Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze.

²The first chariot had chestnut horses, the second chariot black horses,

³the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses — all strong horses.

⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”

⁷As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the LORD said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

⁸Then he summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified my Spirit in the northern land.”

⁹The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁰“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

¹¹Take silver and gold, make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

¹²You are to tell him: This is what the LORD of Armies says: Here is a man whose name is Branch; he will branch out from his place and build the LORD’s temple.

¹³Yes, he will build the LORD’s temple; he will be clothed in splendor and will sit on his throne and rule. There will also be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.

¹⁴The crown will reside in the LORD’s temple as a memorial to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah.

¹⁵People who are far off will come and build the LORD’s temple, and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the LORD your God.”

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the LORD’s favor

³by asking the priests who were at the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

⁴Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me:

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

⁶When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?

⁷Aren’t these the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

⁸The word of the LORD came to Zechariah:

⁹“The LORD of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.

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

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.

¹²They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the LORD of Armies.

¹³Just as he had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen, says the LORD of Armies.

¹⁴I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

¹The word of the LORD of Armies came:

²The LORD of Armies says this: “I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.”

³The LORD says this: “I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the LORD of Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴The LORD of Armies says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.

⁵The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.”

⁶The LORD of Armies says this: “Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible to me?” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁷The LORD of Armies says this: “I will save my people from the land of the east and the land of the west.

⁸I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

⁹The LORD of Armies says this: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the LORD of Armies.

¹⁰For prior to those days neither man nor animal had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor.

¹¹But now, I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹²“For they will sow in peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the skies will yield their dew. I will give the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.

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

¹⁴For the LORD of Armies says this: “As I resolved to treat you badly when your fathers provoked me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Armies,

¹⁵“so I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.

¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your city gates.

¹⁷Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me:

¹⁹The LORD of Armies says this: “The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.”

²⁰The LORD of Armies says this: “Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities;

²¹the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let’s go at once to plead for the LORD’s favor and to seek the LORD of Armies. I am also going.

²²Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Armies in Jerusalem and to plead for the LORD’s favor.”

²³The LORD of Armies says this: “In those days, ten men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

¹A pronouncement: The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place — for the eyes of humanity and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD  —

²and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.

³Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust and gold like the dirt of the streets.

⁴Listen! The Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea; she herself will be consumed by fire.

⁵Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain, as will Ekron, for her hope will fail. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.

⁶A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.

⁷I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abhorrent things from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah and Ekron like the Jebusites.

⁸I will encamp at my house as a guard, against those who march back and forth, and no oppressor will march against them again, for now I have seen with my own eyes.

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless cistern.

¹²Return to a stronghold, you prisoners who have hope; today I declare that I will restore double to you.

¹³For I will bend Judah as my bow; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

¹⁴Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will fly like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and advance with the southern storms.

¹⁵The LORD of Armies will defend them. They will consume and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine. They will be as full as the sprinkling basin, like those at the corners of the altar.

¹⁶The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people; for they are like jewels in a crown, sparkling over his land.

¹⁷How lovely and beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

¹Ask the LORD for rain in the season of spring rain. The LORD makes the rain clouds, and he will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.

²For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

³My anger burns against the shepherds, so I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Armies has tended his flock, the house of Judah; he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah. The tent peg will come from them and also the battle bow and every ruler. Together

⁵they will be like warriors in battle trampling down the mud of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put horsemen to shame.

⁶I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had never rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will be glad as if with wine. Their children will see it and be glad; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.

⁸I will whistle and gather them because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they once were.

⁹Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember me in the distant lands; they and their children will live and return.

¹⁰I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them.

¹¹The LORD will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

¹²I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will march in his name — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars.

²Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the glorious trees are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the stately forest has fallen!

³Listen to the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roar of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

⁴The LORD my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

⁵Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Blessed be the LORD because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

⁶Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land” — this is the LORD’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”

⁷So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the oppressed of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.

⁸In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.

⁹Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.”

¹⁰Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples.

