The Bible Part 183

6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bra.s.s.

6:2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 6:3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.

6:4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? 6:5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the LORD of all the earth.

6:6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.

6:7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

6:8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

6:9 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 6:10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 6:11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 6:13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

6:14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.

6:15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pa.s.s, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your G.o.d.

7:1 And it came to pa.s.s in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; 7:2 When they had sent unto the house of G.o.d Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, 7:3 And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? 7:4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 7:5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 7:6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 7:7 Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? 7:8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, 7:9 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compa.s.sions every man to his brother: 7:10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

7:11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

7:12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

7:13 Therefore it is come to pa.s.s, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: 7:14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man pa.s.sed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

8:1 Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 8:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.

8:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

8:5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.

8:6 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts.

8:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8:8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their G.o.d, in truth and in righteousness.

8:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

8:10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

8:11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts.

8:12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

8:13 And it shall come to pa.s.s, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

8:14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not: 8:15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

8:16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: 8:17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

8:18 And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, 8:19 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

8:20 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pa.s.s, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: 8:21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.

8:22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.

8:23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pa.s.s, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that G.o.d is with you.

9:1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.

9:2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.

9:3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

9:4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

9:5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

9:6 And a b.a.s.t.a.r.d shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

9:7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our G.o.d, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

9:8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that pa.s.seth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pa.s.s through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an a.s.s, and upon a colt the foal of an a.s.s.

9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

9:11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; 9:13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD G.o.d shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

9:15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.

9:16 And the LORD their G.o.d shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

10:1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one gra.s.s in the field.

10:2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

10:3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

10:4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.

10:5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.

10:6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their G.o.d, and will hear them.

10:7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.

10:8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

10:9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.

10:10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of a.s.syria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.

10:11 And he shall pa.s.s through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of a.s.syria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

10:12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.

11:1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

11:2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

11:3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

11:4 Thus saith the LORD my G.o.d; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 11:5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

11:6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

11:7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

11:8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

11:9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

11:10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11:11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

11:12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

11:14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

11:15 And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

11:16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

12:4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.

12:5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their G.o.d.

12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

12:7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

12:8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as G.o.d, as the angel of the LORD before them.

12:9 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

12:11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12:12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 12:13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of s.h.i.+mei apart, and their wives apart; 12:14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

13:2 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pa.s.s out of the land.

13:3 And it shall come to pa.s.s, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.

13:4 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: 13:5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.

13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

13:8 And it shall come to pa.s.s, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my G.o.d.

14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my G.o.d shall come, and all the saints with thee.

14:6 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pa.s.s, that at evening time it shall be light.