Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

²How long, LORD, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save?

³Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

⁴This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

⁵Look at the nations and observe  — be utterly astounded! For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.

⁶Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own.

⁷They are fierce and terrifying; their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves.

⁸Their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead; their horsemen come from distant lands. They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.

⁹All of them come to do violence; their faces are set in determination. They gather prisoners like sand.

¹⁰They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.

¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through. They are guilty; their strength is their god.

¹²Are you not from eternity, LORD my God? My Holy One, you will not die. LORD, you appointed them to execute judgment; my Rock, you destined them to punish us.

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

¹⁴You have made mankind like the fish of the sea, like marine creatures that have no ruler.

¹⁵The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook, catch them in their dragnet, and gather them in their fishing net; that is why they are glad and rejoice.

¹⁶That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet and burn incense to their fishing net, for by these things their portion is rich and their food plentiful.

¹⁷Will they therefore empty their net and continually slaughter nations without mercy?

¹I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint.

²The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.

³For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late.

⁴Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.

⁵Moreover, wine betrays; an arrogant man is never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself; he collects all the peoples for himself.

⁶Won’t all of these take up a taunt against him, with mockery and riddles about him? They will say: Woe to him who amasses what is not his — how much longer?  — and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.

⁷Won’t your creditors suddenly arise, and those who disturb you wake up? Then you will become spoil for them.

⁸Since you have plundered many nations, all the peoples who remain will plunder you  — because of human bloodshed and violence against lands, cities, and all who live in them.

⁹Woe to him who dishonestly makes wealth for his house to place his nest on high, to escape the grasp of disaster!

¹⁰You have planned shame for your house by wiping out many peoples and sinning against your own self.

¹¹For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will answer them from the woodwork.

¹²Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with injustice!

¹³Is it not from the LORD of Armies that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?

¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD’s glory, as the water covers the sea.

¹⁵Woe to him who gives his neighbors drink, pouring out your wrath and even making them drunk, in order to look at their nakedness!

¹⁶You will be filled with disgrace instead of glory. You also — drink, and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁷For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you; the destruction of animals will terrify you because of your human bloodshed and violence against lands, cities, and all who live in them.

¹⁸What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.

²⁰But the LORD is in his holy temple; let the whole earth be silent in his presence.

¹A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk. According to Shigionoth.

²LORD, I have heard the report about you; LORD, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years; make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy!

³God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

⁴His brilliance is like light; rays are flashing from his hand. This is where his power is hidden.

⁵Plague goes before him, and pestilence follows in his steps.

⁶He stands and shakes the earth; he looks and startles the nations. The age-old mountains break apart; the ancient hills sink down. His pathways are ancient.

⁷I see the tents of Cushan in distress; the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

⁸Are you angry at the rivers, LORD? Is your wrath against the rivers? Or is your rage against the sea when you ride on your horses, your victorious chariot?

⁹You took the sheath from your bow; the arrows are ready to be used with an oath. Selah You split the earth with rivers.

¹⁰The mountains see you and shudder; a downpour of water sweeps by. The deep roars with its voice and lifts its waves high.

¹¹Sun and moon stand still in their lofty residence, at the flash of your flying arrows, at the brightness of your shining spear.

¹²You march across the earth with indignation; you trample down the nations in wrath.

¹³You come out to save your people, to save your anointed. You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck. Selah

¹⁴You pierce his head with his own spears; his warriors storm out to scatter us, gloating as if ready to secretly devour the weak.

¹⁵You tread the sea with your horses, stirring up the vast water.

¹⁶I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls,

¹⁸yet I will celebrate in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

¹⁹The LORD my Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights! For the choir director: on stringed instruments.

¹The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

²I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth  — this is the LORD’s declaration.

³I will sweep away people and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests;

⁵those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the LORD but also pledge loyalty to Milcom;

⁶and those who turn back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him.

⁷Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, for the day of the LORD is near. Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated his guests.

