Zephaniah 1:14-3:20

English Standard Version

¹⁴^(A)The great day of the Lord is near,
    near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
    ^(B)the mighty man cries aloud there.
¹⁵^(C)A day of wrath is that day,
    a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ^(D)ruin and devastation,
    ^(E)a day of darkness and gloom,
^(F)a day of clouds and thick darkness,
¹⁶    ^(G)a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
^(H)against the fortified cities
    and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷^(I)I will bring distress on mankind,
    so that they shall walk ^(J)like the blind,
    because they have sinned against the Lord;
^(K)their blood shall be poured out like dust,
    and their flesh ^(L)like dung.
¹⁸^(M)Neither their silver nor their gold
    shall be able to deliver them
    on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
^(N)In the fire of his jealousy,
    ^(O)all the earth shall be consumed;
^(P)for a full and sudden end
    he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Judgment on Judah's Enemies

2 Gather together, yes, gather,
    O ^(Q)shameless nation,
²^(R)before the decree takes effect^[a]
    —before the day passes away ^(S)like chaff—
^(T)before there comes upon you
    the burning anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
    the day of the anger of the Lord.
³^(U)Seek the Lord, ^(V)all you humble of the land,
    who do his just commands;^[b]
^(W)seek righteousness; seek humility;
    ^(X)perhaps ^(Y)you may be hidden
    on the day of the anger of the Lord.
⁴^(Z)For Gaza shall be deserted,
    and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,
    and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵Woe to ^(AA)you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of ^(AB)the Cherethites!
^(AC)The word of the Lord is against you,
    ^(AD)O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you ^(AE)until no inhabitant is left.
⁶^(AF)And you, O seacoast, ^(AG)shall be pastures,
    with meadows^[c] for shepherds
    and folds for flocks.
⁷^(AH)The seacoast shall become the possession
    of ^(AI)the remnant of the house of Judah,
    ^(AJ)on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God ^(AK)will be mindful of them
    and ^(AL)restore their fortunes.

⁸“I have heard ^(AM)the taunts of Moab
    and ^(AN)the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
    and made boasts ^(AO)against their territory.
⁹Therefore, ^(AP)as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become ^(AQ)like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites ^(AR)like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
    and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
    and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
¹⁰This shall be their lot in return ^(AS)for their pride,
    because they taunted and boasted
    against the people of the Lord of hosts.
¹¹The Lord will be awesome against them;
    ^(AT)for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and ^(AU)to him shall bow down,
    each in its place,
    all ^(AV)the lands of the nations.

¹²^(AW)You also, O Cushites,
shall be slain by my sword.

¹³And he will stretch out his hand against the north
    ^(AX)and destroy Assyria,
and he ^(AY)will make Nineveh a desolation,
    a dry waste like the desert.
¹⁴^(AZ)Herds shall lie down in her midst,
    all kinds of beasts;^[d]
^(BA)even the owl and the hedgehog^[e]
    shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
    devastation will be on the threshold;
    for ^(BB)her cedar work will be laid bare.
¹⁵This is the exultant city
    ^(BC)that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
    “I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
    ^(BD)a lair for wild beasts!
^(BE)Everyone who passes by her
    hisses and ^(BF)shakes his fist.

Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

3 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
    ^(BG)the oppressing city!
²She listens to no voice;
    ^(BH)she accepts no correction.
^(BI)She does not trust in the Lord;
    she does not draw near to her God.

³^(BJ)Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;
her judges are ^(BK)evening wolves
    that leave nothing till the morning.
⁴^(BL)Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
^(BM)her priests ^(BN)profane what is holy;
    they do violence to the law.
⁵The Lord within her ^(BO)is righteous;
    he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
    each dawn he does not fail;
    but ^(BP)the unjust knows no shame.

⁶^(BQ)“I have cut off nations;
    their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
    ^(BR)so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
    without a man, without an inhabitant.
⁷^(BS)I said, ‘Surely you will fear me;
    ^(BT)you will accept correction.
Then your^[f] dwelling would not be cut off
    according to all that I have appointed against you.’^[g]
But ^(BU)all the more they were eager
    to make all their deeds corrupt.

⁸“Therefore ^(BV)wait for me,” declares the Lord,
    “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is ^(BW)to gather nations,
    to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
    all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy
    ^(BX)all the earth shall be consumed.

The Conversion of the Nations

⁹“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples
    to ^(BY)a pure speech,
that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord
    and serve him with one accord.
¹⁰^(BZ)From beyond the rivers ^(CA)of Cush
    my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones,
    shall bring my offering.

¹¹^(CB)“On that day ^(CC)you shall not be put to shame
    because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then ^(CD)I will remove from your midst
    your proudly exultant ones,
and ^(CE)you shall no longer be haughty
    in my holy mountain.
¹²But I will leave in your midst
    a people ^(CF)humble and lowly.
^(CG)They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
¹³    ^(CH)those who are left in Israel;
they ^(CI)shall do no injustice
    and speak no lies,
^(CJ)nor shall there be found in their mouth
    a deceitful tongue.
^(CK)For they shall graze and lie down,
    and none shall make them afraid.”

