Zechariah 8 Cross References - BSB

¹ Again the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying: ² This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I am jealous for Zion with great zeal; I am jealous for her with great fervor.” ³ This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.” ⁴ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age. ⁵ And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” ⁶ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts. ⁷ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west. ⁸ I will bring them back to dwell in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.” ⁹ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁰ For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor. ¹¹ But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts. ¹² “For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance. ¹³ As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.” ¹⁴ For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Hosts, ¹⁵ “so now I have resolved to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶ These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates, ¹⁷ do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD. ¹⁸ Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.” ²⁰ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities— ²¹ and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’ ²² And many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Hosts in Jerusalem and to plead before the LORD.” ²³ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. ⁵⁹ On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.

¹³ The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies: ¹⁴ “I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.

¹⁷ He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

⁴ For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me. ⁶ I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”

¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.

⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder. ⁶ Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel and tell the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I have spoken in My burning zeal because you have endured the reproach of the nations.

¹⁸ Then the LORD became jealous for His land, and He spared His people.

² The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.

⁶ Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.

¹⁴ Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, ¹⁵ but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’ ¹⁶ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

²¹ See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!

²⁶ I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

² In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. ³ And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

⁶ Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”

¹⁴ The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

²⁰ And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

¹⁰ As for you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid. ¹¹ For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

²³ This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore them from captivity, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: ‘May the LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling place, O holy mountain.’

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

³⁵ The perimeter of the city will be 18,000 cubits, and from that day on the name of the city will be: THE LORD IS THERE.”

¹⁷ Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.

²¹ For I will avenge their blood, which I have not yet avenged.” For the LORD dwells in Zion.

¹⁶ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

¹⁰ “Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD. ¹¹ “On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.

²⁰ On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar. ²¹ Indeed, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take some pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Hosts.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

²¹ In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

²⁷ But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no older man will be left in your house.

²⁶ You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.

¹⁷ And so Job died, old and full of years.

²⁰ No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. ²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

²⁰ Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? ²¹ Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion. ²² You summoned my attackers on every side, as for the day of an appointed feast. In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; my enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.

¹¹ Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. ¹² Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect. ¹³ Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. ¹⁴ The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. ¹⁵ Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

²² Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels

³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table. ⁴ In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the LORD.

¹² Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace. ¹³ Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields. ¹⁴ Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets. ¹⁵ Blessed are the people of whom this is so; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

¹⁹ Thanksgiving will proceed from them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not be decreased; I will honor them, and they will not be belittled. ²⁰ Their children will be as in days of old, and their congregation will be established before Me; and I will punish all their oppressors.

¹³ Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.

¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.

⁴ and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.

¹⁶ To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: ¹⁷ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

²² If all our flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ²³ The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”

² But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

²³ This is from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

¹ A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers. ² Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” ³ The LORD has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

¹⁷ “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!

²⁷ “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?

²⁰ And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day this comes to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

²⁷ But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

²⁰ Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.

¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. ²¹ What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets.

² Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy ³ and gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

³ From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.

¹¹ On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth. ¹³ Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will no longer envy Judah, nor will Judah harass Ephraim. ¹⁴ They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. ¹⁵ The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals. ¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

¹² In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one. ¹³ And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west. ⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—

¹² Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”

¹⁹ So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD.

¹⁹ I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

⁸ Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They will return as a great assembly!

¹⁹ you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’ ²⁰ When the sticks on which you write are in your hand and in full view of the people, ²¹ you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever.

¹⁰ They will walk after the LORD; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. ¹¹ They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes, declares the LORD.

¹⁴ I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. ¹⁵ I will firmly plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

¹¹ For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. ²⁷ And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

² and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”

⁸ Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.”

²² “And you will be My people, and I will be your God.”

¹ “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.”

³³ “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

³⁸ They will be My people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

²⁰ so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁸ Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever.

²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.

¹⁹ So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion. ²⁰ And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.” ²¹ “On that day I will respond—” declares the LORD—“I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth. ²² And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. ²³ And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

²⁰ But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession. ¹⁸ Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken. ¹⁹ Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. ²⁰ And the exiles of this host of the Israelites will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev. ²¹ The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

¹⁴ Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ The LORD has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s King, the LORD, is among you; no longer will you fear any harm. ¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp. ¹⁷ The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.” ¹⁸ “I will gather those among you who grieve over the appointed feasts, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. ¹⁹ Behold, at that time, I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather the scattered; and I will appoint praise and fame for the disgraced throughout the earth. ²⁰ At that time I will bring you in; yes, at that time I will gather you. For I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your captives before your very eyes,” says the LORD.

