Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, &#8220;These are the ones whom the <sc>Lordsc> has sent to walk about<n id="1" /> on the earth.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">The angelic messenger<n id="1" /> who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me, as a person is wakened from sleep.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;It then came about that just as I<n id="1" /> cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,&#8217; the <sc>Lordsc> <sc>Lord who rules over allsc> had said.

The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says, &#8216;It will someday come to pass that people &#8211; residents of many cities &#8211; will come.

Then someone will ask him, &#8216;What are these wounds on your chest?&#8217;<n id="1" /> and he will answer, &#8216;Some that I received in the house of my friends.&#8217;p>

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?<n id="1" /> Then they paid attention<n id="2" /> and confessed, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.&#8217;&#8221;p>

by asking both the priests of the temple<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lord who rules over allsc> and the prophets, &#8220;Should we weep in the fifth month,<n id="2" /> fasting as we have done over the years?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">But this will be the nature of the plague with which the <sc>Lordsc> will strike all the nations that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will decay while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot away in their sockets, and their tongues will dissolve in their mouths.

If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain &#8211; instead there will be the kind of plague which the <sc>Lordsc> inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted.<n id="1" /> I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.p>

Before he could reply I asked again, &#8220;What are these two extensions<n id="1" /> of the olive trees, which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes?&#8221;

The chariot with the black horses is going to the north country and the white ones are going after them, but the spotted ones are going to the south country.

Should you not have obeyed the words that the <sc>Lordsc> cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem<n id="1" /> was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah<n id="2" /> were also populated?p>

&#8216;Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.&#8217; Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful<n id="1" /> land a waste.&#8221;p>

And it will come about that just as you (both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says, &#8216;As I had planned to hurt<n id="1" /> you when your fathers made me angry,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8216;and I was not sorry,

These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another. Practice true and righteous judgment in your courts.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">Howl, fir tree,p> <p class="poetry">because the cedar has fallen;p> <p class="poetry">the majestic trees have been destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">Howl, oaks of Bashan,p> <p class="poetry">because the impenetrable forest has fallen.p>

Those who buy them<n id="1" /> slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, &#8216;Blessed be the <sc>Lordsc>, for I am rich.&#8217; Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

<p class="bodytext">Then I took my staff &#8220;Pleasantness&#8221; and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people.