the First Week of Advent
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Daily Bible Reading
November 23 - Different Topics
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Zechariah 8-14
Chapter 8
Obedience and Feasting
1 The word of the Lord of Hosts came: 2 "The Lord of Hosts says this: I am extremely jealous(a) for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath." 3 The Lord says this: "I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City,(b) the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, and the Holy Mountain." 4 The Lord of Hosts says this: "Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age. 5 The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them." 6 The Lord of Hosts says this: "Though it may seem incredible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem incredible to Me?"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. 7 The Lord of Hosts says this: "I will save My people from the land of the east and the land of the west. 8 I will bring them back(c) to live in Jerusalem. They will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God."(d)
9 The Lord of Hosts says this: "Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the Lord of Hosts. 10 For prior to those days neither man nor beast had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor. 11 But now, I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. 12 "For they will sow in peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the skies will yield their dew. I will give the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.(e) 13 As you have been a curse among the nations,(f) house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.(g) Don't be afraid; let your hands be strong." 14 For the Lord of Hosts says this: "As I resolved to treat you badly when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent," says the Lord of Hosts, 15 "so I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah.(h) Don't be afraid. 16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates. 17 Do not plot evil(i) in your hearts against your neighbor,(j) and do not love perjury,(k) for I hate all this"—this is the Lord 's declaration.
18 Then the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me: 19 "The Lord of Hosts says this: The fast of the fourth month,(l) the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth(m) will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace." 20 The Lord of Hosts says this: "Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities; 21 the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let's go at once to plead for the Lord 's favor and to seek the Lord of Hosts. I am also going. 22 Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to plead for the Lord 's favor."(n) 23 The Lord of Hosts says this: "In those days, 10 men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you,(o) for we have heard that God is with you."
Chapter 9
Judgment of Zion's Enemies
1 An Oracle
The word of the
Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus(a) is its resting place—
for the eyes of men
and all the tribes of Israel
are on the
Lord
[a]—
2 and also against Hamath,(b) which borders it,
as well as Tyre(c) and Sidon,(d)
though they are very shrewd.
3 Tyre has built herself a fortress;
she has heaped up silver like dust
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 Listen! The Lord will impoverish her
and cast her wealth into the sea;
she herself will be consumed by fire.(e)
5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid;
Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain,
as will Ekron, for her hope will fail.
There will cease to be a king in Gaza,
and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.
6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod,
and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.(f)
7 I will remove the blood from their mouths
and the detestable things(g)
from between their teeth.
Then they too will become a remnant for our God;
they will become like a clan in Judah
and Ekron like the Jebusites.(h)
8 I will set up camp at My house against an army,[b]
against those who march back and forth,
and no oppressor will march against them again,
for now I have seen with My own eyes.
The Coming of Zion's King
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
He is righteous and victorious,[c]
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.(i)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.(j)
11 As for you,
because of the blood of your covenant,(k)
I will release your prisoners
from the waterless cistern.(l)
12 Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.(m)
13 For I will bend Judah as My bow;
I will fill that bow with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece.[d](n)
I will make you like a warrior's sword.
14 Then the
Lord
will appear over them,
and His arrow will fly like lightning.
The Lord
God
will sound the trumpet
and advance with the southern storms.(o)
15 The
Lord
of Hosts will defend them.
They will consume and conquer with slingstones;
they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine.(p)
They will be as full as the sprinkling basin,(q)
like those at the corners of the altar.(r)
16 The
Lord
their God will save them on that day
as the flock of His people;(s)
for they are like jewels in a crown,(t)
sparkling over His land.
17 How lovely and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men flourish,
and new wine, the young women.
Chapter 10
The Lord Restores His People
1 Ask the
Lord
for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The
Lord
makes the rain clouds,
and He will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.(a)
2 For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners(b) see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.[a]
For the
Lord
of Hosts has tended His flock,
the house of Judah;
He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.
4 The cornerstone(c) will come from Judah.[b]
The tent peg(d) will come from them
and also the battle bow(e) and every[c] ruler.
Together
5 they will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the
Lord
is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.[d]
I will restore[e] them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.(f)
For I am Yahweh their God,
and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim(g) will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;(h)
their hearts will rejoice in Yahweh.