Israel's Joy and Restoration

¹⁴^(CL)Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
^(CM)The King of Israel, ^(CN)the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶^(CO)On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
    ^(CP)let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷^(CQ)The Lord your God is in your midst,
    ^(CR)a mighty one who will save;
^(CS)he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
¹⁸I will gather those of you who mourn ^(CT)for the festival,
    so that you will no longer suffer reproach.^[h]
¹⁹Behold, at that time ^(CU)I will deal
    with all your oppressors.
And ^(CV)I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change ^(CW)their shame into ^(CX)praise
    and renown in all the earth.
²⁰^(CY)At that time I will bring you in,
    at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
^(CZ)when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Footnotes

Zephaniah 2:2 Hebrew gives birth
Zephaniah 2:3 Or who carry out his judgment
Zephaniah 2:6 Or caves
Zephaniah 2:14 Hebrew beasts of every nation
Zephaniah 2:14 The identity of the animals rendered owl and hedgehog is uncertain
Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her
Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her
Zephaniah 3:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Haggai 1-2

English Standard Version

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 ^(A)In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to ^(B)Zerubbabel the son of ^(C)Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(D)Joshua the son of ^(E)Jehozadak, the high priest: ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” ³Then the word of the Lord came ^(F)by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ⁴^(G)“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while ^(H)this house lies in ruins? ⁵Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(I)Consider your ways. ⁶^(J)You have sown much, and harvested little. ^(K)You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who ^(L)earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(M)Consider your ways. ⁸Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that ^(N)I may take pleasure in it and that ^(O)I may be glorified, says the Lord. ⁹^(P)You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, ^(Q)I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house ^(R)that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰Therefore ^(S)the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹And ^(T)I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on ^(U)the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and ^(V)on all their labors.”

The People Obey the Lord

¹²^(W)Then ^(X)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^(Y)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all ^(Z)the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. ¹³Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, ^(AA)“I am with you, declares the Lord.” ¹⁴And ^(AB)the Lord stirred up the spirit of ^(AC)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of ^(AD)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all ^(AE)the remnant of the people. And they came and ^(AF)worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ¹⁵^(AG)on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

The Coming Glory of the Temple

2 ^(AH)In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: ²“Speak now to ^(AI)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(AJ)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ³^(AK)‘Who is left among you who saw this house ^(AL)in its former glory? How do you see it now? ^(AM)Is it not as nothing in your eyes? ⁴Yet now ^(AN)be strong, O ^(AO)Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. ^(AP)Be strong, O ^(AQ)Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ^(AR)Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. ^(AS)Work, for ^(AT)I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, ⁵^(AU)according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. ^(AV)My Spirit remains in your midst. ^(AW)Fear not. ⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AX)Yet once more, in a little while, ^(AY)I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and ^(AZ)I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. ⁸^(BA)The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. ⁹^(BB)The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And ^(BC)in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

Blessings for a Defiled People

¹⁰^(BD)On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ^(BE)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, ¹¹“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(BF)Ask the priests about the law: ¹²‘If someone carries ^(BG)holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, ^(BH)“No.” ¹³Then Haggai said, ^(BI)“If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body ^(BJ)touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” ¹⁴Then Haggai answered and said, ^(BK)“So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵Now then, ^(BL)consider from this day onward.^[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, ¹⁶how did you fare? ^(BM)When^[b] one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. ¹⁷^(BN)I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, ^(BO)yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. ¹⁸^(BP)Consider from this day onward, ^(BQ)from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since ^(BR)the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, ^(BS)consider: ¹⁹^(BT)Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on ^(BU)I will bless you.”

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

²⁰The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai ^(BV)on the twenty-fourth day of the month, ²¹“Speak to ^(BW)Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ^(BX)I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, ²²and ^(BY)to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and ^(BZ)overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, ^(CA)every one by the sword of his brother. ²³On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O ^(CB)Zerubbabel ^(CC)my servant, the son of ^(CD)Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you ^(CE)like a^[c] signet ring, ^(CF)for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”

Footnotes

Haggai 2:15 Or backward; also verse 18
Haggai 2:16 Probable reading (compare Septuagint); Hebrew Lord, since they were. When
Haggai 2:23 Hebrew the

Zechariah 1:1-11

English Standard Version

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ^(A)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(B)Zechariah, the son of ^(C)Berechiah, son of ^(D)Iddo, saying, ²^(E)“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. ³Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^(F)Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and ^(G)I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ⁴^(H)Do not be like your fathers, ^(I)to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(J)Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But ^(K)they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. ⁵Your fathers, where are they? And ^(L)the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶^(M)But my words and my statutes, which I commanded ^(N)my servants the prophets, did they not ^(O)overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, ^(P)‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for ^(Q)our ways and ^(R)deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

A Vision of a Horseman

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(S)Zechariah, the son of ^(T)Berechiah, son of ^(U)Iddo, saying, ⁸“I saw in the night, and behold, ^(V)a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were ^(W)red, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ ^(X)The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ ¹⁰So ^(Y)the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ^(Z)‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^(AA)patrol the earth.’ ¹¹And they answered ^(AB)the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ^(AC)‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth ^(AD)remains at rest.’