³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(A) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(B) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^{(C) 39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[a]”^(D)

²⁰ Then the Spirit^(A) of God came on Zechariah^(B) son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper.^(C) Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken^(D) you.’”

²¹ But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned^(A) him to death^(B) in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.^(C)

The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)(B)

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers^(C) again and again,^(D) because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed^(A) at his prophets until the wrath^(B) of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.^(C)