Study Desk

Then the word of the LORD of armies came, saying,

"The LORD of armies says this: 'I am ^(C1)exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.'

"The LORD says this: 'I will return to Zion and ^(C1)dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of ^(C2)Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of armies will be called the Holy Mountain.'

"The LORD of armies says this: '^(C1)Old men and old women will again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each person with his staff in his hand because of ^(F1)age.

'And the public squares of the city will be filled with ^(C1)boys and girls playing in its squares.'

"The LORD of armies says this: 'If it is ^(C1)too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be ^(C2)too difficult in My sight?' declares the LORD of armies.

"The LORD of armies says this: 'Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the ^(F1)(C1)east and from the land of the ^(F2)west;

and I will ^(C1)bring them back and they will ^(C2)live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be ^(C3)My people, and I will be their God in ^(F1)truth and righteousness.'

"The LORD of armies says this: 'Let your hands be ^(C1)strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ^(C2)prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of armies was laid, so that the temple might be built.

'For before those days there was ^(C1)no wage for man nor any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no ^(F1)(C2)peace because of ^(F2)his enemies, and I ^(C3)sent all the people against one another.

'But now I will ^(C1)not ^(F1)treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,' declares the LORD of armies.

'For there will be ^(C1)the seed of peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will provide their ^(C2)dew; and I will give to the remnant of this people ^(C3)all these things as an inheritance.

'And it will come about that just as you were a ^(C1)curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a ^(C2)blessing. Do not fear; let your ^(C3)hands be strong.'

"For this is what the LORD of armies says: 'Just as I ^(C1)determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,' says the LORD of armies, 'and I have not ^(C2)relented,

so I have again determined in these days to ^(C1)do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ^(C2)Do not fear!

'These are the things which you shall do: speak the ^(C1)truth to one another; ^(C2)judge with truth and judgment for peace at your ^(F1)gates.

'Also let none of you ^(C1)devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love ^(F1)(C2)perjury; for all these things are what I ^(C3)hate,' declares the LORD."

Then the word of the LORD of armies came to me, saying,

"The LORD of armies says this: 'The fast of the ^(C1)fourth, the fast of the ^(C2)fifth, the fast of the ^(C3)seventh, and the fast of the ^(C4)tenth months will become ^(C5)joy, jubilation, and ^(F1)cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; so ^(C6)love truth and peace.'

"The LORD of armies says this: 'It will yet turn out that ^(C1)peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities.

'The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, "Let's go at once to ^(C1)plead for the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of armies; ^(F1)I also will go."

'So ^(C1)many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of armies in Jerusalem, and to ^(C2)plead for the favor of the LORD.'

"The LORD of armies says this: 'In those days ten people from all the ^(F1)nations will ^(F2)(C1)grasp the ^(F3)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 ^(C1)Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD),

And ^(C1)Hamath also, which borders on it; ^(C2)Tyre and ^(C3)Sidon, ^(F1)though ^(F2)they are ^(C2)very wise.

For Tyre built herself a ^(C1)fortress, And ^(C2)piled up silver like dust, And ^(C3)gold like the mud of the streets.

Behold, the Lord will ^(C1)dispossess her And throw her wealth into the sea; And she will be ^(C2)consumed with fire.

Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza too will writhe in great pain; Also Ekron, because her hope has been ruined. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

And a people of mixed origins will live in ^(C1)Ashdod, And I will eliminate the pride of the Philistines.

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 ^(F1)clan in Judah, And Ekron will be like a Jebusite.

But I will camp around My house ^(F1)because of an army, Because of ^(C1)him who passes by and returns; And ^(C2)no oppressor will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes.

^(C1)Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your ^(C2)king is coming to you; He is ^(F1)(C3)righteous and ^(C4)endowed with salvation, ^(C5)Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a ^(C6)colt, the ^(F2)foal of a donkey.

And I will ^(C1)eliminate the chariot from Ephraim And the ^(C2)horse from Jerusalem; And the ^(C3)bow of war will be eliminated. And He will speak ^(C4)peace to the nations; And His ^(C5)dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the ^(C1)blood of My covenant with you, I have set your ^(C2)prisoners free from the ^(F1)waterless pit.

Return to the ^(F1)(C1)stronghold, you prisoners ^(F2)who have the ^(C2)hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore ^(C3)double to you.

For I will ^(C1)bend Judah ^(F1)as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, ^(C2)Greece; And I will make you like a ^(C3)warrior's sword.

Then the LORD will appear ^(C1)over them, And His ^(C2)arrow will go forth like lightning; And the Lord ^(F1)GOD will blow the ^(C3)trumpet, And march in the ^(C4)storm winds of the south.

