Let all flesh be quiet and make no sound before the Lord: for he is awake and has come from his holy resting-place.
And he let me see Joshua, the high priest, in his place before the angel of the Lord, and the satan at his right hand ready to take up a cause against him.
And the Lord said to the Satan, May the Lord's word be sharp against you, O Satan, the word of the Lord who has taken Jerusalem for himself: is this not a burning branch pulled out of the fire?
Now Joshua was clothed in unclean robes, and he was in his place before the angel.
And he made answer and said to those who were there before him, Take the unclean robes off him, and let him be clothed in clean robes;
And let them put a clean head-dress on his head. So they put a clean head-dress on his head, clothing him with clean robes: and to him he said, See, I have taken your sin away from you.
And the angel of the Lord made a statement to Joshua, and said,
These are the words of the Lord of armies: If you will go in my ways and keep what I have put in your care, then you will be judge over my temple and have the care of my house, and I will give you the right to come in among those who are there.
Give ear now, O Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who are seated before you; for these are men who are a sign: for see, I will let my servant the Branch be seen.
For see, the stone which I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: see, the design cut on it will be my work, says the Lord of armies, and I will take away the sin of that land in one day.
In that day, says the Lord of armies, you will be one another's guests under the vine and under the fig-tree.
And the angel who was talking to me came again, awaking me as a man out of his sleep.
And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see a light-support, made all of gold, with its cup on the top of it and seven lights on it; and there are seven pipes to every one of the lights which are on the top of it;
And two olive-trees by it, one on the right side of the cup and one on the left.
And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord?
Then the angel who was talking to me, answering me, said, Have you no knowledge of what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by force or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of armies.
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you will become level: and he will let all see the headstone, with cries of Grace, grace, to it.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
The hands of Zerubbabel have put the base of this house in place, and his hands will make it complete; and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.
For who has had a poor opinion of the day of small things? for they will be glad when they see the weighted measuring-line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Then he said in answer to me, These seven lights are the eyes of the Lord which go quickly up and down through all the earth.
And I made answer and said to him, What are these two olive-trees on the right side of the light-support and on the left?
And answering a second time, I said to him, What are these two olive branches, through whose gold pipes the oil is drained out?
And he said in answer to me, Have you no knowledge what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
And he said, These are the two sons of oil, whose place is by the Lord of all the earth.
Then again lifting up my eyes I saw a roll in flight through the air.
And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, A roll going through the air; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.
Then he said to me, This is the curse which goes out over the face of all the land: for long enough has every thief gone without punishment, and long enough has every taker of false oaths gone without punishment.
And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones.
And the angel who was talking to me went out and said to me, Let your eyes be lifted up now, and see the ephah which is going out.
And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah which is going out. And he said further, This is their evil-doing in all the land.
And I saw a round cover of lead lifted up; and a woman was seated in the middle of the ephah.
And he said, This is Sin; and pushing her down into the ephah, he put the weight of lead on the mouth of it.
And lifting up my eyes I saw two women coming out, and the wind was in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they took the ephah, lifting it up between earth and heaven.
And I said to the angel who was talking to me, Where are they taking the ephah?
And he said to me, To make a house for her in the land of Shinar: and they will make a place ready, and put her there in the place which is hers.
And again lifting up my eyes I saw four war-carriages coming out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
In the first war-carriage were red horses; and in the second, black horses;
And in the third, white horses; and in the fourth, horses of mixed colour.
And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord?
And the angel, answering, said to me, These go out to the four winds of heaven from their place before the Lord of all the earth.
The carriage in which are the black horses goes in the direction of the north country; the white go to the west; and those of mixed colour go in the direction of the south country.
And the red ones go to the east; and they made request that they might go up and down through the earth: and he said, Go up and down through the earth. So they went up and down through the earth.
Then crying out to me, he said, See, those who are going to the north country have given rest to the spirit of the Lord in the north country.
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Take the offerings of those who went away as prisoners, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and from the family of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who have come from Babylon;
And take silver and gold and make a crown and put it on the head of Zerubbabel;
And say to him, These are the words of the Lord of armies: See, the man whose name is the Branch, under whom there will be fertile growth.
And he will be the builder of the temple of the Lord; and the glory will be his, and he will take his place as ruler on the seat of power; and Joshua will be a priest at his right hand, and between them there will be a design of peace.
And the crown will be for grace to Heldai and Tobijah and Jedaiah and the son of Zephaniah, to keep their memory living in the house of the Lord.
And those who are far away will come and be builders in the Temple of the Lord, and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.
And it came about in the fourth year of King Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chislev.
Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech to make a request for grace from the Lord,
And to say to the priests of the house of the Lord of armies and to the prophets, Am I to go on weeping in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done in past years?
Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying
Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, When you went without food and gave yourselves to grief in the fifth and the seventh months for these seventy years, did you ever do it because of me?
And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?
Are not these the words which the Lord said to you by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was full of people and wealth, and the towns round about her and the South and the Lowland were peopled?
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother:
Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.
But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing;
And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies.
And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:
But with a storm-wind I sent them in flight among all the nations of whom they had no knowledge. So the land was waste after them, so that no man went through or came back: for they had made waste the desired land.
And the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying,
These are the words of the Lord of armies: I am angry about the fate of Zion, I am angry about her with great wrath.
This is what the Lord has said: I have come back to Zion, and will make my living-place in Jerusalem: and Jerusalem will be named The town of good faith; and the mountain of the Lord of armies The holy mountain.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: There will again be old men and old women seated in the open spaces of Jerusalem, every man with his stick in his hand because he is so old.
And the open spaces of the town will be full of boys and girls playing in its open spaces.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: If this is a wonder to the rest of this people, is it a wonder to me? says the Lord of armies.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will be the saviour of my people from the east country, and from the west country;
And I will make them come and be living in Jerusalem and they will be to me a people and I will be to them a God, in good faith and in righteousness.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your hands be strong, you who are now hearing these words from the mouths of the prophets, that is to say, in the days when the base of the house of the Lord of armies has been put in place for the building of the house, that is the Temple.
For before those days there was no payment for a man's work, or for the use of a beast, and there was no peace for him who went out or him who came in, because of the attacker: for I had every man turned against his neighbour.
But now I will not be to the rest of this people as I was in the past, says the Lord of armies.
For I will let the seed of peace be planted; the vine will give her fruit and the land will give her increase and the heavens will give their dew; and I will give to the rest of this people all these things for their heritage.
And it will come about that, as you were a curse among the nations, O children of Judah and children of Israel, so I will give you salvation and you will be a blessing: have no fear and let your hands be strong.
For this is what the Lord of armies has said: As it was my purpose to do evil to you when your fathers made me angry, says the Lord of armies, and my purpose was not changed:
So in these days it is again my purpose to do good to Jerusalem and to the children of Judah: have no fear.
These are the things which you are to do: Let every man say what is true to his neighbour; and let your judging give peace in your towns.
Let no one have any evil thought in his heart against his neighbour; and have no love for false oaths: for all these things are hated by me, says the Lord.
And the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying,
This is what the Lord of armies has said: The times of going without food in the fourth month and in the fifth and the seventh and the tenth months, will be for the people of Judah times of joy and happy meetings; so be lovers of good faith and of peace.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: It will again come about that when peoples and those living in great towns come,
And the people of one town go to another and say, Let us certainly go with a request for grace from the Lord, and to give worship to the Lord of armies, then I will go with you.
And great peoples and strong nations will come to give worship to the Lord of armies in Jerusalem and to make requests for grace from the Lord.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: In those days, ten men from all the languages of the nations will put out their hands and take a grip of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for it has come to our ears that God is with you.
A word of the Lord: The Lord has come to the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is his resting-place: for the towns of Aram are the Lord's,
As well as Hamath, which is by its limit, and Tyre and Zidon, because they are very wise.
And Tyre made for herself a strong place, and got together silver like dust and the best gold like the earth of the streets.
See, the Lord will take away her heritage, overturning her power in the sea; and she will be burned up with fire.
