O My people, what have I done to you? And in what have I made you weary? Testify against Me!

For its rich men are full of violence, and its people have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Therefore I also have made you sick by striking you, laying you waste because of your sins.

I will bear the fury of Jehovah, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and brings out judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness.

He will turn again; He will have pity on us. He will trample our iniquities. Yea, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

You will give faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

So says Jehovah: Though secure and likewise many, yet they shall be cut down, and he shall pass away. And though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

For Jehovah has turned away the glory of Jacob, as the glory of Israel. For the plunderers have plundered them, and have destroyed their vine branches.

You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven; the locust larvae shall strip off and fly away.

Are You not from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Jehovah, You have ordained them for judgment; and, my Rock, You have established them for correction.

Because you have stripped many nations, all the rest of the people shall strip you; because of men's blood, and the violence of the land, of the city, and of all who dwell in it.

You have planned shame to your house, to make an end of many people, and are sinning in your soul.

O Jehovah, I have heard Your report; I am afraid. O Jehovah, give new life to Your work in the midst of years; in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

You make Your bow naked, according to the oaths of the rods of Your Word. Selah. You have cut through the earth with rivers.

and those drawing back from Jehovah, and who have not sought Jehovah, nor asked for Him.

And I will bring distress on men, so that they shall walk with the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah. And their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.

Seek Jehovah, all the meek of the earth who have done His justice; seek righteousness; seek meekness. It may be you shall be hidden in the day of Jehovah's anger.

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the curses of the sons of Ammon, with which they have cursed My people and have magnified themselves on their border.

They shall have this for their pride, because they have cursed and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of Hosts.

Her prophets are proud, men of deceit; her priests have defiled the sanctuary; they have done violence to the Law.

I have cut off the nations; their towers are ruined. I made their streets waste, so that none passes by; their cities are laid waste, without a man, there being no inhabitant.

In that day you shall not be ashamed for all your doings in which you have transgressed against Me; for then I will withdraw from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall never again be proud in My holy mountain.

you have sown much and bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress, but no one is warm; and he who hires out himself hires himself for a bag full of holes.

Therefore the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth is held back from her produce.

Is the seed still in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, have not brought forth. From this day I will bless you.

In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Jehovah, and will make you like a signet; for I have chosen you, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have proclaimed to them, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil doings. But they did not hear nor listen to Me, says Jehovah.

And they answered the Angel of Jehovah who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sits still and is at peace.

Then the Angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of Hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which You have cursed these seventy years?

Therefore so says Jehovah: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it, says Jehovah of Hosts. And a line shall be stretched over Jerusalem.

And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

And I said, What are these coming to do? And He spoke, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head. But these have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Ho! Ho! Flee then from the land of the north, says Jehovah. For I have scattered you as the four winds of the heavens, says Jehovah.

And He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy clothes from him. And to him He said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with ceremonial robes.

For behold! I will bring forth My Servant the Branch. For behold the stone that I have set before Joshua: On one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its engraving, says Jehovah of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you shall know that Jehovah of Hosts has sent me to you.

And he cried to me and spoke to me, saying, Behold, these who go toward the north country have caused My Spirit to rest in the north country.

Take from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, from the exiles who have come from Babylon; and in that day you go and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah.

to speak to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself, as I have done these many years?

So says Jehovah: I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a City of Truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy Mountain.

so again I have thought in these days to do well to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear not.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: In those days ten men, out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold, and will seize the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

And I will camp around My house because of an army, because of him who passed by, and because of him who returns. And no tyrant shall pass through them any more. For now I have seen with My eyes.

You also, by the blood of Your covenant I have freed Your prisoners out of the pit in which is no water.

For I have bent Judah for me as a bow; I filled it with Ephraim, and I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you as the sword of a mighty man.

For the family idols speak iniquity, and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in vain; therefore they wandered like a flock; they were troubled because there was no shepherd.

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will return to save them; for I have pity on them. And they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am Jehovah their God, and I will answer them.

I will hiss for them and gather them; for I have redeemed them. And they shall be many as they were many.

And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born.

And this shall be the plague with which Jehovah will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall rot in their sockets. And their tongue shall rot in their mouth.

And if the family of Egypt does not go up, nor come in, they shall have no rain, but the plague with which Jehovah shall strike the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

I have loved you, says Jehovah. But you say, In what have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says Jehovah; yet I loved Jacob,

A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My fear? says Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. And you say, In what way have we despised Your name?

You offer defiled bread upon My altar; and you say, In what way have we defiled You? In your saying, The table of Jehovah, it is a thing to be despised.

Who is even among you who will shut the doors, and you not kindle fire on My altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says Jehovah of Hosts. I will not be pleased with an offering from you.

You also said, Behold, what a weariness it is! And you have puffed at it, says Jehovah of Hosts. And you bring plunder, and the lame, and the sick, and you bring the food offering. Should I accept it from your hand, says Jehovah?

If you will not hear, and if you will not set it on your heart to give glory to My name, says Jehovah of Hosts, then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed I have cursed it, because you do not set it on your heart.

And you shall know that I have sent this command to you, to be My covenant with Levi, says Jehovah of Hosts.

But you have turned out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Therefore I have also made you despised and low before all the people, just as you have not kept My ways but are lifting up faces in the law.

And this is a second thing you have done, covering the altar of Jehovah with tears, weeping, and groaning, yet not facing toward the food offering, and taking it with delight from your hand.

Yet you say, Why? Because Jehovah has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your covenant wife.

You have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet you say, In what have we wearied Him? When you say, Every evildoer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He delights in them; or, Where is the God of justice?

From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of Hosts. But you say. In what way shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, In what have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering!

Your words have been strong against Me, says Jehovah. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You?

You have said, It is vain to serve God; and, What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked as mourners before Jehovah of Hosts?

saying, Where is He who is born king of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child. And when you have found him, bring me word again so that I may come and worship him also.

And he was there until the death of Herod; so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the LORD through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called My Son."

and do not think to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

But John restrained Him, saying, I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?

Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "You shall not kill" --and, "Whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment."

Truly I say to you, You shall by no means come out from there until you have paid the last kodrantes.

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "You shall not commit adultery."

Again, you have heard that it has been said to the ancients, "You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord."

You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

And to him desiring to sue you, and to take away your tunic, let him have your coat also.

You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?

Take heed that you do not do your merciful deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in Heaven.

Therefore when you do your merciful deeds, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him.

And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

For the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.

When Jesus heard, He marvelled and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.

And Jesus said to the centurion, Go. And as you have believed, so let it be to you. And his boy was healed in that hour.

And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.

And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?

But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

And when Jesus passed on from there, two blind ones followed Him, crying and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received freely, freely give.

But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another; for truly I say to you, In no way shall you have finished the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

It is enough for the disciple that he is like his master, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household?

Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to send peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel proclaimed to them.