¹⁶ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return^(A) to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line^(B) will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty.^(C)

³ This is what the Lord says: “I will return^(A) to Zion^(B) and dwell in Jerusalem.^(C) Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City,^(D) and the mountain^(E) of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.^(F)”

¹⁰ “Shout^(A) and be glad, Daughter Zion.^(B) For I am coming,^(C) and I will live among you,”^(D) declares the Lord.^{(E) 11} “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people.^(F) I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.^(G)

²⁴ “‘My servant David^(A) will be king^(B) over them, and they will all have one shepherd.^(C) They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.^{(D) 25} They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived.^(E) They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever,^(F) and David my servant will be their prince forever.^{(G) 26} I will make a covenant of peace^(H) with them; it will be an everlasting covenant.^(I) I will establish them and increase their numbers,^(J) and I will put my sanctuary among them^(K) forever.^{(L) 27} My dwelling place^(M) will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.^{(N) 28} Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy,^(O) when my sanctuary is among them forever.^(P)’”

¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(A) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(B) Darius^(C) and Artaxerxes,^(D) kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.^(E)

⁹ “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation^(A) of this temple; his hands will also complete it.^(B) Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me^(C) to you.

A Man With a Measuring Line

2 ^[a]Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² I asked, “Where are you going?”

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

³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line^(A) in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits^[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep.