Study Desk

You have planted much, but you harvest little. You eat, but you do not become full. You drink, but you are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but you are not warm enough. You earn money, but then you lose it all as if you had put it into a purse full of holes."

"You look for much, but you find little. When you bring it home, I destroy it. Why?" asks the Lord All-Powerful. "Because you all work hard for your own houses while my house is still in ruins!

But the Lord says, ‘Zerubbabel, be brave. Also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, be brave. And all you people who live in the land, be brave,' says the Lord . ‘Work, because I am with you,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

A person used to come to a pile of grain expecting to find twenty basketfuls, but there were only ten. And a person used to come to the wine vat to take out fifty jarfuls, but only twenty were there.

I destroyed your work with diseases, mildew, and hail, but you still did not come back to me,' says the Lord .

Do you have seeds for crops still in the barn? Your vines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not given fruit yet. But from now on I will bless you!'"

Don't be like your ancestors. In the past the prophets said to them: This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘Stop your evil ways and evil actions.' But they wouldn't listen or pay attention to me, says the Lord .

And I am very angry with the nations that feel so safe. I was only a little angry at them, but they made things worse.'

Then he told me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘You will not succeed by your own strength or by your own power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

"Tell the priests and the people in the land: ‘For seventy years you fasted and cried in the fifth and seventh months, but that was not really for me.

"But they refused to pay attention; they were stubborn and did not want to listen anymore.

This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Those who are left alive then may think it is too difficult to happen, but it is not too difficult for me," says the Lord All-Powerful.

But I will not do to these people who are left what I did in the past," says the Lord All-Powerful.

Judah and Israel, your names have been used as curses in other nations. But I will save you, and you will become a blessing. So don't be afraid; work hard."

"But now I will do something different. I am planning to do good to Jerusalem and Judah. So don't be afraid.

This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "The special days when you fast in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become good, joyful, happy feasts in Judah. But you must love truth and peace."

But the Lord will take away all she has and destroy her power on the sea. That city will be destroyed by fire.

I have scattered them among the nations, but in those faraway places, they will remember me. They and their children will live and return.

because I am going to get a new shepherd for the country. He will not care for the dying sheep, or look for the young ones, or heal the injured ones, or feed the healthy. But he will eat the best sheep and tear off their hoofs.

One day all the nations on earth will come together to attack Jerusalem, but I will make it like a heavy rock; anyone who tries to move it will get hurt.