The messengers journeyed from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but people mocked and ridiculed them.

These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, I was in Susa the citadel.

When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously I had not been depressed in the king’s presence.

They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare me.

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth.

Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? It was already done long ago, before our time.

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these days?” for it is not wise to ask that.

yet a fool keeps on babbling. No one knows what will happen; who can tell him what will happen in the future?

Come, let’s consider your options,” says the Lord. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

In the future the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains, and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it,

Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there.

At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic.

There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people, just as there was for Israel, when they went up from the land of Egypt.

For the waters of Nimrim are gone; the grass is dried up, the vegetation has disappeared, and there are no plants.

At that time their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.

At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the typical life span of a king. At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song:

Our holy temple, our pride and joy, the place where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire; all our prized possessions have been destroyed.

At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel and they will be my people. I, the Lord, affirm it!”