Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord who rules over all and to ask his favor.

The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards, ¹  full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar. ² 

“In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ¹  of David and the people of Jerusalem ²  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ³ 

“I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

All the land will change and become like the Arabah ¹  from Geba to Rimmon, ²  south of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be raised up and will stay in its own place from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate ³  and on to the Corner Gate, ⁴  and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. ⁵ 

(2:5) I looked again, and there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.

“As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever?

And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination – Jerusalem will dwell in security.

“The Lord who rules over all says, ‘If you live ¹  and work according to my requirements, you will be able to preside over my temple ²  and attend to my courtyards, and I will allow you to come and go among these others who are standing by you.

Once more I looked, and this time I saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains of bronze. ¹ 

Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. ¹  Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

He replied, “Don’t you know what these are?” And I said, “No, sir.”

Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem ¹  was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah ²  were also populated?

I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. ¹  I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land.

Nevertheless the Lord will evict her and shove her fortifications ¹  into the sea – she will be consumed by fire.

Thus I will strengthen them by my power, ¹  and they will walk about ²  in my name,” says the Lord.

“But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear.

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, ¹  who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.”

I will remove ¹  the chariot from Ephraim and the warhorse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be removed. Then he will announce peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River ²  to the ends of the earth.