"Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Return from your evil ways and your evil deeds!" ' But they did not hear and they did not pay attention to me," {declares} Yahweh.

Therefore, thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My temple will be built in it," {declares} Yahweh of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem." '

And he said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited {like villages without walls} because of the multitude of people and animals in its midst.

And I will be for it a wall of fire all around,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and I will be [the] glory in its midst.'"

"Many nations will join themselves to Yahweh on that day, and they will be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you.

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

And I said, "Let them put a clean headband on his head." And they put a clean headband on his head, and they clothed him [with] garments. And the angel of Yahweh [was] standing [by].

And [there are] two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."

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, "These [are] the two {anointed ones} standing by the Lord of the whole earth."

'I have sent it out,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of the one swearing {falsely by my name}, and it will spend the night in that house and will destroy it, with its timber and its stone.'"

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."

And he will build the temple of Yahweh, and he will bear majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them." '

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.

{They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.

Thus says Yahweh: 'I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called the faithful city, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts [will be called] the holy mountain.'

And the public squares of the city will be filled [with] boys and girls playing in its public squares.'

and I will bring them and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be my people and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness.'

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Let your hands be strong, you who are hearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who [were present] on [the] day {the foundation was laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of Yahweh of hosts}.

'For [there will be] a sowing of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the soil will give its produce, and the heavens will give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these [things].

{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!'"

{so again I have planned} in these days to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Do not be afraid!

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth [month], the fifth [month], the seventh [month], and the tenth [month] will be for the house of Judah jubilation and joy and merry festivals; therefore love truth and peace.'

Look! The Lord will drive it out and will hurl its outer ramparts into the sea, and it will be consumed by fire.

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.

I will remove its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth. And it too will be a remnant for our God; and it will be like a tribal chief in Judah, and Ekron [will be] like [the] Jebusite.

And I will cut off [the] chariot from Ephraim, and [the] horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow will be cut down, and he will announce peace to the nations. His dominion [will be] from sea to sea, and from [the] River to [the] ends of [the] earth.

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.

Yahweh of hosts will defend them, and they will devour and subdue the slingstones; they will drink, they will make noise like wine, and they will be full like the sacrificial basin, [drenched] like the corners of an altar.

From them [the] cornerstone will go out, from them [the] tent peg, from them [the] battle bow, from them every ruler, [all] together.

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.

And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, and from Assyria I will gather them. To the land of Gilead and Lebanon I will bring them, until no [room] will be found for them [there].

And he will pass through the sea of distress, and he will strike the waves of the sea, and all [the] depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought low, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.

The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, 'Blessed [be] Yahweh, for I have become rich.' Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

So I said, "I will not shepherd you! The [one] dying will die, and the [one] to be destroyed will be destroyed. And the [ones] remaining, let them devour {the flesh of each other}."

And Yahweh said to me, "Throw it to the potter," {this noble price} [at] which I was valued by them!" So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and I threw them to the potter [in] the house of Yahweh.

"Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! [May] a sword [fall] on his arm and on {his right eye}! May his arm wither completely and {his right eye} be utterly blinded!"

'Look, I [am] going to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding nations; it will also be against Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.

" 'On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a pan of fire among [sticks of] wood, and like a torch of fire among stalks of grain, and they will devour to [the] right and to [the] left all the surrounding peoples, and Jerusalem will be inhabited again [in] its place, in Jerusalem.

And Yahweh will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over Judah.

On that day Yahweh will put a shield around the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who stumbles among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David [will be] like God, like the angel of Yahweh, {before them}.

On that day the wailing will be great in Jerusalem, like the wailing for Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

And the land shall mourn, {each clan by itself}; the clan of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the clan of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

the clan of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the clan of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves;

and all those clans remaining, {each clan by itself}, and their wives by themselves.'"

" 'On that day a well will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, {to cleanse them from sin and from impurity}.

{And then}, on that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I will banish from the land.

{And then} on that day, each of the prophets will be ashamed because of his vision when he was prophesying, and they will not put on a cloak of hair in order to deceive,

"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 then} in all the land," {declares} Yahweh, "{two thirds} will be cut off and perish, and one third will be left alive in it.

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

I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.

On that day his feet will stand on {the Mount of Olives}, which faces Jerusalem on [the] east; and {the Mount of Olives} will be split {in half}, from east to west, [by] a very great valley; and half of the mountain will withdraw toward the north, and the other half toward the south.

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.

{And then} on that day there will not be light, the precious things will congeal.

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

And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be one and his name one.

All the land will be transformed into a desert plateau from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But it will rise up high and it will stay in its place from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of [the] former gate, up to the Corner Gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

And they will dwell in it, and {there will be no more ban imposed}, and Jerusalem will dwell in security.

And this will be the plague [with] which Yahweh will strike all the peoples that fight against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they [are] standing on their feet; their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

{And then} on that day a great panic from Yahweh will fall on them, and {they will seize one another's hand}, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of {another}.

And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected--gold and silver, and garments {in great abundance}.

{Like this plague} will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, and the donkey, and every kind of animal in those camps.

And if the clan of Egypt will not go up and come in, on them will be that plague Yahweh inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

On that day there will be [inscribed] on the bells of the horses, "Holy to Yahweh." And the cooking pots in the house of Yahweh will be [holy] like the sacrificial basins before the altar.

And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts, and all those who sacrifice will come and will take from them, and will cook in them, and there will be no longer a {trader} in the house of Yahweh of hosts on that day.