blood will be drained out like dust, and their strength like waste. 1:18Even their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the Lord's wrath; but all the land will be burned up in the fire of his bitter wrath: for he will put an end, even suddenly, to all who are living in the land.
2:1Come together, make everyone come together, O nation without shame; 2:2Before the Lord sends you violently away in flight like the waste from the grain; before the burning wrath of the Lord comes on you, before the day of the Lord's wrath comes on you. 2:3Make search for the Lord, all you quiet ones of the earth, who have done what is right in his eyes; make search for righteousness and a quiet heart: it may be that you will be safely covered in the day of the Lord's wrath. 2:4For Gaza will be given up and Ashkelon will become waste: they will send Ashdod out in the middle of the day, and Ekron will be uprooted. 2:5Sorrow to the people living by the sea, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will send destruction on you till there is no one living in you. 2:6And the land by the sea will be grass-land, with houses for keepers of sheep and walled places for flocks. 2:7The land by the sea will be for the rest of the children of Judah; by the sea they will give their flocks food: in the houses of Ashkelon they will take their rest in the evening; for the Lord their God will take them in hand and their fate will be changed. 2:8My ears have been open to the bitter words of Moab and the words of shame of the children of Ammon, which they have said against my people, lifting themselves up against the limit of their land. 2:9For this cause, by my life, says the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, truly Moab will become like Sodom and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, given up to waste plants and salt pools and unpeopled for ever: the rest of my people will take their property, the overflow of my nation will take their heritage. 2:10This will be their fate because of their pride, because they have said evil, lifting themselves up against the people of the Lord of armies. 2:11The Lord will let himself be seen by them: for he will make all the gods of the earth feeble; and men will go down before him in worship, everyone from his place, even all the sea-lands of the nations. 2:12And you Ethiopians will be put to death by my sword. 2:13And his hand will be stretched out against the north, for the destruction of Assyria; and he will make Nineveh unpeopled and dry like the waste land. 2:14And herds will take their rest in the middle of her, all the beasts of the valley: the pelican and the porcupine will make their living-places on the tops of its pillars; the owl will be crying in the window; the raven will be seen on the doorstep. 2:15This is the town which was full of joy, living without fear of danger, saying in her heart, I am, and there is no other: how has she been made waste, a place for beasts to take their rest in! everyone who goes by her will make hisses, waving his hand.
3:1Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and unclean, the cruel town! 3:2She gave no attention to the voice, she had no use for teaching, she put no faith in the Lord, she did not come near to her God. 3:3Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning. 3:4Her prophets are good-for-nothing persons, full of deceit: her priests have made the holy place unclean and have gone violently against the law. 3:5The Lord in her is upright; he will not do evil; every morning he lets his righteousness be seen, he is unchanging; but the evil-doer has no sense of shame. 3:6I have had the nations cut off, their towers are broken down; I have made their streets a waste so that no one goes through them: destruction has overtaken their towns, so that there is no man living in them. 3:7I said, Certainly you will go in fear of me, and come under my training, so that whatever I may send on her may not be cut off before her eyes: but they got up early and made all their works evil. 3:8For this reason, go on waiting for me, says the Lord, till the day when I come up as a witness: for my purpose is to send for the nations and to get the kingdoms together, so that I may let loose on them my passion, even all my burning wrath: for all the earth will be burned up in the fire of my bitter passion. 3:9For then I will give the people a clean language, so that they may all make prayer to the Lord and be his servants with one mind. 3:10From over the rivers of Ethiopia, and from the sides of the north, they will come to me with an offering. 3:11In that day you will have no shame on account of all the things in which you did evil against me: for then I will take away from among you those who were lifted up in pride, and you will no longer be lifted up with pride in my holy mountain. 3:12But I will still have among you a quiet and poor people, and they will put their faith in the name of the Lord. 3:13The rest of Israel will do no evil and say no false words; the tongue of deceit will not be seen in their mouth: for they will take their food and their rest, and no one will be a cause of fear to them. 3:14Make melody, O daughter of Zion; give a loud cry, O Israel; be glad and let your heart be full of joy, O daughter of Jerusalem. 3:15The Lord has taken away those who were judging you, he has sent your haters far away: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is among you: you will have no more fear of evil. 3:16In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, Have no fear: O Zion, let not your hands be feeble. 3:17The Lord your God is among you, as a strong saviour: he will be glad over you with joy, he will make his love new again, he will make a song of joy over you as in the time of a holy feast. 3:18I will take away your troubles, lifting up your shame from off you. 3:19See, at that time I will put an end to all who have been troubling you: I will give salvation to her whose steps are uncertain, and get together her who has been sent in flight; and I will make them a cause of praise and an honoured name in all the earth, when I let their fate be changed. 3:20At that time I will make you come in, at that time I will get you together: for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth when I let your fate be changed before your eyes, says the Lord.
Haggai
1:1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 1:2These are the words of the Lord of armies: These people say, The time has not come for building the Lord's house. 1:3Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 1:4Is it a time for you to be living in roofed houses while this house is a waste? 1:5For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways. 1:6Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes. 1:7This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways. 1:8Go up to the hills and get wood and put up the house; and I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. 1:9You were looking for much, and it came to little; and when you got it into your house, I took it away with a breath. Why? says the Lord of armies. Because of my house which is a waste, while every man takes care of the house which is his. 1:10For this cause the heaven over you is kept from giving dew, and the earth from giving her fruit. 1:11And by my order no rain came on the land or on the mountains or the grain or the wine or the oil or the produce of the earth or on men or cattle or on any work of man's hands. 1:12Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the rest of the people, gave ear to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because the Lord their God had sent him, and the people were in fear before the Lord. 1:13Then Haggai, whom the Lord had sent to give his words to the people, said, I am with you, says the Lord. 1:14And the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, was moved by the Lord, as was the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of armies, their God. 1:15On the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
2:1In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2:2Say now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the rest of the people, 2:3Who is there still among you who saw this house in its first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing? 2:4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and get to work: for I am with you, says the Lord of armies: 2:5The agreement which I made with you when you came out of Egypt, and my spirit, are with you still; have no fear. 2:6For this is what the Lord of armies has said: In a short time I will make a shaking of the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 2:7And I will make a shaking of all the nations, and the desired things of all nations will come: and I will make this house full of my glory, says the Lord of armies. 2:8The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of armies. 2:9The second glory of this house will be greater than the first, says the Lord of armies: and in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of armies. 2:10On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2:11These are the words of the Lord of armies: Put now a point of law to the priests, saying, 2:12If anyone has some holy flesh folded in the skirt of his robe, will bread or soup or wine or oil or any other food be made holy if touched by his skirt? And the priests answering said, No. 2:13Then Haggai said, Will any of these be made unclean by the touch of one who is unclean through touching a dead body? And the priests answering said, It will be made unclean. 2:14Then Haggai said, So is this people and so is this nation before me, says the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and the offering they give there is unclean. 2:15And now, give thought, looking back from this day to the time before one stone was put on another in the Temple of the Lord: 2:16How, when anyone came to a store of twenty measures, there were only ten: when anyone went to the wine-store to get fifty vessels full, there were only twenty. 2:17And I sent burning and wasting and a rain of ice-drops on all the works of your hands; but still you were not turned to me, says the Lord. 2:18And now, give thought; looking on from this day, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the time when the base of the Lord's house was put in its place, give thought to it. 2:19Is the seed still in the store-house? have the vine and the fig-tree, the pomegranate and the olive-tree, still not given their fruit? from this day I will send my blessing on you. 2:20And the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 2:21Say to Zerubbabel, ruler of Judah, I will make a shaking of the heavens and the earth, 2:22Overturning the power of kingdoms; and I will send destruction on the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; by me war-carriages will be overturned with those who are in them; and the horses and the horsemen will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. 2:23In that day, says the Lord of armies, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you as a jewelled ring: for I have taken you to be mine, says the Lord of armies.