⁸On the day of the LORD’s sacrifice I will punish the officials, the king’s sons, and all who are dressed in foreign clothing.

⁹On that day I will punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

¹⁰On that day — this is the LORD’s declaration — there will be an outcry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second District, and a loud crashing from the hills.

¹¹Wail, you residents of the Hollow, for all the merchants will be silenced; all those loaded with silver will be cut off.

¹²And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who settle down comfortably, who say to themselves: The LORD will not do good or evil.

¹³Their wealth will become plunder and their houses a ruin. They will build houses but never live in them, plant vineyards but never drink their wine.

¹⁴The great day of the LORD is near, near and rapidly approaching. Listen, the day of the LORD  — then the warrior’s cry is bitter.

¹⁵That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and total darkness,

¹⁶a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers.

¹⁷I will bring distress on mankind, and they will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Their silver and their gold will be unable to rescue them on the day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a complete, yes, a horrifying end of all the inhabitants of the earth.

¹Gather yourselves together; gather together, undesirable nation,

²before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the LORD’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the LORD’s anger overtakes you.

³Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the LORD’s anger.

⁴For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon will become a ruin. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast, nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy you until there is no one left.

⁶The seacoast will become pasturelands with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.

⁷The coastland will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; they will find pasture there. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will return to them and restore their fortunes.

⁸I have heard the taunting of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted my people and threatened their territory.

⁹Therefore, as I live — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel — Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah: a place overgrown with weeds, a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the remainder of my nation will dispossess them.

¹⁰This is what they get for their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the people of the LORD of Armies.

¹¹The LORD will be terrifying to them when he starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow in worship to him, each in its own place.

¹²You Cushites will also be slain by my sword.

¹³He will also stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; he will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, dry as the desert.

¹⁴Herds will lie down in the middle of it, every kind of wild animal. Both eagle owls and herons will roost in the capitals of its pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but devastation will be on the threshold, for he will expose the cedar work.

¹⁵This is the jubilant city that lives in security, that thinks to herself: I exist, and there is no one else. What a desolation she has become, a place for wild animals to lie down! Everyone who passes by her scoffs and shakes his fist.

¹Woe to the city that is rebellious and defiled, the oppressive city!

²She has not obeyed; she has not accepted discipline. She has not trusted in the LORD; she has not drawn near to her God.

³The princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the night, which leave nothing for the morning.

⁴Her prophets are reckless  — treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to instruction.

⁵The righteous LORD is in her; he does no wrong. He applies his justice morning by morning; he does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.

⁶I have cut off nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a person, without an inhabitant.

⁷I thought: You will certainly fear me and accept correction. Then her dwelling place would not be cut off based on all that I had allocated to her. However, they became more corrupt in all their actions.

⁸Therefore, wait for me  — this is the LORD’s declaration — until the day I rise up for plunder. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out my indignation on them, all my burning anger; for the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy.

⁹For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him with a single purpose.

¹⁰From beyond the rivers of Cush my supplicants, my dispersed people, will bring an offering to me.

¹¹On that day you will not be put to shame because of everything you have done in rebelling against me. For then I will remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant people, and you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain.

¹²I will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.

¹³The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies; a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will pasture and lie down, with nothing to make them afraid.

¹⁴Sing for joy, Daughter Zion; shout loudly, Israel! Be glad and celebrate with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

¹⁵The LORD has removed your punishment; he has turned back your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is among you; you need no longer fear harm.

¹⁶On that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.

¹⁷The LORD your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”

¹⁸I will gather those who have been driven from the appointed festivals; they will be a tribute from you and a reproach on her.

¹⁹Yes, at that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth receive praise and fame.

²⁰At that time I will bring you back, yes, at the time I will gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes. The LORD has spoken.

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

²“The LORD of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.”

³The word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:

⁴“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

⁵Now, the LORD of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways:

⁶You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.”

⁷The LORD of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways.

⁸Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.

⁹“You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

¹⁰So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.

