Study Desk

"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?

'And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

"The LORD of armies says this: 'I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.'

'For before those days there was no wage for man nor any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I sent all the people against one another.

'For there will be the seed of peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will provide their dew; and I will give to the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.

"For this is what the LORD of armies says: 'Just as I determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,' says the LORD of armies, 'and I have not relented,

'These are the things which you shall do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace at your gates.

'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these things are what I hate,' declares the LORD."

"The LORD of armies says this: 'The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, jubilation, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.'

'The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, "Let's go at once to plead for the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of armies; I also will go."

'So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of armies in Jerusalem, and to plead for the favor of the LORD.'

"The LORD of armies says this: 'In those days ten people from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

The pronouncement of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD),

For Tyre built herself a fortress, And piled up silver like dust, And gold like the mud of the streets.

And I will remove their blood from their mouth And their detestable things from between their teeth. Then they also will be a remnant for our God, And be like a clan in Judah, And Ekron will be like a Jebusite.

But I will camp around My house because of an army, Because of him who passes by and returns; And no oppressor will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes.

As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece; And I will make you like a warrior's sword.

And the LORD their God will save them on that day As the flock of His people; For they are like the precious stones of a crown, Sparkling on His land.

For how great will their loveliness and beauty be! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the virgins.