Zechariah
1:1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 1:2The Lord has been very angry with your fathers: 1:3And you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord of armies: Come back to me, says the Lord of armies, and I will come back to you. 1:4Be not like your fathers, to whom the voice of the earlier prophets came, saying, Be turned now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not give ear to me or take note, says the Lord. 1:5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they go on living for ever? 1:6But my words and my orders, which I gave to my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? and turning back they said, As it was the purpose of the Lord of armies to do to us, in reward for our ways and our doings, so has he done. 1:7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 1:8I saw in the night a man on a red horse, between the mountains in the valley, and at his back were horses, red, black, white, and of mixed colours. 1:9Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel who was talking to me said to me, I will make clear to you what they are. 1:10And the man who was between the mountains, answering me, said, These are those whom the Lord has sent to go up and down through the earth. 1:11And the man who was between the mountains, answering, said to the angel of the Lord, We have gone up and down through the earth, and all the earth is quiet and at rest. 1:12Then the angel of the Lord, answering, said, O Lord of armies, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and on the towns of Judah against which your wrath has been burning for seventy years? 1:13And the Lord gave an answer in good and comforting words to the angel who was talking to me. 1:14And the angel who was talking to me said to me, Let your voice be loud and say, These are the words of the Lord of armies: I am greatly moved about the fate of Jerusalem and of Zion. 1:15And I am very angry with the nations who are living untroubled: for when I was only a little angry, they made the evil worse. 1:16So this is what the Lord has said: I have come back to Jerusalem with mercies; my house is to be put up in her, says the Lord of armies, and a line is to be stretched out over Jerusalem. 1:17And again let your voice be loud and say, This is what the Lord of armies has said: My towns will again be overflowing with good things, and again the Lord will give comfort to Zion and take Jerusalem for himself. 1:18And lifting up my eyes I saw four horns. 1:19And I said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have sent Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem in flight. 1:20And the Lord gave me a vision of four metal-workers. 1:21Then I said, What have these come to do? And he said, These are the horns which sent Judah in flight, and kept him from lifting up his head: but these men have come to send fear on them and to put down the nations who are lifting up their horns against the land of Judah to send it in flight.
2:1And lifting up my eyes, I saw a man with a measuring-line in his hand. 2:2And I said to him, Where are you going? And he said to me, To take the measure of Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is. 2:3And the angel who was talking to me went out, and another angel went out, and, meeting him, 2:4Said to him, Go quickly and say to this young man, Jerusalem will be an unwalled town, because of the great number of men and cattle in her. 2:5For I, says the Lord, will be a wall of fire round about her, and I will be the glory inside her. 2:6Ho, ho! go in flight from the land of the north, says the Lord: for I have sent you far and wide to the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. 2:7Ho! Zion, go in flight from danger, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon. 2:8For this is what the Lord of armies has said: In the way of glory he has sent me to the nations which have taken your goods: for anyone touching you is touching what is most dear to him. 2:9For at the shaking of my hand over them, their goods will be taken by those who were their servants: and you will see that the Lord of armies has sent me. 2:10Give songs of joy, O daughter of Zion: for I come, and I will make my resting-place among you, says the Lord. 2:11And a number of nations will be joined to the Lord in that day, and will become my people; and I will be living among you, and you will see that the Lord of armies has sent me to you. 2:12And Judah will be the Lord's heritage in the holy land, and Jerusalem will again be his. 2:13Let all flesh be quiet and make no sound before the Lord: for he is awake and has come from his holy resting-place.
3:1And he let me see Joshua, the high priest, in his place before the angel of the Lord, and the Satan at his right hand ready to take up a cause against him. 3:2And the Lord said to the Satan, May the Lord's word be sharp against you, O Satan, the word of the Lord who has taken Jerusalem for himself: is this not a burning branch pulled out of the fire? 3:3Now Joshua was clothed in unclean robes, and he was in his place before the angel. 3:4And he made answer and said to those who were there before him, Take the unclean robes off him, and let him be clothed in clean robes; 3:5And let them put a clean head-dress on his head. So they put a clean head-dress on his head, clothing him with clean robes: and to him he said, See, I have taken your sin away from you. 3:6And the angel of the Lord made a statement to Joshua, and said, 3:7These are the words of the Lord of armies: If you will go in my ways and keep what I have put in your care, then you will be judge over my Temple and have the care of my house, and I will give you the right to come in among those who are there. 3:8Give ear now, O Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who are seated before you; for these are men who are a sign: for see, I will let my servant the Branch be seen. 3:9For see, the stone which I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: see, the design cut on it will be my work, says the Lord of armies, and I will take away the sin of that land in one day. 3:10In that day, says the Lord of armies, you will be one another's guests under the vine and under the fig-tree.
