I have had the nations cut off, their towers are broken down; I have made their streets a waste so that no one goes through them: destruction has overtaken their towns, so that there is no man living in them.

I said, Surely thou wilt reverence, Me, wilt accept correction, lest her abode, should be cut of, howsoever I had punished her; but, in truth, they soon corrupted all their deeds.

The sad exiles from the appointed meeting, have I gathered, from thee, had they been! but were a burden on thee - a reproach!

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘These people say, “The time has not come that the Lord’s house (temple) should be rebuilt.”’”

And Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Josedech, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people, do hearken to the voice of Jehovah their God, and unto the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him, and the people are afraid of the face of Jehovah.

Then Haggai, whom the Lord had sent to give his words to the people, said, I am with you, says the Lord.

Now, therefore, I pray you apply your heart, from this day and upwards, - So long as there had not been laid one stone upon another in the temple of Yahweh,

{I had a vision in the night}, and look, a man riding on a red horse. And he [was] standing between the myrtle shrubs that [were] in the ravine, and behind him [were] red, reddish-brown, and white horses.

And the angel of Jehovah answered and said, Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?

For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After glory He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you—for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.

Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me up as if I had been asleep.

Then I asked the angel who had been speaking with me, "Sir, what are these?"

The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, "You don't know what these mean, do you?" So I responded, "No, sir."

‘What are you, O great mountain [of obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who will rebuild the temple] you will become a plain (insignificant)! And he will bring out the capstone [of the new temple] with loud shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

For who has had a poor opinion of the day of small things? for they will be glad when they see the weighted measuring-line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Then he said in answer to me, These seven lights are the eyes of the Lord which go quickly up and down through all the earth.

Then the angel who had been talking with me stepped forward and told me, "Please look up and see what's going out."

And I {looked up} and saw, and look!--two women coming forward, and [the] wind [was] in their wings, and they had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses,

the third chariot had white horses (victory), and the fourth chariot had strong dappled horses (death through judgment).

In response, I asked the angel who had been talking with me, "Sir, what are these?"

All these strong ones are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about over the earth." The Lord had said, "Go! Walk about over the earth!" So they are doing so.

when Bethel had sent Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to supplicate Jehovah,

Should ye not have been doing the things which Yahweh, had proclaimed, by the hand of the former prophets, while yet Jerusalem was inhabited and in peace, with her cities round about her, - and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?

{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.

Just as He had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen,” says the Lord of Hosts.

'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"

For before those days there was no payment for a man's work, or for the use of a beast, and there was no peace for him who went out or him who came in, because of the attacker: for I had every man turned against his neighbour.

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 said Jehovah of armies; As I had in mind to do evil to you in your fathers' provoking me to anger, said Jehovah of armies, and, I lamented not

So I turned back.; I had in mind in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: ye shall not fear.

I will take the blood from their mouths
And their detestable things from between their teeth [those repulsive, idolatrous sacrifices eaten with the blood].
Then they too will be a remnant for our God,
And be like a clan in Judah,
And Ekron will be like one of the Jebusites.

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.

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.

The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord.

Though I had them planted among the peoples, they will keep me in mind in far countries: and they will take care of their children and will come back.

Which they possessing them will slaughter them, and they will not be punished: and they selling them will say, Blessed be Jehovah; and I shall be rich: and their shepherds had not pity upon them.

Three shepherds destroyed I in one month, for I might not away with them, neither had they any delight in me.

And I took my staff Kindness and broke it, to break my covenant that I {had made} with all the peoples.

And so it was broken in that day. Then the poor simple sheep that had a respect unto me, knew thereby that it was the word of the LORD.

I told them, "If it's alright with you, pay me what I've earned. But if it isn't, don't." So they paid out what I had earned 30 pieces of silver.

Then said Yahweh unto me, Cast it into the treasury, the magnificent price at which I had been valued by them! So I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them, in the house of Yahweh, into the treasury.

So I took the 30 shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury of the Temple of the LORD. Then I broke my second staff the one I had named "Union" - breaking the union between the house of Judah and the house of Israel.

I made a covenant of life and peace with him: this I gave him, that he might stand in awe of me: and so he did fear me, and had my name in reverence.

Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law.

Judah, hath dealt treacherously, and, an abomination, hath been wrought in Israel, and in Jerusalem, - for Judah, had profaned, the holy place of Yahweh, which he had loved, and hath taken to himself the daughter of a foreign GOD.