Ashkelon will see it with fear, and Gaza, bent with pain; and Ekron, for her hope will be shamed: and the king will be cut off from Gaza, and Ashkelon will be unpeopled.
And a mixed people will be living in Ashdod, and I will have the pride of the Philistines cut off.
And I will take away his blood from his mouth, and his disgusting things from between his teeth; and some of his people will be kept for our God: and he will be as a family in Judah, and Ekron as one living in Jerusalem.
And I will put my forces in position round my house, so that there may be no coming and going: and no cruel master will again go through them: for now I have seen his trouble.
Be full of joy, O daughter of Zion; give a glad cry, O daughter of Jerusalem: see, your king comes to you: he is upright and has overcome; gentle and seated on an ass, on a young ass.
And he will have the war-carriage cut off from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off: and he will say words of peace to the nations: and his rule will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
And as for you, because of the blood of your agreement, I have sent out your prisoners from the deep hole in which there is no water.
And they will come back to you, O daughter of Zion, as prisoners of hope: today I say to you that I will give you back twice as much;
For I have made Judah a bow bent for my use, I have made Ephraim the arrows of the bow; I will make your sons, O Zion, take up arms against your sons, O Greece, and will make you like the sword of a man of war.
And the Lord will be seen over them, and his arrow will go out like the thunder-flame: and the Lord God, sounding the war-horn, will go in the storm-winds of the South.
The Lord of armies will be a cover for them; and they will overcome, crushing under foot the armed men; they will take their blood for drink like wine: they will be full like the sides of the altar.
And the Lord their God will be their saviour in that day, giving them food like the flock of his people: for they will be like the jewels of a crown shining over his land.
For how good it is and how beautiful! grain will make the young men strong and new wine the virgins.
Make your request to the Lord for rain in the time of the spring rains, even to the Lord who makes the thunder-flames; and he will give them showers of rain, to every man grass in the field.
For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.
My wrath is burning against the keepers of the flock, and I will send punishment on the he-goats: for the Lord of armies takes care of his flock, the people of Judah, and will make them like the horse of his pride in the fight.
From him will come the keystone, from him the nail, from him the bow of war, from him will come every ruler;
Together they will be like men of war, crushing down their haters into the earth of the streets in the fight; they will make war because the Lord is with them: and the horsemen will be shamed.
And I will make the children of Judah strong, and I will be the saviour of the children of Joseph, and I will make them come back again, for I have had mercy on them: they will be as if I had not given them up: for I am the Lord their God and I will give them an answer.
And Ephraim will be like a man of war, and their hearts will be glad as with wine; and their children will see it with joy; their hearts will be glad in the Lord.
With the sound of the pipe I will get them together; for I have given the price to make them free: and they will be increased as they were increased.
Though I had them planted among the peoples, they will keep me in mind in far countries: and they will take care of their children and will come back.
And I will make them come back out of the land of Egypt, and will get them together out of Assyria; and I will take them into the land of Gilead, and it will not be wide enough for them.
And they will go through the sea of Egypt, and all the deep waters of the Nile will become dry: and the pride of Assyria will be made low, and the power of Egypt will be taken away.
And their strength will be in the Lord; and their pride will be in his name, says the Lord.
Let your doors be open, O Lebanon, so that fire may be burning among your cedars.
Give a cry of grief, O fir-tree, for the fall of the cedar, because the great ones have been made low: give cries of grief, O you oaks of Bashan, for the strong trees of the wood have come down.
The sound of the crying of the keepers of the flock! for their glory is made waste: the sound of the loud crying of the young lions! for the pride of Jordan is made waste.
This is what the Lord my God has said: Take care of the flock of death;
Whose owners put them to death and have no sense of sin; and those who get a price for them say, May the Lord be praised for I have much wealth: and the keepers of the flock have no pity for them.
For I will have no more pity for the people of the land, says the Lord; but I will give up everyone into his neighbour's hand and into the hand of his king: and they will make the land waste, and I will not keep them safe from their hands.
So I took care of the flock of death, for those who made profit out of the flock; and I took for myself two rods, naming one Beautiful, and the other Bands; and I took care of the flock.
