September 12

Zechariah 7-8

King James Version (KJV)

7 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of theLord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

^2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,

^3 And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

^4 Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

^5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

^6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

^7 Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

^8 And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

^9 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

^10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

^11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

^12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

^13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

^14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

 

8 Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

^2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

^3 Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.

^4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

^5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.

^6 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith theLord of hosts.

^7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

^8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

^9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

^10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

^11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

^12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

^13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

^14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:

^15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

^16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

^17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.

^18 And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying,

^19 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

^20 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:

^21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.

^22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.

^23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

 

Ezra 6:14-22

^14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

^15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

^16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.

^17 And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

^18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.

^19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.

^20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

^21 And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat,

^22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

 

Psalm 78

78 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

^2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

^3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

^4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

^5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

^6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

^7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

^8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

^9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

^10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

^11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

^12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

^13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

^14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

^15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

^16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

^17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

^18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

^19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

^20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

^21 Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

^22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

^23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

^24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

^25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.

^26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

^27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

^28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

^29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

^30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

^31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

^32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

^33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

^34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

^35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

^36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

^37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

^38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

^39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

^40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

^41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

^42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

^43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

^44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

^45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

^46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

^47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

^48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

^49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

^50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

^51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

^52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

^53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

^54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

^55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

^56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

^57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

^58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

^59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

^60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

^61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.

^62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

^63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

^64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

^65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

^66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

^67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

^68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

^69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

^70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

^71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

^72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.