The Hebrew Prophets

And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,

speaking unto the priests who are at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, `Do I weep in the fifth month--being separated--as I have done these so many years?'

And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:

`Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:

When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh months --even these seventy years--did ye keep the fast to Me--Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

`Are not these the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's being inhabited, and in safety, and its cities round about it, and the south and the plain--abiding?'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:

`Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.

And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart.

And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing.

And their heart they have made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts.

And it cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!

And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts, saying:

`Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: I have been zealous for Zion with great zeal, With great heat I have been zealous for her.

Thus said Jehovah: I have turned back unto Zion, And I have dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem, And Jerusalem hath been called `The city of truth,' And the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, `The holy mountain.'

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Again dwell do old men and old women, In broad places of Jerusalem, And each his staff in his hand, Because of abundance of days.

And broad places of the city are full of boys and girls, Playing in its broad places.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Surely it is wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, Also in Mine eyes it is wonderful, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am saving My people from the land of the rising, And from the land of the going in, of the sun,

And I have brought them in, They have dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, In truth and in righteousness.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Let your hands be strong, Ye who are hearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, That in the day the house of Jehovah of Hosts Hath been founded, the temple is to be built.

For, before those days there hath been no hiring of man, Yea, a hiring of beasts there is none; And to him who is going out, And to him who is coming in, There is no peace because of the adversary, And I send all men--each against his neighbour.

And now, not as in the former days am I to the remnant of this people, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

Because of the sowing of peace, The vine doth give her fruit, And the earth doth give her increase, And the heavens do give their dew, And I have caused the remnant of this people To inherit all these.