Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

What art thou, thou great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou must be made even. And he shall bring up the first stone so that men shall cry unto him, 'Good luck, good luck!''

And 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?

Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. And the mountains were made of bronze.

And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord?

And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

Then made he outcry beside me, and spake unto me, saying, - See, these who are going forth into the land of the North, have settled my spirit in the land of the North.

and thou hast taken silver and gold, and hast made a crown, and hast placed on the head of Joshua son of Josedech, the high priest,

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

For why? Before these days, neither men nor cattle could win anything, neither might any man come in and out in rest, for trouble: but I let every man go against his neighbour.

For, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, As I did purpose to do evil to you, When your fathers made Me wroth, Said Jehovah of Hosts, and I did not repent,

The inhabitants of one [city] will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to ask the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also.”

Tyre has built a fortification for itself, and it heaped up silver like dust, and gold like [the] mud of [the] streets.

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."

When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

Jehovah of Hosts doth cover them over, And they consumed, and subdued sling-stones, Yea, they have drunk, They have made a noise as wine, And they have been full as a bowl, As corners of an altar.

Ask ye from Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah made lightnings, and he will give rain of heavy showers to them, to each the green herb in the field.

Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

And they will be like warriors, trampling in the mud of [the] streets in the battle. They will fight, because Yahweh [is] with them, and they will put to shame [the] riders on horses.

And I have made mighty the house of Judah, And the house of Joseph I do save, And I have caused them to dwell, for I have loved them, And they have been as if I had not cast them off, For I am Jehovah their God, And I answer them.

And they will go through the sea of Egypt, and all the deep waters of the Nile will become dry: and the pride of Assyria will be made low, and the power of Egypt will be taken away.

And I have made them mighty in Jehovah, And in His name they walk up and down, An affirmation of Jehovah!

Give a cry of grief, O fir-tree, for the fall of the cedar, because the great ones have been made low: give cries of grief, O you oaks of Bashan, for the strong trees of the wood have come down.

The sound of the crying of the keepers of the flock! for their glory is made waste: the sound of the loud crying of the young lions! for the pride of Jordan is made waste.

So I took care of the flock of death, for those who made profit out of the flock; and I took for myself two rods, naming one Beautiful, and the other Bands; and I took care of the flock.

Three shepherds destroyed I in one month, for I might not away with them, neither had they any delight in me.

And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

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."

A curse on the foolish keeper who goes away from the flock! the sword will be on his arm and on his right eye: his arm will become quite dry and his eye will be made completely dark.

but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.

And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king's wine-presses.

And, this, shall be the plague wherewith Yahweh will plague all the peoples who have made war against Jerusalem, - his flesh, shall be made to rot, while he is standing upon his feet, and, his eyes, shall rot in their sockets, and, his tongue, shall rot in their mouth;

but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.

Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And men have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

"A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, 'How have we made light of your name?'

You put unclean bread on my altar. And you say, How have we made it unclean? By your saying, The table of the Lord is of no value.

But now plead for God's favor that he might be gracious to us. "With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?" asks the Lord who rules over all.

Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

For from the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same, my name is great among the Gentiles. Yea, in every place shall there sacrifice be done, and a clean meat offering offered up unto my name: for my name is great among the Heathen, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

Now say ye, 'It is but labour and travail,' and thus have ye thought scorn at it, sayeth the LORD of Hosts; offering robbery, yea the lame and the sick. Ye have brought me in a meat offering? Should I accept it of your hand? sayeth the LORD.

And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name.

But you are turned out of the way; you have made the law hard for numbers of people; you have made the agreement of Levi of no value, says the Lord of armies.

Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?

Judah has been acting falsely, and a disgusting thing has been done in Jerusalem; for Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord which is dear to him, and has taken as his wife the daughter of a strange god.

But the LORD shall destroy the man that doth this, yea both the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacle of Jacob, with him that offereth up meat offering unto the LORD of Hosts.

This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with [your own] weeping and sighing, because the Lord no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

But you say, “Why [does He reject it]?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your marriage companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your vows].

And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

“For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong and violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore keep watch on your spirit, so that you do not deal treacherously [with your wife].”

You have made the Lord tired with your words. And still you say, How have we made him tired? By your saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he has delight in them; or, Where is God the judge?

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: when his mother Mary was going to be married to Joseph, before they came together the discovery was made that she was with child by the Holy Spirit.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

He made Mary his wife, but did not live with her as her husband until after the birth of her son; and to this son he gave the name Jesus.

so he gathered all the high priests and scribes of the people and made inquiries of them about where the messiah was to be born.

Then Herod secretly sent for the magi and learned from them the [exact] time the star [had first] appeared.

And coming into the house, they found the infant with Mary his mother, and falling prostrate, they paid their homage to him. And opening their treasures, they made their offerings to him, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

And it was made clear to them by God in a dream that they were not to go back to Herod; so they went into their country by another way.

Then he awoke and tenderly took the child and His mother by night and made their escape to Egypt;

And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Then Herod saw that he had been tricked by the astrologers, and he was very angry, and he sent and made away with all the boys in Bethlehem and in all that neighborhood who were two years old or under, for that was the tune he had learned from the astrologers by his inquiries.

Then he awoke, tenderly took the child and His mother, and made the trip to the land of Israel.

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

About this time John the Baptist made his appearance, preaching in the Desert of Judaea.

And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Then came Jesus from Galilee unto Jordan to John, that he might be baptized by him.

But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now: because so it is right for us to make righteousness complete. Then he gave him baptism.

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

But he made answer and said, It is in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need, but every word which comes out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple,

And going away from Nazareth, he came and made his living-place in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

Then he made a tour through the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Reign, and healing all the sickness and disease of the people.

And news of him went out through all Syria; and they took to him all who were ill with different diseases and pains, those having evil spirits and those who were off their heads, and those who had no power of moving. And he made them well.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, by what will it be made salty? It is good for nothing any longer except to be thrown outside [and] trampled under foot by people.

Be ready to make friends with your opponent, even when you meet him on your way to the court; for fear that he should hand you over to the judge, and the judge to his officer, and you should be thrown into prison.

Truly I say to you, You will not come out from there till you have made payment of the very last farthing.

"You have heard what was said [Exodus 20:14], 'You must not be sexually unfaithful to your mate.'

But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with an improper sexual desire for her [body], has already been sexually unfaithful to his mate in his heart.

But if your right eye makes you fall, tear it out and throw it away, for you might better lose one part of your body than have it all thrown into the pit!

If your right hand makes you fall, cut it off and throw it away, for you might better lose one part of your body than have it all go down to the pit!

But, I, say unto you, that, Everyone who divorceth his wife - saving for unfaithfulness, causeth her to be made an adulteress, - and, whosoever shall marry a divorced woman, committeth adultery.

So that ye might be sons of your Father, which in the heavens: for he makes his sun rise upon evil and good, and rains on the just and unjust.

When therefore thou doest alms, thou shouldst not sound the trumpet before thee, as hypocrites do in the assemblies, and in the streets, that they might be praised by men. Verily I say to you, They have their reward.

That thine alms might be in secret; and thy Father, who seeing in secret, shall give back to thee openly.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love in the assemblies, and in the corners of the broad ways to stand praying, so that they might appear to men. Verily I say to you, that they have their reward.

And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us.

"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.