The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion

8 Then the word of the Lord of armies came, saying, ² “The Lord of armies says this: ‘I am ^(A)exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ ³ The Lord says this: ‘I will return to Zion and ^(B)dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of ^(C)Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of armies will be called the Holy Mountain.’ ⁴ The Lord of armies says this: ‘^(D)Old men and old women will again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each person with his staff in his hand because of ^[a]age. ⁵ And the public squares of the city will be filled with ^(E)boys and girls playing in its squares.’ ⁶ The Lord of armies says this: ‘If it is ^(F)too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be ^(G)too difficult in My sight?’ declares the Lord of armies. ⁷ The Lord of armies says this: ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the ^[b](H)east and from the land of the ^[c]west; ⁸ and I will ^(I)bring them back and they will ^(J)live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be ^(K)My people, and I will be their God in ^[d]truth and righteousness.’

⁹ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘Let your hands be ^(L)strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ^(M)prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of armies was laid, so that the temple might be built. ¹⁰ For before those days there was ^(N)no wage for man nor any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no ^[e](O)peace because of ^[f]his enemies, and I ^(P)sent all the people against one another. ¹¹ But now I will ^(Q)not ^[g]treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the Lord of armies. ¹² ‘For there will be ^(R)the seed of peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will provide their ^(S)dew; and I will give to the remnant of this people ^(T)all these things as an inheritance. ¹³ And it will come about that just as you were a ^(U)curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a ^(V)blessing. Do not fear; let your ^(W)hands be strong.’

¹⁴ “For this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Just as I ^(X)determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and I have not ^(Y)relented, ¹⁵ so I have again determined in these days to ^(Z)do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ^(AA)Do not fear! ¹⁶ These are the things which you shall do: speak the ^(AB)truth to one another; ^(AC)judge with truth and judgment for peace at your ^[h]gates. ¹⁷ Also let none of you ^(AD)devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love ^[i](AE)perjury; for all these things are what I ^(AF)hate,’ declares the Lord.”

¹⁸ Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, ¹⁹ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘The fast of the ^(AG)fourth, the fast of the ^(AH)fifth, the fast of the ^(AI)seventh, and the fast of the ^(AJ)tenth months will become ^(AK)joy, jubilation, and ^[j]cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; so ^(AL)love truth and peace.’

²⁰ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘It will yet turn out that ^(AM)peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹ The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, “Let’s go at once to ^(AN)plead for the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of armies; ^[k]I also will go.” ²² So ^(AO)many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of armies in Jerusalem, and to ^(AP)plead for the favor of the Lord.’ ²³ The Lord of armies says this: ‘In those days ten people from all the ^[l]nations will ^[m](AQ)grasp the ^[n]garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”

Overseers and Deacons

3 ^(A)It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the ^(B)office of ^[a]overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. ^2 [b](C)An overseer, then, must be above reproach, ^(D)the husband of one wife, ^[c](E)temperate, self-controlled, respectable, ^(F)hospitable, ^(G)skillful in teaching, ^3 (H)not overindulging in wine, not ^[d]a bully, but gentle, not contentious, ^(I)free from the love of money. ⁴ He must be one who ^(J)manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity ⁵ (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of ^(K)the church of God?), ⁶ and not a new convert, so that he will not become ^(L)conceited and fall into ^(M)condemnation ^[e]incurred by the devil. ⁷ And he must ^(N)have a good reputation with ^(O)those outside the church, so that he will not fall into ^[f]disgrace and ^(P)the snare of the devil.

^8 (Q)Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not ^[g]insincere, ^(R)not prone to drink much wine, ^(S)not greedy for money, ^9 (T)but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ^10 (U)These men must also first be tested; then have them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. ^11 [h]Women must likewise be dignified, ^(V)not malicious gossips, but ^[i](W)temperate, faithful in all things. ^12 (X)Deacons must be ^(Y)husbands of one wife, and ^[j](Z)good managers of their children and their own households. ¹³ For those who have served well as deacons ^(AA)obtain for themselves a ^[k]high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; ¹⁵ but ^[l]in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one should act in ^(AB)the household of God, which is the ^(AC)church of ^(AD)the living God, the ^(AE)pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶ Beyond question, great is ^(AF)the mystery of godliness:

The Doomed Flock

11 Open your doors, Lebanon,

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Pasture the flock doomed to ^(E)slaughter. ⁵ Those who buy them slaughter them and ^[c]go ^(F)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for ^(G)I have become rich!’ And their ^(H)own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶ For I will ^(I)no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will ^(J)let the people fall, each into another’s ^[d]power and into the ^[e]power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^(K)not rescue them from their ^[f]power.”

⁷ So I ^(L)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, ^[g]therefore also the ^(M)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^(N)staffs: the one I called ^[h](O)Favor, and the other I called ^(P)Union; so I pastured the flock. ⁸ Then I did away with the three shepherds in ^(Q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^[i]was tired of me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to ^(R)die, ^[j]let it die, and what is to perish, ^[k]let it perish; and ^[l]let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff ^[m](S)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^[n](T)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was ^[o]broken on that day, and ^[p]so the ^(U)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my ^(V)wages; but if not, ^[q]never mind!” So they weighed out ^(W)thirty shekels of silver as my wages. ¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the ^(X)potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. ¹⁴ Then I cut in pieces my second staff ^(Y)Union, to ^(Z)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a ^(AA)foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^(AB)not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or provide for the one who is exhausted, but will ^(AC)devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

A Better Ministry

8 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a ^(A)high priest, who has taken His seat at ^(B)the right hand of the throne of the ^(C)Majesty in the heavens, ² a ^(D)minister ^[a]in the sanctuary and ^[b]in the ^(E)true ^[c]tabernacle, which the Lord ^(F)set up, not man. ³ For every ^(G)high priest is appointed ^(H)to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. ⁴ Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are ^[d]those who ^(I)offer the gifts according to the Law; ⁵ who serve ^(J)a copy and ^(K)shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses ^[e]was ^(L)warned by God when he was about to erect the ^[f]tabernacle; for, “^(M)See,” He says, “that you make all things by the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the ^(N)mediator of ^(O)a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

A New Covenant

⁷ For ^(P)if that first covenant had been free of fault, no ^[g]circumstances would have been sought for a second. ⁸ For in finding fault with ^[h]the people, He says,

^13 [l]When He said, “^(Z)A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. ^(AA)But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ^[m]about to disappear.