Bible in 90 Days

1 The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw. ² Yahweh,^[a] how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? ³ Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. ⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

⁵ “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. ⁶ For, behold,^[b] I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. ⁷ They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. ⁸ Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. ⁹ All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. ¹⁰ Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. ¹¹ Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”

¹² Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God,^[c] my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. ¹³ You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, ¹⁴ and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? ¹⁵ He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. ¹⁷ Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?

2 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

² Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. ³ For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay. ⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. ⁵ Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous: an arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol;^[d] he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. ⁶ Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’ ⁷ Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? ⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it. ⁹ Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! ¹⁰ You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. ¹¹ For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. ¹² Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! ¹³ Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? ¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! ¹⁶ You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. ¹⁷ For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.

¹⁸ “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? ¹⁹ Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it. ²⁰ But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”

3 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

1 Yahweh’s^[f] word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. ² I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. ³ I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. ⁴ I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, ⁵ those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam, ⁶ those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him. ⁷ Be silent at the presence of the Lord^[g] Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. ⁸ It will happen in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. ⁹ In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit. ¹⁰ In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. ¹¹ Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. ¹² It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.” ¹³ Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine. ¹⁴ The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. ¹⁵ That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, ¹⁶ a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. ¹⁷ I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. ¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

2 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, ² before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh’s anger comes on you. ³ Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger. ⁴ For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. ⁵ Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! Yahweh’s word is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant. ⁶ The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. ⁷ The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God,^[h] will visit them, and restore them. ⁸ I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. ⁹ Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them. ¹⁰ This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of Armies. ¹¹ Yahweh will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations. ¹² You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword. ¹³ He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness. ¹⁴ Herds will lie down in the middle of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams. ¹⁵ This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.

3 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! ² She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God. ³ Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. ⁴ Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. ⁵ Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame. ⁶ I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. ⁷ I said, “Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won’t be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her.” But they rose early and corrupted all their doings. ⁸ “Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. ⁹ For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. ¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering. ¹¹ In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from among you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be arrogant in my holy mountain. ¹² But I will leave among you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in Yahweh’s name. ¹³ The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.”

¹⁴ Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil any more. ¹⁶ In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” ¹⁷ Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. ¹⁸ I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. ¹⁹ Behold,^[i] at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. ²⁰ At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s^[j] word came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ² “This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’”

³ Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? ⁵ Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. ⁶ You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.”

⁷ This is what Yahweh of Armies says: “Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh. ⁹ “You looked for much, and, behold,^[k] it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. ¹¹ 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 produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”

¹² Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed Yahweh, their God’s^[l] voice, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.

¹³ Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh.

¹⁴ Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, ¹⁵ in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

2 In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ² “Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, ³ ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing? ⁴ 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 Armies. ⁵ This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ ⁶ For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; ⁷ and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies. ⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says Yahweh of Armies. ⁹ ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says Yahweh of Armies; ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”

¹⁰ In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ “Yahweh of Armies says: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’”

The priests answered, “No.”

¹³ Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?”

The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”

¹⁴ Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says Yahweh; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in Yahweh’s temple. ¹⁶ Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says Yahweh. ¹⁸ ‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it. ¹⁹ Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless you.’”

²⁰ Yahweh’s word came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, ²¹ “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth. ²² I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. ²³ In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, I will 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 Armies.”

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s^[m] word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, ² “Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. ³ Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. ⁴ Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. ⁵ Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers?

“Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’” ⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, ⁸ “I had a vision in the night, and behold,^[n] a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. ⁹ Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’”

The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

¹⁰ The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”

¹¹ They reported to Yahweh’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”

¹² Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

¹³ Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. ¹⁴ So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. ¹⁵ I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.” ¹⁶ Therefore Yahweh says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’

¹⁷ “Proclaim further, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”

¹⁸ I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. ¹⁹ I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?”

He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰ Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. ²¹ Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?”

He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

2 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² Then I asked, “Where are you going?”

He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”

³ Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him, ⁴ and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. ⁵ For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her. ⁶ 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. ⁷ ‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’ ⁸ For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. ⁹ For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. ¹⁰ Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. ¹¹ Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. ¹² Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”

3 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. ² Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. ⁴ He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”

⁵ I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.”

So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Yahweh’s angel was standing by. ⁶ Yahweh’s angel protested to Joshua, saying, ⁷ “Yahweh of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. ⁸ 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 out my servant, the Branch. ⁹ For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. ¹⁰ In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

4 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. ² He said to me, “What do you see?”

I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it; ³ and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.”

⁴ I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶ Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. ⁷ Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”

⁸ Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ⁹ “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. ¹⁰ 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 Yahweh’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”

¹¹ Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?”

¹² I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”

¹³ He answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

I said, “No, my lord.”

¹⁴ Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord^[o] of the whole earth.”

5 Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. ² He said to me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits,^[p] and its width ten cubits.”

³ 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. ⁴ I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”

⁵ Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what this is that is appearing.”

⁶ I said, “What is it?”

He said, “This is the ephah^[q] basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land ⁷ (and behold, a talent^[r] of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah^[s] basket.” ⁸ He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.

⁹ Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. ¹⁰ Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the ephah basket?”

¹¹ He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”

6 Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze. ² In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses; ³ in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful. ⁴ Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶ The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went out toward the south country.” ⁷ The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth.

⁸ Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

⁹ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁰ “Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon. ¹¹ Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; ¹² and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple; ¹³ even he shall build Yahweh’s temple; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. ¹⁴ The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in Yahweh’s temple. ¹⁵ Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s temple; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God’s voice.”’”^[t]

7 In the fourth year of king Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. ² The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh’s favor, ³ and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying, ⁵ “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? ⁶ When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

⁸ Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ ¹¹ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ¹² Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. ¹³ It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies; ¹⁴ “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.”

8 The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me. ² Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.”

³ Yahweh says: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’”

⁴ Yahweh of Armies says: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. ⁵ The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”

⁶ Yahweh of Armies says: “If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?” says Yahweh of Armies.

⁷ Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; ⁸ and I will bring them, and they will dwell within Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”

⁹ Yahweh of Armies says: “Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. ¹⁰ For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor. ¹¹ But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,” says Yahweh of Armies. ¹² “For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. ¹³ It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴ For Yahweh of Armies says: “As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I didn’t repent; ¹⁵ so again I have thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid. ¹⁶ These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates, ¹⁷ and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.

¹⁸ The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me. ¹⁹ Yahweh of Armies says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.”

²⁰ Yahweh of Armies says: “Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come; ²¹ and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‘Let’s go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Armies. I will go also.’ ²² Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh.” ²³ Yahweh of Armies says: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

9 A revelation.