'Speak, I pray thee, unto Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and unto Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest, and unto the remnant of the people, saying:

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: 'Ask, I pray thee, the priests of the law, saying:

If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:

that when ye came to a corn heap of twenty bushels, there were scarce ten: and that when ye came to the wine press for to pour out fifty pots of wine, there were scarce twenty.

Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month , since the day that the foundation of Jehovah's temple was laid, consider it.

Is the seed yet in the storehouse? and even the vine and the fig tree, and the pomegranate and the olive tree bore not: from this day will I praise.

I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword.