Bible In A Year

¹> Hear my cry, God. Listen to my prayer.

²From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³For you have been a refuge for me, A strong tower from the enemy.

⁴I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.

⁵For you, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶You will prolong the king's life; His years shall be for generations.

⁷He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.

⁸So I will sing praise to your name forever, That I may fulfill my vows daily.

¹Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying scroll. ²He said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits." ³Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. ⁴I will cause it to go out," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the midst of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones." ⁵Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing." ⁶I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the ephah{ An ephah is a measure of volume of about 22 litres, 5.8 U. S. gallons, 4.8 imperial gallons, or a bit more than half a bushel. } basket that is appearing." He said moreover, "This is their appearance in all the land ⁷(and, behold, a talent{A talent is a weight of about 34 kilograms or 75 pounds.} of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah basket." ⁸He said, "This is Wickedness;" and he threw her down into the midst of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth. ⁹Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. ¹⁰Then said I to the angel who talked with me, "Where are these carrying the ephah basket?" ¹¹He said to me, "To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place."

¹Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. ²In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses; ³in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful. ⁴Then I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵The angel answered me, "These are the four winds of the sky, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went forth toward the south country." ⁷The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, "Go around and through the earth!" So they walked back and forth through the earth. ⁸Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, "Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country." ⁹The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ¹⁰"Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon. ¹¹Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; ¹²and speak to him, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build the temple of Yahweh; ¹³even he shall build the temple of Yahweh; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. ¹⁴The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁵Those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of Yahweh; and you shall know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your God."'"

¹It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. ²The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh's favor, ³and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?" ⁴Then the word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me, saying, ⁵"Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? ⁶When you eat, and when you drink, don't you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? ⁷Aren't these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?'" ⁸The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹"Thus has Yahweh of Hosts spoken, saying, 'Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰Don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.' ¹¹But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ¹²Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Hosts. ¹³It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen," said Yahweh of Hosts; ¹⁴"but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate."

¹The word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me. ²Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath." ³Thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called 'The City of Truth;' and the mountain of Yahweh of Hosts, 'The Holy Mountain.'" ⁴Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. ⁵The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." ⁶Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?" says Yahweh of Hosts. ⁷Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; ⁸and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness." ⁹Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of Hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. ¹⁰For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days," says Yahweh of Hosts. ¹²"For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. ¹³It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don't be afraid. Let your hands be strong." ¹⁴For thus says Yahweh of hosts: "As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and I didn't repent; ¹⁵so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don't be afraid. ¹⁶These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates, ¹⁷and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate," says Yahweh. ¹⁸The word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me. ¹⁹Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace." ²⁰Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come; ²¹and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Hosts. I will go also.' ²²Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh." ²³Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"