Don't be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "It's time to turn from your evil lifestyles and from your evil actions," "but they would neither listen nor pay attention to me,'" declares the LORD.'

Then I asked, "Who are these, sir?" The messenger who was talking to me answered, "I will tell you who these are."

The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "These are the ones whom the LORD sent out to wander throughout the earth."

Then they reported to the angel of the LORD who stood among the myrtle trees, "We have wandered throughout the earth and look! the entire earth is at rest. Everything is quiet and peaceful."

And the angel of the LORD replied, "LORD of the Heavenly Armies, how long will it be until you show mercy to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, with whom you have been angry for these past seventy years?"

So the LORD answered the angel who was speaking to me with kind and comforting words.

Then the angel who was speaking to me told me, "Announce this: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "I have a deep concern for Jerusalem, a great concern for Zion.

I am deeply angry with the nations who are complacent, with whom I was only a little displeased but they made things worse!"

I asked the angel who was talking to me, "What are those?" So he answered me, "Those are the forces that have dispersed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

Look! That angel who was talking to me left, and another angel came forward to meet him.

""Come now, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the residents of Babylon.

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye.

The LORD told Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan in fact, may the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! This man is a burning brand plucked from the fire, is he not?"

So the angel continued to tell those who were standing in his presence, "Remove his filthy clothes." And he told Joshua, "Look how I've removed your iniquity. Now I'm clothing you with fine garments."

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "If you will live according to my ways, and if you will keep what I have entrusted to you, then you will also administer my Temple, and you will also guard my courtyards. And I will give you access to these who serve here.

""Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and those companions of yours who sit with you, for these men are a sign that I am presenting my servant, the Branch.

Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me up as if I had been asleep.

Then I asked the angel who had been speaking with me, "Sir, what are these?"

The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, "You don't know what these mean, do you?" So I responded, "No, sir."

"Who are you, great mountain? You will become a plain in Zerubbabel's presence, and he will position the capstone, exulting over it, "How beautiful! How beautiful!"'"

For who has despised the time of insignificant things? They will rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven lights represent the eyes of the LORD, which are looking throughout all of the earth."

He said, "These are the two anointed ones, who stand continuously beside the Lord of the whole earth."

"I am bringing this about," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "The curse will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who lies in my name. The curse will remain in his house until that house has been completely destroyed, right down to its timber and stones."

Then the angel who had been talking with me stepped forward and told me, "Please look up and see what's going out."

So I asked the angel who was talking to me, "Where are they taking the basket?"

In response, I asked the angel who had been talking with me, "Sir, what are these?"

"Go take up an offering from those who came out of the Babylonian exile, that is, from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah. Go along with them today into the house of Zephaniah's son Josiah, who returned from Babylon.

Those who are now far away will come and do reconstruction work in the Temple of the LORD. Then you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you. This will come about if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."'"

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Be strong so the Temple can be built, you who are now listening to this message spoken by the prophets when the foundation was laid to the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

I will set a garrison around my Temple, to hinder those who might come and go, and to guard against oppressors who intend to invade; for I have taken note of this with my eyes."

Return to your fortress, you prisoners who have hope. Even today I am telling you: In return I will repay you double.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will defend them; they will devour and conquer those who sling stones. They will drink and be boisterous like those who are drunk. They will be filled to the brim with blood, like the corners of the altar.

"Ask the LORD for rain in the spring the LORD who fashions lightning thunderstorms, giving rain showers to mankind along with grain in the fields.

They will be like mighty soldiers who trample mud in the streets during battle. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and the opposing horsemen will be confused.

"The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers; they will be glad, like those who have wine. Their children will see this and rejoice; their hearts will find joy in the Lord.

Therefore I will no longer show compassion upon those who live in the land," declares the LORD. "Look! I will deliver every single person into the control of his neighbor and into the control of the king. Even though they assault the land, I will not deliver it from their control."

So I said, "I will no longer be your shepherd. Let those who are about to die perish, and let what is about to be destroyed be destroyed. As for the survivors, let them devour each other."

It was broken at that time so the oppressed of the flock who were observing me would know that it had been a message from the LORD.

for I am now raising up a shepherd in the land who will neither search for the lost, nor care for the young, nor fix the broken, nor sustain the healthy. Instead, he will devour the meat of the best of the sheep, tearing off their hoofs."

"Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm wither and his right eye be completely blind."

A declaration: a message from the LORD to Israel. "The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who frames the spirit of man within himself, declares,

It will come about at that time that I will make Jerusalem a heavy weight; so everyone who burdens themselves with it will be crushed, even though all of the nations of the earth gather themselves against it.

The leaders of Judah will say to themselves, "Those who live in Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, their God."

At that time, the LORD will defend those who live in Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them at that time will be like David. The entire house of David will be like God indeed, like the angel of the LORD in their midst!

""At that time, I will search out and destroy all of the nations who have come against Jerusalem.

I will pour out on the house of David and on the residents of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications, and they will look to me the one whom they pierced.'"

At that time, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for those who live in Jerusalem so they can be cleansed from sin and ceremonial impurity.

It will also come about that if any man would dare to prophesy, then his father and his mother who bore him will respond to him, "You will not live, because you are speaking lies in the name of the LORD.' Then his father and mother who bore him will stab him for prophesying.

"Arise, sword, against my shepherd, against the mighty one who is related to me," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "Strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the insignificant ones.

It will come about in all of the land," declares the LORD, "that two thirds of the people living there will die, but a third will survive who live there.

"This will be the plague with which the LORD inflicts all of the people who have attacked Jerusalem: he will cause their flesh to rot away, even while they're standing on their feet. He will cause their eyes to rot away in their sockets, and their tongues to rot away in their mouths.

"It will come about that all of the survivors of the nations who came against Jerusalem will come there from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and to observe the Festival of Tents.

If the people of Egypt do not come to Jerusalem to take part, they will have no annual Nile overflow. A plague will come from the LORD to strike the nations who do not come to observe the Festival of Tents.

This will be the punishment for Egypt and all nations who do not come to observe the Festival of Tents."

and the pots in the Temple of the LORD will be like the bowls in front of the altar every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be consecrated to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, will take them, and will cook in them. Furthermore, at that time, there will no longer be a Canaanite in the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies."