The Hebrew Prophets

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

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?”

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

“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?

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”

Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

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

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

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

Again the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying:

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I am jealous for Zion with great zeal; I am jealous for her with great fervor.”

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.”

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.

And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

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.

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.

I will bring them back to dwell in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

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.

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.

But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

“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.