8 I will whistle(i) and gather them
because I have redeemed(j) them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
9 Though I sow(k) them among the nations,
they will remember(l) Me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead(m)
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
11 Yahweh[f] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(n)
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
12 I will strengthen(o) them in Yahweh,
and they will march(p) in His name—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
Chapter 11
Israel's Shepherds: Good and Bad
1 Open your gates, Lebanon,
and fire will consume your cedars.(a)
2 Wail, cypress,(b) for the cedar has fallen;
the glorious trees are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,(c)
for the stately forest has fallen!
3 Listen to the wail(d) of the shepherds,
for their glory is destroyed.
Listen to the roar of young lions,(e)
for the thickets of the Jordan(f) are[a] destroyed.
4 Yahweh my God says this: "Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished.(g) Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them."(h)
7 So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock.[b] I took two staffs, calling one Favor(i) and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 Then I said, "I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is going astray go astray; let the rest devour each other's flesh." 10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. 11 It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock[c] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord . 12 Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.(j)
13 "Throw it to the potter,"[d] the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord , to the potter.[e](k) 14 Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 The Lord also said to me: "Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost[f] or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy,[g] but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep(l) and tear off their hooves.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
who deserts the flock!(m)
May a sword strike[h] his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm wither away
and his right eye go completely blind!"
Chapter 12
Judah's Security
1 An Oracle
The word of the
Lord
concerning Israel.
A declaration of the
Lord
,
who stretched out the heavens,(a)
laid the foundation of the earth,(b)
and formed the spirit of man within him.
2 "Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering(c) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.(d) 4 On that day"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.(e) I will keep a watchful eye on(f) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. 5 Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God. 6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David's house and the glory of Jerusalem's residents may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord , before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Mourning for the Pierced One
10 "Then I will pour out a spirit[a](g) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at[b] Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.(h) 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David's house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan's[c](i) house by itself and their women by themselves; 13 the family of Levi's house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei[d](j) by itself and their women by themselves; 14 all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.
Chapter 13
God's People Cleansed
1 "On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.(a) 2 On that day"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will remove the prophets[a] and the unclean spirit from the land. 3 If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken falsely in the name of Yahweh. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.(b) 4 On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak(c) in order to deceive. 5 He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased[b] me as a servant since my youth.(d) 6 If someone asks him: What are these wounds(e) on your chest?[c]—then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.
7 Sword, awake against My shepherd,
against the man who is My associate—
this is the declaration of the
Lord
of Hosts.
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;(f)
I will also turn My hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land—
this is the
Lord
's declaration—
two-thirds[d] will be cut off and die,
but a third will be left in it.
9 I will put this third through the fire;
I will refine them as silver is refined
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
and I will answer them.
I will say: They are My people,
and they will say: Yahweh is our God."
Chapter 14
The Lord's Triumph and Reign
1 A day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence. 2 I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle.(a) The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle.(b) 4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,(c) which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south. 5 You will flee by My mountain valley,[a] for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled[b] from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.(d) Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.[c](e)
6 On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight[d] will diminish.[e](f) 7 It will be a day known only to Yahweh,(g) without day or night, but there will be light at evening.
8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem,(h) half of it toward the eastern sea[f] and the other half toward the western sea,[g] in summer and winter alike. 9 On that day Yahweh will become King over all the earth(i)—Yahweh alone, and His name alone.(j) 10 All the land from Geba(k) to Rimmon(l) south of Jerusalem will be changed into a plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain[h] on its site from the Benjamin Gate(m) to the place of the First Gate,[i] to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.(n) 11 People will live there, and never again will there be a curse of complete destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell in security.
12 This will be the plague the Lord strikes all the peoples with, who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day a great panic from the Lord will be among them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other. 14 Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected: gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.(o) 15 The same plague as the previous one will strike[j] the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.
16 Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.(p) 17 Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, rain will not fall on them. 18 And if the people[k] of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the Lord inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.
20 On that day, the words
HOLY TO THE LORD
will be on the bells of the horses.(q) The pots in the house of the Lord will be like the sprinkling basins before the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Hosts. Everyone who sacrifices will come and take some of the pots to cook in. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite[l] in the house of the Lord of Hosts.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