4:1And the angel who was talking to me came again, awaking me as a man out of his sleep. 4:2And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see a light-support, made all of gold, with its cup on the top of it and seven lights on it; and there are seven pipes to every one of the lights which are on the top of it; 4:3And two olive-trees by it, one on the right side of the cup and one on the left. 4:4And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord? 4:5Then the angel who was talking to me, answering me, said, Have you no knowledge of what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 4:6This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by force or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of armies. 4:7Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you will become level: and he will let all see the headstone, with cries of Grace, grace, to it. 4:8Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 4:9The hands of Zerubbabel have put the base of this house in place, and his hands will make it complete; and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you. 4:10For who has had a poor opinion of the day of small things? for they will be glad when they see the weighted measuring-line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Then he said in answer to me, These seven lights are the eyes of the Lord which go quickly up and down through all the earth. 4:11And I made answer and said to him, What are these two olive-trees on the right side of the light-support and on the left? 4:12And answering a second time, I said to him, What are these two olive branches, through whose gold pipes the oil is drained out? 4:13And he said in answer to me, Have you no knowledge what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 4:14And he said, These are the two sons of oil, whose place is by the Lord of all the earth.
5:1Then again lifting up my eyes I saw a roll in flight through the air. 5:2And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, A roll going through the air; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide. 5:3Then he said to me, This is the curse which goes out over the face of all the land: for long enough has every thief gone without punishment, and long enough has every taker of false oaths gone without punishment. 5:4And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones. 5:5And the angel who was talking to me went out and said to me, Let your eyes be lifted up now, and see the ephah which is going out. 5:6And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah which is going out. And he said further, This is their evil-doing in all the land. 5:7And I saw a round cover of lead lifted up; and a woman was seated in the middle of the ephah. 5:8And he said, This is Sin; and pushing her down into the ephah, he put the weight of lead on the mouth of it. 5:9And lifting up my eyes I saw two women coming out, and the wind was in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they took the ephah, lifting it up between earth and heaven. 5:10And I said to the angel who was talking to me, Where are they taking the ephah? 5:11And he said to me, To make a house for her in the land of Shinar: and they will make a place ready, and put her there in the place which is hers.
6:1And again lifting up my eyes I saw four war-carriages coming out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 6:2In the first war-carriage were red horses; and in the second, black horses; 6:3And in the third, white horses; and in the fourth, horses of mixed colour. 6:4And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord? 6:5And the angel, answering, said to me, These go out to the four winds of heaven from their place before the Lord of all the earth. 6:6The carriage in which are the black horses goes in the direction of the north country; the white go to the west; and those of mixed colour go in the direction of the south country. 6:7And the red ones go to the east; and they made request that they might go up and down through the earth: and he said, Go up and down through the earth. So they went up and down through the earth. 6:8Then crying out to me, he said, See, those who are going to the north country have given rest to the spirit of the Lord in the north country. 6:9And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6:10Take the offerings of those who went away as prisoners, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and from the family of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who have come from Babylon; 6:11And take silver and gold and make a crown and put it on the head of Zerubbabel; 6:12And say to him, These are the words of the Lord of armies: See, the man whose name is the Branch, under whom there will be fertile growth. 6:13And he will be the builder of the Temple of the Lord; and the glory will be his, and he will take his place as ruler on the seat of power; and Joshua will be a priest at his right hand, and between them there will be a design of peace. 6:14And the crown will be for grace to Heldai and Tobijah and Jedaiah and the son of Zephaniah, to keep their memory living in the house of the Lord. 6:15And those who are far away will come and be builders in the Temple of the Lord, and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.