“Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?

I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse.

So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”

And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

I asked, “What are they coming to do?”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

“Go, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.”

For the Lord of Hosts says this: “He has sent Me for His glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

“Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring My servant, the Branch.

Notice the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave an inscription on it”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will take away the guilt of this land in a single day.

There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me.

I said, “No, my lord.”

‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”

And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold conduits, from which golden oil pours out?”

Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

“These are the two anointed ones,” he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”

You are to tell him: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Here is a man whose name is Branch; He will branch out from His place and build the Lord’s temple.

People who are far off will come and build the Lord’s temple, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God.”

Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates.

An Oracle

The word of the Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus is its resting place—
for the eyes of men
and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord—

and also against Hamath, which borders it,
as well as Tyre and Sidon,
though they are very shrewd.

The Lord their God will save them on that day
as the flock of His people;
for they are like jewels in a crown,
sparkling over His land.

Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen;
the glorious trees are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail of the shepherds,
for their glory is destroyed.
Listen to the roar of young lions,
for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves.

Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God.

If someone asks him: What are these wounds on your chest?—then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.

I will put this third through the fire;
I will refine them as silver is refined
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
and I will answer them.
I will say: They are My people,
and they will say: Yahweh is our God.”

The same plague as the previous one will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.