¹¹I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, fresh oil, and whatever the ground yields, on man and animal, and on all that your hands produce.”

¹²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed 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.

¹³Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, delivered the LORD’s message to the people: “I am with you  — this is the LORD’s declaration.”

¹⁴The LORD roused the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the LORD of Armies, their God,

¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

¹On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:

²“Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people:

³‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?

⁴Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel — this is the LORD’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land — this is the LORD’s declaration. Work! For I am with you  — the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁵This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’”

⁶For the LORD of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

⁷I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD of Armies.

⁸“The silver and gold belong to me” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁹“The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the LORD of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”  — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai:

¹¹“This is what the LORD of Armies says: Ask the priests for a ruling.

¹²If a man is carrying consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does it become holy?” The priests answered, “No.”

¹³Then Haggai asked, “If someone defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” The priests answered, “It becomes defiled.”

¹⁴Then Haggai replied, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me — this is the LORD’s declaration. And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled.

¹⁵“Now from this day on, think carefully: Before one stone was placed on another in the LORD’s temple,

¹⁶what state were you in? When someone came to a grain heap of twenty measures, it only amounted to ten; when one came to the winepress to dip fifty measures from the vat, it only amounted to twenty.

¹⁷I struck you — all the work of your hands — with blight, mildew, and hail, but you didn’t turn to me — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸“From this day on, think carefully; from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid; think carefully.

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

²⁰The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:

²¹“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.

²²I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword.

²³On that day” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

²“The LORD was extremely angry with your ancestors.

³So tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: Return to me — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — and I will return to you, says the LORD of Armies.

⁴Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the LORD of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to me — this is the LORD’s declaration.

⁵Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?

⁶But didn’t my words and my statutes that I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? ’” So the people repented and said, “As the LORD of Armies decided to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.”

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

⁸I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses.

⁹I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹They reported to the angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”

¹²Then the angel of the LORD responded, “How long, LORD of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?”

¹³The LORD replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The LORD of Armies says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

¹⁵I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse.

¹⁶Therefore, this is what the LORD says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

¹⁷“Proclaim further: This is what the LORD of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns.

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

²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

²¹I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

¹I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

²I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

³Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.

⁴He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it.”

⁵The declaration of the LORD: “I myself will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

⁶“Listen! Listen! Flee from the land of the north”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

⁷“Listen, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.”

⁸For the LORD of Armies says this: “In pursuit of his glory, he sent me against the nations plundering you, for whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.

⁹For look, I am raising my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me.

¹⁰“Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹¹“Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.

¹²The LORD will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.

¹³Let all people be silent before the LORD, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”

¹Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

²The LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! May the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

³Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.

⁴So the angel of the LORD spoke to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to him, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with festive robes.”

⁵Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the angel of the LORD was standing nearby.

⁶Then the angel of the LORD charged Joshua:

⁷“This is what the LORD of Armies says: If you walk in my ways and keep my mandates, you will both rule my house and take care of my courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

⁸“Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring my servant, the Branch.

⁹Notice the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave an inscription on it” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “and I will take away the iniquity of this land in a single day.

¹⁰On that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep.

²He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. The lampstand also has seven lamps at the top with seven spouts for each of the lamps.

³There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me. I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶So he answered me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Armies.

⁷‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it! ’”

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.

¹⁰For who despises the day of small things? These seven eyes of the LORD, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

¹¹I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”

¹²And I questioned him further, “What are the two streams of the olive trees, from which the golden oil is pouring through the two golden conduits?”

¹³Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴“These are the two anointed ones,” he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

¹I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.

²“What do you see?” he asked me. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”

³Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land, for everyone who is a thief, contrary to what is written on one side, has gone unpunished, and everyone who swears falsely, contrary to what is written on the other side, has gone unpunished.

⁴I will send it out,”  — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

⁶So I asked, “What is it?” He responded, “It’s a measuring basket that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

⁷Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

⁸“This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening.

⁹Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹“To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”