¹¹ “On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.

¹⁰ I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon until no more room is found for them.

⁹ This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

⁷ The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.

⁸ This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

¹³ Then you will succeed, if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

²⁰ David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

¹ Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. ² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

⁴ Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

¹ In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD.

⁴ But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work! For I am with you, declares the LORD of Hosts. ⁵ This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid.” ⁶ For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Hosts. ⁸ The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, declares the LORD of Hosts. ⁹ The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the LORD of Hosts. And in this place I will provide peace, declares the LORD of Hosts.”

²¹ “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth:

¹³ As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

¹⁸ Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

¹ You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

⁶ In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways. ⁷ Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

¹¹ the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:

⁵ In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted them with all kinds of adversity. ⁷ But as for you, be strong; do not be discouraged, for your work will be rewarded.”

² “So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

¹⁶ But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

⁶ If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

⁴ Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

⁶ You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.” ⁷ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways. ⁸ Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD. ⁹ You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops. ¹¹ I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

¹⁶ from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty. ¹⁷ I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD. ¹⁸ Consider carefully from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider carefully:

³⁴ Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

⁹ He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever.

¹³ Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will no longer envy Judah, nor will Judah harass Ephraim.

¹ In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

¹⁹ Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet yielded fruit. But from this day on, I will bless you.”

⁸ I will bring them back to dwell in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.” ⁹ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the LORD of Hosts.

⁹ You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure. ¹¹ I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹² Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

²⁸ May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.

⁴ I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely in your land.

⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. ⁵ Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed. ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁷ The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven. ⁸ The LORD will decree a blessing on your barns and on everything to which you put your hand; the LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you. ⁹ The LORD will establish you as His holy people, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you. ¹¹ The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

² Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

¹³ Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,

²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

⁶ The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. ⁷ God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

³ May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness.

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹² A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

²³ Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

⁷ Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing. ²⁷ The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.

¹² Yes, I will cause My people Israel to walk upon you; they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of their children.

³⁰ I will also make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer bear reproach among the nations on account of famine.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

²² Do not be afraid, O beasts of the field, for the open pastures have turned green, the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and vine yield their best.

¹³ “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow.

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession. ¹⁸ Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken. ¹⁹ Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. ²⁰ And the exiles of this host of the Israelites will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev.

⁶ “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted. ⁷ And I will make the lame into a remnant, and the outcast into a strong nation. Then the LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.

¹⁰ Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

⁶ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

²¹ Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours,

¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

² I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

³⁷ You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

²³ All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger. ²⁴ So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book. ²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

¹¹ “We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. ¹² And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples. ⁸ And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced. ²⁰ So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.

²⁰ then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. ²¹ And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ ²² And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

¹³ You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us. ¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁶ at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.

¹⁷ May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.

⁴ We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

²⁰ They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring. ²¹ Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

²⁴ In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth. ²⁵ The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

³ Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees! ⁴ Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

¹⁰ Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness. ¹¹ Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish. ¹² You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing. ¹³ For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you. ¹⁴ Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. ¹⁶ You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name. ¹⁶ Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth, and whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My sight.

⁹ I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

¹⁸ to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

¹⁸ I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

³⁰ For the children of Israel and of Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, they have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD. ³¹ For this city has aroused My wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. Therefore I will remove it from My presence ³² because of all the evil the children of Israel and of Judah have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem.

²⁴ “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation.

¹⁸ For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

¹² And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword or be consumed by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine; and they will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and reproach.

²² So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

¹⁵ All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” ¹⁶ All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

¹⁵ “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁵ So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

¹⁶ “And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷ Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand. ¹⁸ When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’

¹¹ All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

⁷ Then the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind.

²⁰ At that time I will bring you in; yes, at that time I will gather you. For I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your captives before your very eyes,” says the LORD.

¹⁹ So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

⁹ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the LORD of Hosts.

²⁰ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities— ²¹ and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’ ²² And many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Hosts in Jerusalem and to plead before the LORD.” ²³ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

¹³ For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

⁶ I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them. ⁷ Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD. ⁸ I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were. ⁹ Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember Me in distant lands; they and their children will live and return.

¹³ Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

²⁴ The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.

²⁸ Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”

¹ Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go. ² If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’ ³ I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem. ⁵ Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? ⁶ You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.

¹⁶ May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,

²⁸ Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴ I, the LORD, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

⁶ But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

¹ Now this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

⁴² For this is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good I have promised them.

¹⁰ Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies! ¹¹ But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.” ¹² But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. ¹³ Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.

¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp. ¹⁷ The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

¹¹ You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.

¹² And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good?

⁷ For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done. ⁸ You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

² He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart,

¹⁷ He who speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

¹⁹ Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

³ And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear, ⁴ but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. ⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist. ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest. ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

³ “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD. ⁴ “Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander. ⁵ Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.

¹ Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land! ² Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

¹⁵ Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

¹² For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

⁹ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.

¹⁹ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

⁸ Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰ The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ John replied, “Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” ¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” ¹³ “Collect no more than you are authorized,” he answered. ¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

⁶ and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.

¹³ Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁵ The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all workers of iniquity. ⁶ You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

³ For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

²⁹ Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you.

¹⁴ With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

¹⁶ There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

¹³ To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

⁴ Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying: ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate.’

¹ Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands. ² They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. ³ Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

³ Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed. ⁴ I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”

¹⁰ Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

³⁵ The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

³ By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. ⁴ Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

²⁵ In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

¹⁷ In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

²² as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

¹¹ You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

¹⁰ So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹¹ So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish. ¹³ Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.

² And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.

¹ In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there. ² Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land. ³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

⁴ So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. ⁷ Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. ¹³ He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. ¹⁴ And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the craftsmen.

³ by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

¹⁶ These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,

⁷⁴ deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. ¹² It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

¹⁵ But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

⁴¹ And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

³² And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ³³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

¹ For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah ² that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. ³ Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. ⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples justly and lead the nations of the earth. Selah

⁹ You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.

¹ Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples! ² For great is His loving devotion toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Hallelujah!

⁴ All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth. ⁵ They will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

¹⁰ On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.

⁶ He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

²² This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. ²³ Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. ⁴ Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather and come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the arm. ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house. ⁸ Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters? ⁹ Surely the islands will wait for Me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. ¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy. ¹¹ Your gates will always stand open; they will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession. ¹² For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly destroyed.

¹⁸ “And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.

¹⁰ Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

²³ And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

¹² that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,” declares the LORD, who will do this.

¹ In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. ² And many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

¹⁶ Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.

¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

¹⁴ Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

¹⁸ that have been known for ages.’

⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.” ¹⁰ Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” ¹¹ And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and extol Him, all you peoples.” ¹² And once more, Isaiah says: “The Root of Jesse will appear, One who will arise to rule over the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will put their hope.”

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

²² Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

¹ A song of ascents. Of David. I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” ² Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem. ³ Jerusalem is built up as a city united together, ⁴ where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. ⁵ For there the thrones of judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David. ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper. ⁷ May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.” ⁸ For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” ⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.

¹ Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul. ² I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³ So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

² Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD

⁷ On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;

⁵ Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”

³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. ⁴ Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather and come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the arm. ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house. ⁸ Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters? ⁹ Surely the islands will wait for Me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. ¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy. ¹¹ Your gates will always stand open; they will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession. ¹² For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly destroyed. ¹³ The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet. ¹⁴ The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Whereas you have been forsaken and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from age to age. ¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold; I will bring silver in place of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness as your ruler. ¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. But you will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. ¹⁹ No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. ²⁰ Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease. ²¹ Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified. ²² The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will accomplish it quickly.

²³ From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

³ Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war.

⁷ I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Hosts.

²¹ and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’

⁸ The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

²⁴ By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory.

⁷ And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

⁴¹ Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

²⁹ Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.” ³⁰ “I will not go,” Hobab replied. “Instead, I am going back to my own land and my own people.” ³¹ “Please do not leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes. ³² If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.”

¹⁴ And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

²² not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷ For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

⁹ and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction. ¹¹ When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. ¹² Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

²⁷ As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

¹⁹ Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. ²⁰ In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness.” ²¹ But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!” ²² “March on then,” said David to Ittai. So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

⁴² for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, ⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

⁶ And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

¹⁸ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the Thirty, and he said: “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you.” So David received them and made them leaders of his troops.

³ Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

² Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.

⁶ A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”

¹ In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

¹⁸ “And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

⁵ And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

⁴⁴ She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁷ For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” ⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

¹² so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

²⁵ and the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”

⁹ After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying overhead, with the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. ⁷ And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”