Study Desk

So the Lord said, "You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night.

Therefore, the Lord says: I am now planning a disaster against this nation; you cannot free your necks from it. Then you will not walk so proudly because it will be an evil time.

and many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about His ways so we may walk in His paths." For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Now, why are you shouting loudly? Is there no king with you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?

Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will make your horns iron and your hooves bronze, so you can crush many peoples. Then you will set apart their plunder to the Lord for destruction, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade. So He will rescue us from Assyria when it invades our land, when it marches against our territory.

I will remove your carved images and sacred pillars from you so that you will not bow down again to the work of your hands.

My people, remember what Balak king of Moab proposed, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from the Acacia Grove to Gilgal so that you may acknowledge the Lord 's righteous acts.

He rebukes the sea so that it dries up, and He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither; even the flower of Lebanon withers.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are You silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

The Lord answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.

For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of Yahweh and serve Him with a single purpose.

So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord .

Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Work! For I am with you"—the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory," says the Lord of Hosts.

Then Haggai replied, "So is this people, and so is this nation before Me"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled.

So tell the people: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Return to Me"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.

But didn't My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us." On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who was talking to me replied, "I will show you what they are." Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth." They reported to the Angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet." Then the Angel of the Lord responded, "How long, Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?" The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me. So the angel who was speaking with me said, "Proclaim: The Lord of Hosts says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; My house will be rebuilt within it"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. "Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem." Then I looked up and saw four horns. So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. I asked, "What are they coming to do?" He replied, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."

But didn't My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us." On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: