Howbeit, as for my words and my statutes with which I charged my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and so they returned and said, Just as Yahweh of hosts planned to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our practices, So hath he dealt with us?

Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the same, is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Yahweh unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, as followeth:

Then responded they to the messenger of Yahweh, who was standing among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have gone to and fro through the earth, - and lo! all the earth, resteth and is quiet.

Ho! ho! flee ye, therefore, out of the land of the North, urgeth Yahweh. For, as the four winds of the heavens, have I spread you abroad, declareth Yahweh.

Then said Yahweh unto the Accuser, Yahweh rebuke thee, O Accuser, Yea Yahweh rebuke thee, he who is choosing Jerusalem, - Is not, this, a brand snatched out of the fire?

Hear, I pray thee, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy friends who are sitting before thee, for, men to serve as signs, they are, - For behold me! bringing in my servant, the Bud;

And once more the messenger who was speaking with me, roused me up, just as a man might be roused up out of his sleep.

Then responded he, and spake unto me, saying, This, is the word of Yahweh, unto Zerubbabel, saying, - Not by wealth, nor by strength, but by my spirit, saith Yahweh of hosts.

Then said he unto me, This, is the curse, which is going forth over the face of all the earth, - Because, every one who stealeth, on the one side, hath in one way been let off, and, every one who sweareth, on the other side, hath in another way been let off,

Then came forward, the messenger who was talking with me, - and said unto me - Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see what this is which is coming forth.

And I said, What is it? Then said he, This, is an ephah that is coming forth. And he said, This, is their iniquity, throughout all the land.

Then said he, This, is Lawlessness. So he thrust her back inside the ephah, - and then thrust the leaden weight into the mouth thereof.

They in whose chariot are the black horses, are going forth into the land of the North, and, the white, have gone forth after them, - and, the spotted, have gone forth into the land of the South;

then shalt thou speak unto him, saying, Thus, speaketh Yahweh of hosts, saying, - Lo! a man! Bud, is his name, and, out of his own place, shall he bud forth, and shall build the temple of Yahweh;

to speak unto the priests that pertained to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, - Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

Therefore came it to pass that - just as he cried out and they hearkened not, so, used they to cry out, and I used not to hearken, saith Yahweh of hosts;

But, now, not as in the former days, am I to this remnant of the people, - Declareth Yahweh of hosts;

And it shall come to pass that - Just as ye had become a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, So, will I save you, and ye shall become a blessing, - Do not fear, let your hands, be strong.

For, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Just as I planned to bring calamity upon you, when your fathers provoked me, saith Yahweh of hosts, - and I relented not,

And the inhabitants of one city, shall go, unto them of another, saying, Let us be going on to pacify the face of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts, - I also, will go!

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, In those days, it shall be that ten men out of all the tongues of the nations, shall take hold, - yea take hold of the skirt of every one that is a Jew, saying - We will go with you! For we have heard that , God, is with you.

Moreover also, Hamath, adjoineth thereto, Tyre and Zidon, - because very wise;

Ashkelon, shall see, and fear, Gaza, also, which shall writhe in great anguish, Ekron, also, because abashed is her expectation, - and the king, shall perish, from Gaza, and, Ashkelon, not be inhabited;

And will take away his reeking prey out of his mouth, and his abominations, from between his teeth, but, he that is left, even he, shall belong to our God, - So shall he become as a chief in Judah, and, Ekron, as a Jebusite!

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo! thy king, cometh unto thee, vindicated and victorious, is he, - lowly, and riding upon an ass, yea, upon a colt, a young ass.

As for thee also, - By the blood of thy covenant, have I sent forth thy prisoners out of a pit, wherein is no water.

For I have bent for me - Judah, As a bow, have I grasped Ephraim, Thus will I rouse up thy sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty one.

But, Yahweh, over them, will appear, and forth shall go, as lightning, his arrow, - Yea, My Lord Yahweh, with a horn, will blow, and will move along in the whirlwinds of the south.

Yahweh of hosts, will throw a covering over them, so shall they eat, and trample underfoot sling-stones, and shall drink - shall shout as with wine, - and shall be filled like tossing-bowls, - like the corners of an altar.

So will Yahweh their God, save them, on that day. yea, as a flock of sheep, his people, - for they shall be like the jewels of a diadem sparkling over his land.

For how excellent it is! Yea how beautiful! Corn, shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.

For, the household gods, have spoken vanity, and, the diviners, have had vision of falsehood, and, deceitful dreams, do they relate, vainly, do they console, - for this reason, have they moved about like a flock, they suffer ill, because there is no shepherd.

Against the shepherds, is kindled mine anger, and, upon the leaders of the flock, will I bring punishment, - for Yahweh of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his noble horse in battle:

So shall they become like mighty ones, trampling on the mire of lanes, in battle, and they will fight because, Yahweh, is with them, - and will abash the riders of horses.

So will I make mighty ones of the house of Judah, and, the house of Joseph, will I save, and will cause them to continue, because I have had compassion upon them, So shall they be as though I had not rejected them, - for, I, Yahweh, will be their God, and will answer them;

And they shall be as the mighty one of Ephraim, and their heart, shall rejoice, as through wine, - yea, their children, shall see and rejoice, their heart, shall exult, in Yahweh.

I will signal for them, and will gather them, because I have ransomed them, - and they shall multiply, according as they have multiplied;

Howl, fir-tree, for fallen is the cedar, because, the majestic ones, are spoiled: howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest, hath come down.

The noise of the howling of the shepherds, for spoiled is their majesty, - The noise of the roaring of the young lions, for spoiled are the proud banks of the Jordan.

Whose, buyers, slay them, and are not held guilty, and whose, sellers, say - Blessed be Yahweh, that I am become rich, And so, their own shepherds, have no pity upon them.

In that day, will I make the chiefs of Judah like a pan of fire among sticks, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, so shall they devour, on the right hand and on the left, all the peoples round about; so shall Jerusalem yet, be inhabited, in her own place, as Jerusalem.

But I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem, the spirit of favour, and of supplications, and they will look unto me, whom they have pierced, - and will wail over him, as one waileth over an only son, and will make bitter outcry over him, as one maketh bitter outcry over a firstborn.

In that day, will the wailing, be great, in Jerusalem, as the wailing of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddon;

O Sword! awake against my shepherd, even against the man that is my companion, urgeth Yahweh of hosts, - Smite the shepherd, and let the flock, be scattered, Howbeit I will turn back my hand over the little ones.

And I will bring the third into the fire, and will smelt them as one smelteth silver, and will try them, as one trieth gold, - It, will call upon my name, and, I, will answer it, and will say, My people, it is! and, it, will say, Yahweh, is my God!

Then will Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, - just as he did in the day when he fought, in the day of battle;

Yea his feet, shall stand, in that day, on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives, shall cleave asunder, from the midst thereof, towards the east and towards the west, an exceeding great valley, - and half of the mountain, shall give way, toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Then shall ye flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains, shall reach, very near, Yea, ye shall flee, just as ye fled from before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, - Then, shall arrive, Yahweh my God, All thy holy ones, with thee!

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;

And, so, shall be the plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, and the ass, and all the beasts which shall be in those camps, - like this plague!

And it shall come to pass, that, as for every one that is left out of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, that they shall come up, from year to year, to bow down to the king, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the festival of booths.

And it shall come to pass that - whoso shall not come up out of the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to bow down to the king, Yahweh of hosts, - there shall not, on them, be any rain.