^(C1)The LORD of armies will protect them. And they will ^(C2)devour and trample on the ^(C3)slingstones; And they will drink and be ^(C4)boisterous as with wine; And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, Drenched like the ^(C5)corners of the altar.

And the LORD their God will ^(C1)save them on that day As the flock of His people; For they are like the precious stones of a ^(C2)crown, Sparkling on His land.

For how great will ^(F1)their ^(C1)loveliness and ^(C2)beauty be! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the virgins.

Ask for ^(C1)rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain— The LORD who ^(C2)makes the ^(F1)storm winds; And He will give them ^(C3)showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each person.

For the ^(F1)(C1)household idols speak deception, And the ^(C2)diviners see ^(F2)an illusion And tell ^(C3)deceitful dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people ^(F3)wander like ^(C4)sheep, They are wretched because there is no shepherd.

"My ^(C1)anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the ^(F1)male goats; For the LORD of armies has ^(C2)visited His flock, the house of Judah, And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.

-"From ^(F1)them will come the ^(C1)cornerstone, From ^(F1)them the tent peg, From ^(F1)them the bow of ^(C2)battle, From ^(F1)them every tyrant, all of them together.

-"And they will be like warriors, ^(C1)Trampling down the enemy in the mud of the streets in battle; And they will fight, because the LORD will be with them; And the ^(C2)riders on horses will be put to shame.

-"And I will ^(C1)strengthen the house of Judah, And I will ^(C2)save the house of Joseph, And I will ^(F1)(C3)bring them back, Because I have had ^(C4)compassion on them; And they will be as though I had ^(C5)not rejected them, For I am the LORD their God and I will ^(C6)answer them.

-"Ephraim will be like a warrior, And their heart will be joyful as if from wine; Indeed, their ^(C1)children will see it and be joyful, ^(F1)Their heart will rejoice in the LORD.

-"I will ^(C1)whistle for them and gather them together, For I have redeemed them; And they will be as ^(C2)numerous as they ^(F1)(C3)were before.

-"When I ^(F1)scatter them among the peoples, They will ^(C1)remember Me in distant countries, And they with their children will live and come back.

-"I will ^(C1)bring them back from the land of Egypt And gather them from Assyria; And I will bring them into the land of ^(C2)Gilead and Lebanon ^(F1)Until ^(C3)no room can be found for them.

-"And they will pass through the ^(C1)sea of distress And He will strike the waves in the sea, So that all the depths of the ^(C2)Nile will dry up; And the pride of ^(C3)Assyria will be brought down, And the scepter of ^(C4)Egypt will depart.

-"And I will ^(C1)strengthen them in the LORD, And in His name ^(C2)they will walk," declares the LORD.

Open your doors, Lebanon, So that a ^(C1)fire may feed on your ^(C2)cedars.

Wail, juniper, because the cedar has fallen, For the magnificent trees have been destroyed; Wail, oaks of Bashan, Because the ^(F1)impenetrable forest has come down.

There is a sound of the shepherds' ^(C1)wail, For their splendor is ruined; There is a ^(C2)sound of the young lions' roar, For the ^(F1)pride of the Jordan is ruined.

This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock doomed to ^(C1)slaughter.

"Those who buy them slaughter them and ^(F1)go ^(C1)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, 'Blessed be the LORD, for ^(C2)I have become rich!' And their ^(C3)own shepherds have no compassion for them.

"For I will ^(C1)no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD; "but behold, I will ^(C2)let the people fall, each into another's ^(F1)power and into the ^(F1)power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^(C3)not rescue them from their ^(F1)power."

So I ^(C1)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, ^(F1)therefore also the ^(C2)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^(C3)staffs: the one I called ^(F2)(C4)Favor, and the other I called ^(C5)Union; so I pastured the flock.

Then I did away with the three shepherds in ^(C1)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^(F1)was tired of me.

Then I said, "I will not pasture you. What is to ^(C1)die, ^(F1)let it die, and what is to perish, ^(F2)let it perish; and ^(F3)let those who are left eat one another's flesh."

And I took my staff ^(F1)(C1)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^(F2)(C2)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

So it was ^(F1)broken on that day, and ^(F2)so the ^(C1)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the LORD.

And I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my ^(C1)wages; but if not, ^(F1)never mind!" So they weighed out ^(C2)thirty shekels of silver as my wages.

Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the ^(C1)potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

Then I cut in pieces my second staff ^(C1)Union, to ^(C2)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

And the LORD said to me, "Take again for yourself the equipment of a ^(C1)foolish shepherd.

