Zechariah 2-5
God’s Favor to Zion
Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a ameasuring line in his hand. 2 So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To ameasure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.” 3 And behold, the aangel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, 4 and said to him, “Run, speak to that ayoung man, saying, ‘bJerusalem will be inhabited cwithout walls because of the dmultitude of men and cattle within it. 5 For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a awall of fire around her, and I will be the bglory in her midst.’”
6 “Ho there! aFlee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have bdispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord. 7 “Ho, Zion! aEscape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.” 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After aglory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the bapple of His eye. 9 For behold, I will awave My hand over them so that they will be bplunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me. 10 aSing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will bdwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. 11 “aMany nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will bdwell in your midst, and you will cknow that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 12 The Lord will apossess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again bchoose Jerusalem.
13 “aBe silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is baroused from His holy habitation.”
Joshua, the High Priest
Then he showed me aJoshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and bSatan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “aThe Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has bchosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a cbrand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with afilthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “aRemove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have btaken your iniquity away from you and will cclothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean aturban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.
6 And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will awalk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also bgovern My house and also have charge of My ccourts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.
The Branch
8 Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a asymbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the bBranch. 9 For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are aseven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will bremove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his avine and under his fig tree.’”
The Golden Lampstand and Olive Trees
Then athe angel who was speaking with me returned and broused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 He said to me, “aWhat do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a blampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its cseven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3 also atwo olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” 4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, amy lord?” 5 So athe angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “bDo you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to aZerubbabel saying, ‘bNot by might nor by power, but by My cSpirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. 7 ‘What are you, O great amountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with bshouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”
8 Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have alaid the foundation of this house, and his hands will bfinish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For who has despised the day of asmall things? But these bseven will be glad when they see the cplumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the deyes of the Lord which erange to and fro throughout the earth.”
11 Then I said to him, “What are these atwo olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?” 12 And I answered the second time and said to him, “What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?” 13 So he answered me, saying, “aDo you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, bmy lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two aanointed ones who are bstanding by the cLord of the whole earth.”
The Flying Scroll
Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying ascroll. 2 And he said to me, “aWhat do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” 3 Then he said to me, “This is the acurse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who bsteals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who cswears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. 4 I will amake it go forth,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and it will benter the house of the cthief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and dconsume it with its timber and stones.”
5 Then athe angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.” 6 I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the aephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their appearance in all the land 7 (and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” 8 Then he said, “This is aWickedness!” And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening. 9 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a astork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10 I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” 11 Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of aShinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”
1 John 3
Children of God Love One Another
See ahow great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called bchildren of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because cit did not know Him. 2 aBeloved, now we are bchildren of God, and cit has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He dappears, we will be elike Him, because we will fsee Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this ahope fixed on Him bpurifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and asin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He aappeared in order to btake away sins; and cin Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him asins; no one who sins has seen Him or bknows Him. 7 aLittle children, make sure no one bdeceives you; cthe one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is aof the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God cappeared for this purpose, dto destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is aborn of God bpractices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the achildren of God and the bchildren of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who cdoes not love his dbrother.
11 aFor this is the message bwhich you have heard from the beginning, cthat we should love one another; 12 not as aCain, who was of bthe evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because chis deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if athe world hates you. 14 We know that we have apassed out of death into life, bbecause we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who ahates his brother is a murderer; and you know that bno murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 We know love by this, that aHe laid down His life for us; and bwe ought to lay down our lives for the cbrethren. 17 But awhoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and bcloses his heart against him, chow does the love of God abide in him? 18 aLittle children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and btruth. 19 We will know by this that we are aof the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 aBeloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have bconfidence before God; 22 and awhatever we ask we receive from Him, because we bkeep His commandments and do cthe things that are pleasing in His sight.
23 This is His commandment, that we abelieve in bthe name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as cHe commanded us. 24 The one who akeeps His commandments babides in Him, and He in him. cWe know by this that dHe abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
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