Study Desk

I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of the hands."

Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says Yahweh. 'Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' says Yahweh, 'and work, for I am with you,' says Yahweh of Hosts.

For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

In that day, says Yahweh of Hosts, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says Yahweh, 'and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,' says Yahweh of Hosts."

So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity."

For I,' says Yahweh, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says Yahweh; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says Yahweh.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Hosts has sent me.

Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says Yahweh.

Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!"

Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: 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 the engraving of it,' says Yahweh of Hosts, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of Yahweh, which run back and forth through the whole earth."

Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.

The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Yahweh.

"Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

When you eat, and when you drink, don't you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

"but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate."