1 In the eighth month in the second year of Da·ri′us,+ the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zech·a·ri′ah*+ son of Ber·e·chi′ah son of Id′do, saying: 2 “Jehovah grew greatly indignant at your fathers.+
3 “Say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “‘Return to me,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and I will return to you,’+ says Jehovah of armies.”’
4 “‘Do not become like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘Turn away,* please, from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’”’+
5 “‘Where are your fathers now? And did the prophets live forever? 6 However, my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants, the prophets, caught up with your fathers, did they not?’+ So they returned to me and said: ‘Jehovah of armies has dealt with us according to our ways and our deeds, just as he had determined to do.’”+
7 On the 24th day of the 11th month, that is, the month of She′bat,* in the second year of Da·ri′us,+ the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zech·a·ri′ah son of Ber·e·chi′ah son of Id′do, saying: 8 “I saw a vision in the night. There was a man riding on a red horse, and he stood still among the myrtle trees in the ravine; and behind him there were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.”
9 So I said: “Who are these, my lord?”
The angel who was speaking with me replied: “I will show you who these are.”
10 Then the man who was standing still among the myrtle trees said: “These are the ones whom Jehovah has sent out to walk about in the earth.” 11 And they said to the angel of Jehovah who was standing among the myrtle trees: “We have walked about in the earth, and look! the whole earth is quiet and undisturbed.”+
12 So the angel of Jehovah said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah,+ with whom you have been indignant these 70 years?”+
13 Jehovah answered the angel who was speaking with me, with kind and comforting words. 14 Then the angel who was speaking with me told me: “Call out, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great zeal.+ 15 With great indignation I am indignant with the nations that are at ease,+ because I felt indignant to a small extent,+ but they added to the calamity.”’+
16 “Therefore this is what Jehovah says: ‘“I will return to Jerusalem with mercy,+ and my own house will be built in her,”+ declares Jehovah of armies, “and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’+
17 “Call out once more and say, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “My cities will again overflow with goodness; and Jehovah will again comfort Zion+ and again choose Jerusalem.”’”+
18 Then I looked up and saw four horns.+ 19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these?” He replied: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah,+ Israel,+ and Jerusalem.”+
He said: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah to such an extent that no one was able to raise his head. These others will come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah, in order to disperse her.”
He replied: “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is her width and what is her length.”+
3 And look! the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel came to meet him. 4 Then he said to him: “Run over there and tell that young man, ‘“Jerusalem will be inhabited+ as open rural country,* because of all the men and livestock within her.+ 5 And I will become to her,” declares Jehovah, “a wall of fire all around,+ and I will become the glory in her midst.”’”+
7 “Come, Zion! Make your escape, you who are dwelling with the daughter of Babylon.+ 8 For this is what Jehovah of armies says, who after being glorified* has sent me to the nations that were plundering you:+ ‘Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.*+ 9 For now I will wave my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own slaves.’+ And you will certainly know that Jehovah of armies has sent me.
10 “Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion;+ for I am coming,+ and I will reside in your midst,”+ declares Jehovah. 11 “Many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day,+ and they will become my people; and I will reside in your midst.” And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. 12 Jehovah will take possession of Judah as his portion on the holy ground, and he will again choose Jerusalem.+ 13 Be silent, all flesh,* before Jehovah, for he is taking action from his holy dwelling.
3 And he showed me Joshua+ the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan+ was standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 Then the angel of Jehovah said to Satan: “May Jehovah rebuke you, O Satan,+ yes, may Jehovah, who has chosen Jerusalem,+ rebuke you! Is not this one a burning log snatched out of the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 The angel said to those standing before him, “Remove his filthy garments.” Then he said to him, “See, I have caused your error* to pass away from you, and you will be clothed with fine garments.”*+
5 So I said: “Let a clean turban be put on his head.”+ And they put the clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing nearby. 6 The angel of Jehovah then declared to Joshua: 7 “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘If you will walk in my ways and carry out your responsibilities before me, then you will serve as a judge in my house+ and take care of* my courtyards; and I will give you free access among these who are standing here.’
8 “‘Hear, please, O High Priest Joshua, you and your companions who sit before you, for these men serve as a sign; look! I am bringing in my servant+ Sprout!+ 9 See the stone that I have set before Joshua! On the one stone are seven eyes; and I am engraving an inscription on it,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and I will take away the guilt of that land in one day.’+
10 “‘In that day,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘Each of you will invite your neighbor to come under your vine and under your fig tree.’”+
I replied: “No, my lord.”
6 He then said to me: “This is the word of Jehovah to Ze·rub′ba·bel: ‘“Not by a military force, nor by power,+ but by my spirit,”+ says Jehovah of armies. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Ze·rub′ba·bel+ you will become a level land.*+ And he will bring out the top stone* amid shouts of: “How wonderful! How wonderful!”’”
