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I raised my eyes and saw two women coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like those of a stork. They lifted the eifah up between the earth and the sky.

The other crowns will be for Helem, Toviyah, Y'da‘yah and Hen the son of Tz'fanyah; then [they are to be kept] as a memorial in the temple of Adonai .

as they inquired of the cohanim of the house of Adonai -Tzva'ot and the prophets, "Should we go into mourning and abstain from pleasure during the fifth month, as we have been doing for all these years?"

"Speak to all the people of the land and to the cohanim. Tell them, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months throughout these seventy years, were you really fasting for me? Was it for me?

" Adonai -Tzva'ot says, ‘I am extremely jealous on Tziyon's behalf, and I am jealous for her with great fury.'

" Adonai -Tzva'ot says, ‘Take courage, you who are hearing only now, in these days, these words spoken by the prophets when the foundation was being laid for rebuilding the temple, the house of A donai -Tzva'ot.

For prior to that time, there were wages neither for people nor for animals; moreover, it was unsafe for anyone to go out or come in, because of the enemy; for I set all people each against the other.

"For Adonai -Tzva'ot says, ‘Just as I resolved to do you harm when your forefathers provoked me,' Adonai -Tzva'ot says, ‘and I did not relent;

don't plot harm against each other; and don't love perjury; for all these are things I hate,' says Adonai ."

" Adonai -Tzva'ot says, ‘The fast days of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months are to become times of joy, gladness and cheer for the house of Y'hudah. Therefore, love truth and peace.'

A prophecy, the word of Adonai : In the land of Hadrakh and Dammesek is where [God] comes to rest, for the eyes of humankind are directed toward Adonai , as are those of all the tribes of Isra'el,

also Hamat at its border, Tzor and Tzidon, for she is very wise.

"Then I will guard my house against armies, so that none will march through or return. No oppressor will ever again overrun them, for now I am watching with my own eyes.

For I have bent Y'hudah as my bow and made Efrayim its arrow. I will rouse your sons, Tziyon, and make you like a warrior's sword against your sons, Greece."

On that day Adonai their God will save them as the flock of his people; for they will be like gems in a crown, sparkling over his countryside.

Ask Adonai for rain in the spring, Adonai who makes the rain clouds; and he will give them showers of rain, grass in the field to each one.

For the household gods talk nonsense, the diviners have seen a lie; their dreams convey delusions, and the comfort they offer is in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep in distress from lack of a shepherd.

"My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will vent it on the leaders of the flock." For Adonai -Tzva'ot will care for his flock, the people of Y'hudah; he will make them like his royal war-horse.

From them come cornerstone and tent peg, from them the bow for battle, from them all the rulers together.

"I will strengthen the house of Y'hudah and save the house of Yosef. I will bring them back in my compassion for them; they will be as if I hadn't driven them out; for I am Adonai their God, and I will answer them.