And in one month I put an end to the three keepers of the flock; for my soul was tired of them, and their souls were disgusted with me.
And I said, I will not take care of you: If death comes to any, let death be its fate; if any is cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest take one another's flesh for food.
And I took my rod Beautiful, cutting it in two, so that the Lord's agreement, which he had made with all the peoples, might be broken.
And it was broken on that day: and the sheep-traders, who were watching me, were certain that it was the word of the Lord.
And I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my payment; and if not, do not give it. So they gave me my payment by weight, thirty shekels of silver.
And the Lord said to me, Put it into the store-house, the price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty shekels of silver and put them into the store-house in the house of the Lord.
Then I took my other rod, the one named Bands, cutting it in two, so that the relation of brothers between Judah and Israel might be broken.
And the Lord said to me, Take again the instruments of a foolish keeper of sheep.
For see, I will put a sheep-keeper over the land, who will have no care for that which is cut off, and will not go in search of the wanderers, or make well what is broken, and he will not give food to that which is ill, but he will take for his food the flesh of the fat, and let their feet be broken.
Most of the teaching of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Complete Sayings of Jesus presents every word spoken by Jesus in one place and provides an index to assist in finding specific ocassions, places and/or events. It is a must read aid for serious Bible study.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they direct us to imitate his life and character. The Imitation of Christ is guide to following the example of Jesus Christ. Let it be our most earnest study to dwell upon the life and example of Jesus.
The Apocrypha books are 14 books that were included between the old and new testaments in the original King James Version of the bible and many others. Church leaders agreed that these books were valuable for instruction in life and manners, but did not all agree that they should be considered cannon.
The Childrens Bible provides bible lessons from the Old and New testaments. There are 216 stories written in plain english. The stories are easy to read and understand but they are not just for childern. It is a pleasure to read and enjoy these important stories.
Let us love one another, for love comes from God and every one who loves is a child of God and knows God. He who loves not man does not know God, for God is love. God showed his love for us, for he sent his only Son into the world that through him we might have life. Love the stranger.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus said;
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.
And the second Mark 12:31 [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Gospel of The Birth of Mary was attributed to St. Matthew and was received as genuine and authentic by early Christians. It is to be found in the works of Jerome, a Father of the Church in the 4th century and is translated from his collection.
The Book of Enoch is ascribed to the great-grandfather of Noah and is included in the cannon of some churches. It describes the fall of the angels (watchers), visions of heaven and hell and the birth of Noah. Quotes from the book of Enoch are found in the New Testament.
The First Book of Adam and Eve. Books 1 begins immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. We learn about the fall but also of the promise to save Adam and his decendents. The story depicts mans struggle against evil, the devil and sin.
The Second Book of Adam and Eve. Discusses Adam's sorrow and death. The history of the patriarchs who lived before the Flood until the birth of Noah; the children of Seth on Mount Hermon and Cain's death. It ends with the testament and translation of Enoch.
The Infancy of Jesus Christ (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) relates the life of Jesus from the ages of five to twelve. It is believed that the document was transcribed from oral traditions some time prior to the second century. The ancient writing is possibly Gnostic and many early church leaders considered it heretical.
Daily Bible study is essential. The Bible Verse of the Day provides a collection of enlightening and inspiration bible verses. Improve your knowledge and understanding of the Bible and your life by studying the words of the holy scripture. Explore the King James Bible (kjv) and discover new insights.
The World English Bible was produced to provide speakers of modern English with a version of the Bible that is easily understood. The Bible is in the public domain and available world-wide. It is an accurate modern translation of the original King James Bible, including the Apocryphal books.
Looking for something in the Bible? Want to find a specifc verse or list of words? The Bible search feature makes it easy find verses or words. Enter the verses or words in the search bar or visit the search page to access additional search options. Finding information in the Bible will never be easier.
The favorite verses page is a list of popular bible verses. Each verse includes a link to the chapter and verse of the book where it is found in the bible. Click on any link for a bible verse and it will take you to that location in the bible.
The bible contains great stories. Visit the bible stories page for links to some of the best known and most significant stories and passages in the bible.