¹¹It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

¹²Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

¹³“Throw it to the potter,” the LORD said to me — this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the LORD, to the potter.

¹⁴Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵The LORD also said to me: “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves.

¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind!”

¹A pronouncement: The word of the LORD concerning Israel. A declaration of the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him.

²“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.

³On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.

⁴On that day” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness.

⁵Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of Armies, their God.

⁶On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem.

⁷The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah.

⁸On that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD, before them.

⁹On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.

¹¹On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

¹²The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s house by itself and their women by themselves;

¹³the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself and their women by themselves;

¹⁴all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

¹“On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.

²On that day” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “I will remove the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will banish the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.

³If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken a lie in the name of the LORD. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.

⁴On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.

⁵He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased me as a servant since my youth.

⁶If someone asks him: What are these wounds on your chest?  — then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.

⁷Sword, awake against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.

⁸In the whole land — this is the LORD’s declaration — two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it.

⁹I will put this third through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. 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.”

¹Look, a day belonging to the LORD is coming when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your presence.

²I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

³Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle.

⁴On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south.

⁵You will flee by my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come and all the holy ones with him.

⁶On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight will diminish.

⁷It will be a unique day known only to the LORD, without day or night, but there will be light at evening.

⁸On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea, in summer and winter alike.

⁹On that day the LORD will become King over the whole earth  — the LORD alone, and his name alone.

¹⁰All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem will be changed into a plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain on its site from the Benjamin Gate to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.

¹¹People will live there, and never again will there be a curse of complete destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell in security.

¹²This will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the people who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

¹³On that day a great panic from the LORD will be among them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other.

¹⁴Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected: gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.

¹⁵The same plague as the previous one will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.

¹⁶Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

¹⁷Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Armies, rain will not fall on them.

¹⁸And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the LORD inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

¹⁹This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

²⁰On that day, the words HOLY TO THE LORD will be on the bells of the horses. The pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling basins before the altar.

²¹Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of Armies. All who sacrifice will come and use the pots to cook in. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Armies.

¹A pronouncement: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

²“I have loved you,” says the LORD. Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the LORD’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob,

³but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

⁴Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the LORD has cursed forever.

⁵Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.’

⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the LORD of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask: “How have we despised your name?”

⁷“By presenting defiled food on my altar.” “How have we defiled you?” you ask. When you say: “The LORD’s table is contemptible.”

⁸“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Armies.

⁹“And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the LORD of Armies.

¹⁰“I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

¹¹“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Armies.

¹²“But you are profaning it when you say: ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’

¹³You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance! ’ And you scorn it,” says the LORD of Armies. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the LORD.

¹⁴“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.

¹“Therefore, this decree is for you priests:

²If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart to honor my name,” says the LORD of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

³“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

⁴Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD of Armies.

⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.

⁶True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity.

⁷For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Armies.

⁸“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Armies.

⁹“So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping my ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”

¹⁰Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

¹¹Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s sanctuary, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

¹²May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be, even if he presents an offering to the LORD of Armies.

¹³This is another thing you do. You are covering the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.

¹⁴And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant.

¹⁵Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.

¹⁶“If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the LORD of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.

¹⁷You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the LORD’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

¹“See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in — see, he is coming,” says the LORD of Armies.

²But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach.

³He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

⁴And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD as in days of old and years gone by.

⁵“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the LORD of Armies.

⁶“Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

⁷“Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. Yet you ask, “How can we return?”

⁸“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!” “How do we rob you?” you ask. “By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions.

⁹You are suffering under a curse, yet you — the whole nation — are still robbing me.

¹⁰Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the LORD of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

¹¹I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Armies.

¹²“Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Armies.

¹³“Your words against me are harsh,” says the LORD. Yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”

¹⁴You have said: “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Armies?

¹⁵So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.”

¹⁶At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the LORD and had high regard for his name.

¹⁷“They will be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

¹⁸So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

¹“For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the LORD of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches.

²But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.

³You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Armies.

⁴“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

⁵Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

⁶And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”