Study Desk

Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.

For the LORD of armies says this: "After glory He has sent me against the nations that plunder you, for the one who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.

"And the LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

"Be silent, all mankind, before the LORD; for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling."

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right to accuse him.

Then I said, "Have them put a clean headband on his head." So they put the clean headband on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

'On that day,' declares the LORD of armies, 'every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.'"

Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me, like a person who is awakened from his sleep.

"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of armies has sent me to you.

"Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the majesty and sit and rule on His throne. So He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."'

"This is what the LORD of armies has said: 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother;

"They also made their hearts as hard as a diamond so that they could not hear the Law and the words which the LORD of armies had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of armies.

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

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

And I will eliminate the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be eliminated. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

Then the LORD will appear over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning; And the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, And march in the storm winds of the south.

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

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

"And I will strengthen them in the LORD, And in His name they will walk," declares the LORD.

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