"For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^(C1)not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or provide for the one who is exhausted, but will ^(C2)devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

-"^(C1)Woe to the worthless shepherd Who abandons the flock! A ^(C2)sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His ^(C3)arm will be totally withered, And his right eye will be ^(F1)blind."

The pronouncement of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: The LORD who ^(C1)stretches out the heavens, ^(C2)lays the foundation of the earth, and ^(C3)forms the spirit of a person within him, declares:

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"Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a ^(C1)cup ^(F1)that causes staggering to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against ^(C2)Judah.

"It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy ^(C1)stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will ^(C2)injure themselves severely. And all the ^(C3)nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

"On that day," declares the LORD, "I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with insanity. But I will ^(F1)watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

"Then the ^(F1)clans of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a ^(F2)strong support for us through the LORD of armies, their God.'

"On that day I will make the ^(F1)clans of Judah like a ^(C1)firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^(F2)the ^(C2)inhabitants of Jerusalem again live on their own sites in Jerusalem.

"The LORD also will ^(C1)save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of ^(C2)David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah.

"On that day the LORD will ^(C1)protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who ^(F1)(C2)is feeble among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like ^(C3)God, like the ^(C4)angel of the LORD before them.

"And on that day I will ^(C1)seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

"And I will ^(C1)pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^(F1)the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they ^(C2)pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one ^(C3)mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

"On that day the ^(C1)mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the ^(F1)plain of ^(F2)Megiddo.

"The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;

the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;

all the families that are left, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

"On that day a ^(C1)fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for ^(C2)sin and for ^(C3)defilement.

"And it will come about on that day," declares the LORD of armies, "that I will ^(C1)eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the ^(C2)prophets and the ^(C3)unclean spirit from the land.

"And if anyone still ^(C1)prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, 'You shall ^(C2)not live, because you have spoken ^(C3)falsely in the name of the LORD'; and his ^(C4)father and mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

"Also it will come about on that day that the prophets will each be ^(C1)ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a ^(C2)hairy robe in order to deceive;

but he will say, 'I am ^(C1)not a prophet; I am a cultivator of the ground, because a man ^(F1)sold me as a slave in my youth.'

"And someone will say to him, 'What are these wounds ^(C1)between your ^(F1)arms?' Then he will say, 'Those with which I was wounded at the house of ^(F2)my friends.'

"Awake, ^(C1)sword, against My ^(C2)Shepherd, And against the Man, My ^(C3)Associate," Declares the LORD of armies. "^(C4)Strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; And I will ^(C5)turn My hand ^(F1)against the little ones.

-"And it will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That ^(C1)two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.

-"And I will bring the third part through the ^(C1)fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will ^(C2)call on My name, And I will ^(C3)answer them; I will say, 'They are ^(C4)My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Behold, a ^(C1)day is coming for the LORD when ^(C2)the spoils taken from you will be divided among you.

For I will ^(C1)gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the ^(C2)houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city.

Then the LORD will go forth and ^(C1)fight against those nations, as ^(F1)when He fights on a day of battle.

On that day His feet will ^(C1)stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be ^(C2)split ^(F1)in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south.

And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled from the ^(C1)earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. ^(C2)Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with ^(F1)Him!

On that day there will be ^(C1)no light; the ^(F1)luminaries will die out.

For it will be ^(C1)a unique day which is ^(C2)known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at the ^(C3)time of evening there will be light.

And on that day ^(C1)living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

And the LORD will be ^(C1)King over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be the only ^(C2)one, and His name the only one.

All the land will change into a plain from ^(C1)Geba to ^(C2)Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but ^(F1)Jerusalem will ^(C3)rise and ^(C4)remain on its site from ^(C5)Benjamin's Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the ^(C6)Corner Gate, and from the ^(C7)Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.

People will live in it, and there will ^(C1)no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will ^(C2)live in security.

Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will ^(C1)rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.

And it will come about on that day that a great panic from the LORD will ^(F1)fall on them; and they will ^(C1)seize one another's hand, and the hand of one will ^(F2)be raised against the hand of another.

^(C1)Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the ^(C2)wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.

And just like this ^(C1)plague, there will be a plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps.

Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will ^(C1)go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of armies, and to celebrate the ^(C2)Feast of Booths.

And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the ^(C1)King, the LORD of armies, there will be ^(C2)no rain on them.

And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the ^(C1)plague with which the LORD strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

This will be the ^(F1)punishment of Egypt, and the ^(F1)punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "^(C1)HOLY TO THE LORD." And the ^(C2)cooking pots in the LORD'S house will be like the bowls before the altar.

Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be ^(C1)holy to the LORD of armies; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a ^(F1)(C2)Canaanite in the house of the LORD of armies on that day.