2:1He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily! 2:2For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches. 2:3The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished. 2:4The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings. 2:5He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place. 2:6The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. 2:7It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts. 2:8But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back. 2:9Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. 2:10She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale. 2:11Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid? 2:12The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey. 2:13“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
3:1Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart. 3:2The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots, 3:3the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies, 3:4because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft. 3:5“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. 3:6I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle. 3:7It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’ Where will I seek comforters for you?” 3:8Are you better than No-Amon, who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? 3:9Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers. 3:10Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 3:11You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy. 3:12All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. 3:13Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars. 3:14Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong. 3:15There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust. 3:16You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away. 3:17Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 3:18Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them. 3:19There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn’t felt your endless cruelty?
Habakkuk
1:1The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 1:2Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? 1:3Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. 1:4Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted. 1:5“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. 1:6For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 1:7They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 1:8Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. 1:9All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. 1:10Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. 1:11Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.” 1:12Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. 1:13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, 1:14and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 1:15He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. 1:16Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. 1:17Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
2:1I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 2:2Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. 2:3For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay. 2:4Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. 2:5Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. 2:6Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’ 2:7Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? 2:8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it. 2:9Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! 2:10You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 2:11For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. 2:12Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 2:13Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 2:14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea. 2:15“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! 2:16You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 2:17For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them. 2:18“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? 2:19Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it. 2:20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
3:1A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music. 3:2Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy. 3:3God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. 3:4His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. 3:5Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. 3:6He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. 3:7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled. 3:8Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? 3:9You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers. 3:10The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high. 3:11The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear. 3:12You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger. 3:13You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah. 3:14You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret. 3:15You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters. 3:16I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us. 3:17For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: 3:18yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 3:19Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
Zephaniah
1:1Yahweh’s word 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 utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 1:3I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 1:4I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, 1:5those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam, 1:6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him. 1:7Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. 1:8It will happen in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. 1:9In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit. 1:10In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 1:11Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. 1:12It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.” 1:13Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine. 1:14The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. 1:15That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 1:16a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. 1:17I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
2:1Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, 2:2before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh’s anger comes on you. 2:3Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger. 2:4For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. 2:5Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! Yahweh’s word is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant. 2:6The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. 2:7The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore them. 2:8I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. 2:9Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them. 2:10This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of Armies. 2:11Yahweh will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations. 2:12You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword. 2:13He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness. 2:14Herds will lie down in the middle of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams. 2:15This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.
3:1Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! 3:2She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God. 3:3Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. 3:4Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. 3:5Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame. 3:6I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. 3:7I said, “Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won’t be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her.” But they rose early and corrupted all their doings. 3:8“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 3:9For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. 3:10From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering. 3:11In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from among you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain. 3:12But I will leave among you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in Yahweh’s name. 3:13The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.” 3:14Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. 3:15Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil any more. 3:16In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” 3:17Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. 3:18I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. 3:19Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. 3:20At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.
Haggai
1:1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 1:2“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’” 1:3Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, 1:4“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? 1:5Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. 1:6You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.” 1:7This is what Yahweh of Armies says: “Consider your ways. 1:8Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh. 1:9“You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. 1:10Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 1:11I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.” 1:12Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed Yahweh, their God’s voice, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh. 1:13Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh. 1:14Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, 1:15in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
2:1In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2:2“Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 2:3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing? 2:4Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says Yahweh. ‘Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ says Yahweh, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 2:5This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ 2:6For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; 2:7and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies. 2:8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 2:9‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says Yahweh of Armies; ‘and in this place will I give peace,’ says Yahweh of Armies.” 2:10In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2:11“Yahweh of Armies says: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 2:12‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’” The priests answered, “No.” 2:13Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.” 2:14Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says Yahweh; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean. 2:15Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in Yahweh’s temple. 2:16Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. 2:17I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says Yahweh. 2:18‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it. 2:19Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless you.’” 2:20Yahweh’s word came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 2:21“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth. 2:22I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. 2:23In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”
Zechariah
1:1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 1:2“Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. 1:3Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 1:4Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. 1:5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 1:6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’” 1:7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 1:8“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. 1:9Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” 1:10The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.” 1:11They reported to Yahweh’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.” 1:12Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?” 1:13Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. 1:14So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 1:15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.” 1:16Therefore Yahweh says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’ 1:17“Proclaim further, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’” 1:18I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. 1:19I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 1:20Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 1:21Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
2:1I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2:2Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 2:3Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him, 2:4and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. 2:5For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her. 2:6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh. 2:7‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’ 2:8For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. 2:9For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. 2:10Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. 2:11Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 2:12Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 2:13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”
3:1He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 3:2Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?” 3:3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 3:4He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.” 3:5I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Yahweh’s angel was standing by. 3:6Yahweh’s angel protested to Joshua, saying, 3:7“Yahweh of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. 3:8Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. 3:9For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 3:10In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”
4:1The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 4:2He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it; 4:3and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.” 4:4I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” 4:5Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 4:6Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 4:7Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’” 4:8Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 4:9“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 4:10Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are Yahweh’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.” 4:11Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?” 4:12I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?” 4:13He answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 4:14Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
5:1Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 5:2He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.” 5:3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 5:4I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.” 5:5Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing.” 5:6I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land 5:7(and behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah basket.” 5:8He said, “This is Wickedness”; and he threw her down into the middle of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth. 5:9Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. 5:10Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the ephah basket?” 5:11He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”
6:1Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 6:2In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses; 6:3in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful. 6:4Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 6:5The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6:6The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went out toward the south country.” 6:7The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth. 6:8Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.” 6:9Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 6:10“Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon. 6:11Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; 6:12and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple; 6:13even he shall build Yahweh’s temple; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. 6:14The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in Yahweh’s temple. 6:15Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s temple; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God’s voice.”’”