So did not the one, and yet had he an excellent spirit. What did then the one? He sought the seed promised of God. Therefore look well to your spirit, and let no man despise the wife of his youth.

You have said, It is no use worshipping God: what profit have we had from keeping his orders, and going in clothing of sorrow before the Lord of armies?

Then those in whom was the fear of the Lord had talk together: and the Lord gave ear, and it was recorded in a book to be kept in mind before him, for those who had the fear of the Lord and gave thought to his name.

And they have been to Me, said Jehovah of Hosts, In the day that I am appointing -- a peculiar treasure, And I have had pity on them, As one hath pity on his son who is serving him.

Abraham had a son named Isaac; Isaac had a son named Jacob and Jacob's sons were Judah and his [eleven] brothers.

Judah had sons named Perez and Zarah, [whose mother was] Tamar. Perez had a son named Hezron; Hezron had a son named Aram;

Aram had a son named Amminadab; Amminadab had a son named Nahshon; Nahshon had a son named Salmon;

Salmon had a son named Boaz [whose mother was] Rahab; Boaz had a son named Obed [whose mother was] Ruth; Obed had a son named Jesse,

and Jesse begat David the king. And David begat Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias;

Solomon had a son named Rehoboam; Rehoboam had a son named Abijah; Abijah had a son named Asa;

Asa had a son named Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat had a son named Joram; Joram had a son named Uzziah;

Uzziah had a descendant named Jotham; Jotham had a son named Ahaz; Ahaz had a son named Hezekiah;

Hezekiah had a son named Manasseh; Manasseh had a son named Amon; Amon had a son named Josiah;

Josiah had descendants named Jechoniah and his brothers, [near] the time when [the people of Judah] were taken away to Babylon.

And after the taking away to Babylon, Jechoniah had a son Shealtiel; and Shealtiel had Zerubbabel;

And Zerubbabel had Abiud; and Abiud had Eliakim; and Eliakim had Azor;

And Azor had Zadok; and Zadok had Achim; and Achim had Eliud;

And Eliud had Eleazar; and Eleazar had Matthan; and Matthan had Jacob;

Jacob had a son named Joseph, who was the husband of Mary. Mary [alone] was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Christ.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, [but] before they came together, she was found {to be pregnant} by the Holy Spirit.

And Joseph, her husband, being an upright man, and not desiring to make her a public example, had a mind to put her away privately.

But, when, these things, he had pondered, lo! a messenger of the Lord, by dream, appeared to him, saying, - Joseph, son of David! do not fear to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for, that which, in her, hath been begotten, is of the , Holy, Spirit.

Now all this occurred to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

But Joseph, having awoke up from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had enjoined him, and took to him his wife,

and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men arrived in Jerusalem from the east

When Herod the king had heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.

Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

[After] they listened to the king, they went out, and behold, the star which they had seen at its rising led them until it came [and] stood above [the place] where the child was.

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they set out to their own country by another route.

Now [after] they had gone away, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to seek the child to destroy him."

he stayed there until Herod's death, so as to fulfill what the Lord had said by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my Son."

Then Herod, [when he] saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent [soldiers] [and] executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region [around] it from [the age of] two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

Now [after] Herod had died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

"Get up, take the young child and His mother, and go [back] to the country of Israel, for those who had tried to take the young child's life are [now] dead."

but when he heard that Archelaus reigned in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was apprehensive of going thither, till having had a divine warning in a dream, he retired into the district of Galilee:

He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.

For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken: "The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

Now John himself had his clothing made from camel's hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

And they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying openly that they had done wrong.

And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him.

and [after he] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.

Then the devil took Him into the holy city, and had Him stand on the tip-top turret of the temple,

Now [when he] heard that John {had been arrested}, he withdrew into Galilee.

whereby those words of Esaias the prophet, had their full effect, "the land of Zabulon,

And his fame spread abroad throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and gripings, and them that were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic and those that had the palsy: and he healed them.

When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. After He had taken His seat, His disciples came up to Him.

"I tell you truly that you would certainly not get out from there until you had paid back the last cent.

But I say to you that everyone whose eyes are turned on a woman with desire has had connection with her in his heart.

But I say to you, every person who divorces his wife makes her become sexually unfaithful to him [i.e., since she will probably marry someone else], unless the reason for the divorce is that she had [already] become sexually unfaithful to him. And whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits sexual sin with her [i.e., because she is still rightfully married to her first husband].

And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.

and the rain came down, and the streams came, and the winds blew and fell upon that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.