They reported to the Angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”

Then the Angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?”

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; My house will be rebuilt within it”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and a measuring line will be stretched out over 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.”

“Get up! Leave the land of the north”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

So the Angel of the Lord spoke to those standing before Him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then He said to him, “See, I have removed your guilt from you, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

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.

“Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.

Then He summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified My Spirit in the northern land.”

“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Hosts as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

As you have been a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Don’t be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

“so I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.

The Lord of Hosts says this: “In those days, 10 men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

I will set up camp at My house against an army,
against those who march back and forth,
and no oppressor will march against them again,
for now I have seen with My own eyes.

Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.

I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.
For I am Yahweh their God,
and I will answer them.

I will whistle and gather them
because I have redeemed them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.

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.

Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”

If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken falsely in the name of Yahweh. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.

This will be the plague the Lord strikes all the peoples with, who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.