¹⁹ I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?”

He answered me, “These are the horns^(A) that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

¹⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster^(A) on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty,

² I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”^(A)

²¹ I asked, “What are these coming to do?”

He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns^(A) against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”^[a](B)

⁹ I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel^(A) who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”^(B)

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

⁴ Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.^[a](A)

Opposition to the Rebuilding

4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building^(A) a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel,

⁷ And in the days of Artaxerxes^(A) king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic^(B) language.^[a][b]