However, did not my words and my regulations which I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? And they repented and said, 'Yahweh of hosts planned to do with us according to our ways, and according to our deeds so he has dealt with us.'" '"

And they answered the angel of Yahweh who was standing between the myrtle shrubs, and they said, "We have patrolled the earth, and look, all the earth {is dwelling in peace}."

And I asked, "Where [are] you going?" And he answered me, "To measure Jerusalem to see what [is] its width and what [is] its length."

For thus said Yahweh of hosts, after glory he sent me against the nations plundering you: Truly, the one touching you [is] touching the apple of his eye.

And Yahweh will inherit Judah [as] his portion {in the holy land}, and he will again choose Jerusalem.

Be silent, {all people}, before Yahweh, for he is roused from {his holy dwelling}."

But Yahweh said to Satan, "Yahweh rebukes you, O Satan! Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you! [Is] this not a stick snatched from the fire?"

And the angel [who was] talking with me returned, and he wakened me as one who is wakened from his sleep.

And he answered and said to me, "This [is] the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by strength and not by power, but [only] by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of hosts.

And he said to me, "This [is] the curse going out over the surface of the whole earth. For everyone who steals has gone unpunished according to it, and [likewise] everyone who swears [falsely] has gone unpunished according to it.

And the angel who was speaking to me went out, and he said to me, "{Please look up}! See what this [is] going out."

And I asked, "What [is] it?" And he said, "This [is] a basket going out. And he said, "This [is] their iniquity throughout all the earth.

And he said, "This [is] Wickedness!" And he thrust her [back down] into the basket, and threw the lead cover on top of it.

And he said to me, "To build for it a house in the land of Shinar, and [when] it is put in place, it will be placed there on its site."

{The one with} the black horses [is] going out to [the] north country, and the white [horses] go after them, while the dappled [ones] go to the south country."

And say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, [here is] a man whose name [is] Branch, and from his place he will sprout, and he will build the temple of Yahweh.

And the crown will be for Helem, for Tobijah, for Jedaiah, and for Hen son of Zephaniah, as a memorial in the temple of Yahweh.

{And then}, in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on [the] fourth [day] of the ninth month, [which is] Kislev.

saying to the {priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts} and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?"

'Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,' says Yahweh of hosts.

But now {I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days},' {declares} Yahweh of hosts.

{And then}, just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. You must not be afraid; let your hands be strong!'"

For thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Just as I planned to bring disaster on you when your ancestors provoked me to anger," says Yahweh of hosts, "and I did not regret [it],

And the inhabitants of one city will go to another [city], saying, "Let us go immediately to entreat {the favor of} Yahweh, to seek Yahweh of hosts--I also will go!"

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'In those days ten men from {all the nations of every language} will take hold of the hem of a Judean man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard [that] God [is] with you!" '"

An oracle. The word of Yahweh [is] against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus [is] its resting place. For to Yahweh belongs the eye of humankind, and all the tribes of Israel,

and also Hamath, [which] borders on it; Tyre and Sidon--yes, they are very wise!

Ashkelon will see and will be afraid, and Gaza will writhe exceedingly, and Ekron [also], because its hope is ruined. And the king from Gaza will perish, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king comes to you; he [is] righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a male donkey, {the foal of} a female donkey!

[As for] you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from {the waterless pit}.

For I have bent Judah [as] my bow; I have set Ephraim [as an arrow]. I will set in motion your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Javan. I will wield you like the sword of a warrior.

And Yahweh their God will save them on that day, as the flock of his people; for [they are like] the stones of a diadem, glittering on his land.

For how [great is] his goodness, and how [great is] his beauty! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine [the] young women.

Because the household gods speak deceit, and those who practice divination see a lie, and the dreamers of vanity speak in vain. Therefore [the people] wander like sheep; they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.

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 will strengthen the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph I will save. And I will bring them back, because I have compassion on them, and they will be as if I had not rejected them, for I [am] Yahweh their God, and I will answer them.

And [the people of] Ephraim will be like warrior, and their heart will be glad as [with] wine. And their children will see and rejoice; their heart will shout in exultation in Yahweh.

I will whistle to them and gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they will become numerous as they have been numerous [before].

[Listen to] the wailing of the shepherds, for their splendor is ruined! [Listen to] the roar of [the] young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are ruined!

And the clans of Judah will say {to themselves}, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strength to us, through Yahweh of hosts, their God."

" 'I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look to me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn over him, as one wails over an only child, and they will grieve bitterly over him as [one] grieves bitterly over a firstborn.

"O sword, awake against my shepherd, against [the] man [who is] my associate," {declares} Yahweh of hosts. "Strike the shepherd, so that the sheep may be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the small [ones].

And I will bring the [remaining] third into the fire, and I will refine them like [one] refines silver, and I will test them like [one] tests gold. They will call my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'Yahweh [is] my God.'"

Look! A day [is] coming for Yahweh, when your plunder will be divided in your midst.

And you will flee [by] the valley of my mountains, because the valley of [the] mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, [and] all [the] holy ones with him.

There shall be continuous day--it is known to Yahweh--not day and not night; and at evening time there will be light.