8 The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: 9 “The hands of Ze·rub′ba·bel have laid the foundation of this house,+ and his own hands will finish it.+ And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. 10 For who has despised the day of small beginnings?*+ For they will rejoice and see the plumb line* in the hand of Ze·rub′ba·bel. These seven are the eyes of Jehovah, which are roving about in all the earth.”+
13 So he asked me: “Do you not know what these things mean?”
I replied: “No, my lord.”
14 He said: “These are the two anointed ones who are standing alongside the Lord of the whole earth.”+
I replied: “I see a flying scroll, which is 20 cubits* long and 10 cubits wide.”
3 Then he said to me: “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the earth, because everyone who steals,+ as written on its one side, has gone unpunished; and everyone who makes a sworn oath,+ as written on its other side, has gone unpunished. 4 ‘I have sent it out,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who makes a false oath in my name; and it will remain inside that house and consume it and its timbers and its stones.’”
5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me: “Look up, please, and see what is going out.”
6 So I asked: “What is it?”
He replied: “This is the e′phah container* that is going out.” He continued: “This is their appearance in all the earth.” 7 And I saw that the round lid of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting inside the container. 8 So he said: “This is Wickedness.” Then he threw her back into the e′phah container, after which he thrust the lead weight over its mouth.
9 Then I looked up and saw two women coming forward, and they were soaring in the wind. They had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the container between the earth and heaven. 10 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “Where are they taking the e′phah container?”
11 He replied: “To the land of Shi′nar*+ to build her a house; and when it is prepared, she will be deposited there in her proper place.”
4 I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me: “These are the four spirits+ of the heavens that are going out after having taken their station before the Lord of the whole earth.+ 6 The one* with the black horses is going out to the land of the north;+ the white ones are going out beyond the sea; and the speckled ones are going out to the land of the south. 7 And the dappled ones were eager to go out to walk about through the earth.” Then he said: “Go, walk about through the earth.” And they began walking about through the earth.
8 He then called out to me and said: “See, those going out to the land of the north have caused the spirit of Jehovah to rest in the land of the north.”
9 The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: 10 “Take from Hel′dai, To·bi′jah, and Je·da′iah what they brought from the people in exile; and on that day, you must go to the house of Jo·si′ah the son of Zeph·a·ni′ah along with these who have come from Babylon. 11 You should take silver and gold and make a crown* and put it on the head of Joshua+ son of Je·hoz′a·dak, the high priest. 12 And say to him,
“‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “Here is the man whose name is Sprout.+ He will sprout from his own place, and he will build the temple of Jehovah.+ 13 He is the one who will build the temple of Jehovah, and he is the one who will assume the majesty. He will sit down on his throne and rule, and he will also be a priest on his throne,+ and there will be a peaceable agreement between the two.* 14 And the crown* will serve as a memorial* for He′lem, To·bi′jah, Je·da′iah,+ and Hen the son of Zeph·a·ni′ah, in the temple of Jehovah. 15 And those who are far away will come and take part in building the temple of Jehovah.” And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. And it will occur—if you do not fail to listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.’”
7 And in the fourth year of King Da·ri′us, the word of Jehovah came to Zech·a·ri′ah+ on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chis′lev.* 2 The people of Beth′el sent Shar·e′zer and Re′gem-mel′ech and his men to beg for the favor* of Jehovah, 3 saying to the priests of the house* of Jehovah of armies and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month+ and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years?”
4 The word of Jehovah of armies again came to me, saying: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month+ for 70 years,+ did you really fast for me? 6 And when you would eat and drink, were you not eating for yourselves and drinking for yourselves? 7 Should you not obey the words that Jehovah proclaimed through the former prophets,+ while Jerusalem and her surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, and while the Neg′eb and the She·phe′lah were inhabited?’”
8 The word of Jehovah again came to Zech·a·ri′ah, saying: 9 “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘Judge with true justice,+ and deal with one another in loyal love+ and mercy. 10 Do not defraud the widow or the fatherless child,*+ the foreigner+ or the poor;+ and do not scheme evil against one another in your hearts.’+ 11 But they kept refusing to pay attention,+ and they stubbornly turned their backs,+ and they stopped up their ears so as not to hear.+ 12 They made their heart like a diamond*+ and would not obey the law* and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit through the former prophets.+ So there came great indignation from Jehovah of armies.”+
13 “‘Just as they did not listen when I* called,+ so I would not listen when they called,’+ says Jehovah of armies. 14 ‘And I scattered them with a storm wind throughout all the nations that they had not known,+ and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one passing through or returning;+ for they turned the desirable land into an object of horror.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment