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Chapter 1
It was in the second year of Darius' reign, and the eighth month of it, that a message from the Lord came to the prophet Zacharias, son of Barachias, son of Addo. And thus it ran: Beyond question, your fathers incurred the Lord's displeasure; and now this word you must proclaim from the Lord of hosts, Come back to me, he bids you, and I, he promises, will come back to your side. Prophets there were long since, that warned those fathers of yours in his name, they should turn away from ill living and rebellious thoughts; yet neither heed nor hearing, he says, would they give me; not for you to follow their example. Gone, the men of an earlier day; prophets that spoke to them might not live on for ever, but warning of mine, promise of mine, entrusted to the prophets that were my true servants, live on yet. See how the fulfilment of them overtook your fathers, till at last they must needs repent, must acknowledge the Lord of hosts had not threatened them, sinners and rebels, in vain!
Then, on the twenty-fourth day of Sabath, which is the eleventh month, word came from the Lord afresh, and once more it came to Zacharias, son of Barachias, son of Addo. A vision appeared to me in the night, of one that was mounted on a sorrel horse, at a stand among the myrtle-trees, down in the Valley; and never a horse in all his company but was sorrel, roan or white. Scarce had I asked, My Lord, what be these? when the angel that inspired me promised he would shew me the meaning of it; and with that, my answer came from him who stood among the myrtle-trees, These have gone out on the Lord's errand, patrolling the earth. And to him, now, the angel of the myrtle-wood, those others made their report: All earth we have patrolled, said they, and everywhere is safety, everywhere is rest. Ah, Lord of hosts, my angel monitor said, will you never relent, never take pity upon Jerusalem and the towns of Juda? Here be seventy years come and gone. And with that, the Lord answered him; gracious his words were, gracious and full of comfort. Cry it abroad, now, my monitor said to me, this message from the Lord of hosts: Jealous, right jealous my love for Sion's hill, deep, full deep my anger against the heathen that are so well content! I would have punished Jerusalem but lightly, it was these drove home the blow. And now, the Lord says, I am for Jerusalem again, bringing pardon with me; temple shall be built there for the Lord of hosts, Jerusalem shall see mason's plummet busy once again. And this, too: A promise from the Lord of hosts! Yonder towns shall yet overflow with riches; Sion shall yet receive comfort, Jerusalem be the city of my choice.
Then I looked up, and what saw I? Here were four horns; and when I asked my guide what they should be, he told me, Upon these horns, Juda and Israel and Jerusalem were tossed about. After that, the Lord sent me another vision of four blacksmiths; What errand, said I, have these? Why, said he, yonder horns made such havoc of Juda till now, never a man might lift his head; what should be the blacksmiths' errand but to turn them back? Polled they must be henceforward, the heathen folk that once tossed Juda to the winds.
Chapter 2
When next I looked up, I saw a man there that carried a measuring-line; so I asked him, whither he was bound? For Jerusalem, said he, to measure length and breadth of it. And at that, my angel monitor would have gone out on his errand, but here was a second angel come out to meet him. Speed you, said he, on your way, and tell that pupil of yours: So full Jerusalem shall be, of men and cattle both, wall it shall have none to hedge it in; I myself, the Lord says, will be a wall of fire around it, and in the midst of it the brightness of my presence.
Away, away, from the north country get you gone, the Lord says; what if I have scattered you, far as the four winds? Away with you, Sion; would you still make your home with widowed Babylon? This promise the Lord of hosts makes: After...
... glory, I hold his warrant against the nations that plunder you; apple of my eye, he touches, that touches you. Lift I my hand, they shall be at your mercy that are your masters now; doubt shall be none it was the Lord who sent me.
Sion, poor maid, break out into songs of rejoicing; I am on my way, coming to dwell in the midst of you, the Lord says. There be nations a many that shall rally that day to the Lord's side; they, too, shall be people of mine, but with you shall be my dwelling.
Doubt there shall be none it was the Lord of hosts sent me to your aid. Juda the Lord shall claim for his own, his portion in a holy land; still Jerusalem shall be the city of his choice.
Be silent, living things, in the Lord's presence; yonder in his holy dwelling all is astir.
Chapter 3
Another vision the Lord shewed me; here was an angel of his, and before this angel stood the high priest Josue, with the Accuser at his right hand bringing accusation against him. But to the Accuser the divine answer came, The Lord rebuke you, Satan; the Lord, that makes choice of Jerusalem, rebuke you! What, is not this a brand saved from the embers? Then, for he saw Josue standing there in his presence very vilely clad, the angel gave it out to his attendants they should take away these vile rags from him; Guilt of yours, said he, I have set by; you shall have new garments to wear instead. A clean mitre they should give him besides. And so, when the new mitre was on his head and the new garments were about him, the angel of the Lord rose up and gave Josue his commission from the Lord of hosts: My beckoning follow you, my commands keep you, people of mine you shall govern, house of mine shalt have in your charge, and in their company, that here stand about you, shall come and go. This for the hearing of the high priest Josue, and others his co-assessors, names of good omen all.
Time is I should bring hither my servant, that is the Dayspring. Stone is here I will set before yonder Josue; a stone that bears seven eyes, device of my own carving, says the Lord of hosts. All the guilt of this land I will banish in a single day. That shall be a day of good cheer, the Lord of hosts says, friend making glad with friend under vine and under figtree. A Once the angel monitor roused me to my senses, as though I had lain asleep; Now, said he, what see you? Why, I said, here is a lamp-stand meets my eyes, all of gold. A bowl this lampstand has at the top of it, and from the bowl run seven pipes, to feed the seven lamps that crown it. And there are two olive-trees hanging over it, one to the right and one to the left of the bowl. Then in my turn I asked a question of the angel, Tell me, what does all this mean? What, said my monitor, can you not recognize it? Not I, my Lord, I answered.
And thereupon the angel told me...
... Word from the Lord to Zorobabel: By arms, by force nothing can you; my spirit is all, says the Lord of hosts. Vain is towering height of yours, great mountain; down to plain's level you must stoop at Zorobabel's coming; stone from you he must quarry and smooth to be his coping-stone, how fair, how fair! This message, too, I had from the Lord: Yonder temple hand of Zorobabel has founded, hand of Zorobabel shall finish. No more you shall doubt that I come to you on the Lord's errand. Humble fortunes of yesterday who dared belittle? Rejoice they now, to see plummet at work in Zorobabel's hand...
... What should they be, those seven, but eyes the Lord has, glancing this way and that to scan the earth?
Then I asked him about the two olive-trees, to right and left of the lamp-stand; and there was more I would know, What of the two olive-shoots, close beside the two golden taps that feed yonder pipes of gold? What said he, can you not tell? Not I, my Lord, I answered. What should these be, he said, but the two newly-anointed ones that stand in his presence, who is Master of the whole earth?
Chapter 5
Once again I looked up, and there before me was a scroll, that had wings to fly with. So when he asked, what saw I, A scroll, I said, that flies past, twenty cubits long and ten broad. Here is ban, said he, that runs all the world over; thief is none, perjurer is none but shall be the Scroll; the Bushel; the four Chariots judged by the tenour of it. It shall go out under my warrant, says the Lord of hosts, making its way into house of thief, house of perjurer that wrongs my name, and clinging close till it makes an end of all, wood-work and stone-work both.
Again the angel visited me, and bade me look well at the revelation that was sent me. What is it? I asked. Bushel-measure is this, he told me; And it is nothing other, said he, than guilt of theirs, spread abroad over the whole earth. Then he lifted up the cover, that was a talent's weight of lead, and what should I see but a woman sitting there within? Godlessness, he told me, is the name of her; and with that he thrust her back into the barrel, and fastened down the cover of lead. And now, looking up, I saw two other women appearing, that had wings spread out to the wind, strong as a hawk's wings; and these carried the barrel off, midway between heaven an earth. When I would know whither they carried to it, the angel told me, To Sennaar, where it must have a shrine built for it; there it must be set up, and rest on a pedestal of its own.
Chapter 6
Once more yet I looked up, and had a vision of four chariots, coming out of a pass between two mountains that were all of bronze. Of the horses, the first pair were sorrel, the second black, the third white, the fourth a sturdy pair of roans. And when I asked of my angel monitor what these might be, Here be four winds, he told me, going out on their errand; their place is in his presence, who is Master of the whole earth. So out they went, chariot drawn by black horses turning northwards; the white followed these, and the roans turned southwards, the sturdiest pair of all...
... Went out on their errand, fain to traverse the whole world through. And a great cry came to me, See, where they reach the north country! All is well in the north country, my heart is content.
And a message from the Lord came to Zacharias: From yonder emissaries of the exiled Jews, Holdai, Tobias and Idaias, toll you must take; this very day bestir you, and make your way to the house of Josias, son of Sophonias, whither they have repaired, newly come from Babylon. Gold and silver you must take from them, and make crowns, to crown the high priest, Josue son of Josedec... This message you shall give him from the Lord God of hosts: Here is one takes his name from the Dayspring; where his feet have trodden, spring there shall be. He it is shall rebuild the Lord's temple; builder of the Lord's temple, to what honours he shall come! On princely throne he sits, throne of a priest beside him, and between these two, what harmony of counsel! For Helem, Tobias, Idaias, and Hem the son of Sophonias, the crowns they gave shall win remembrance in the temple of the Lord.
Men shall come from far away, to work at the temple's rebuilding; you shall not doubt, then, it was the Lord of hosts gave me my warrant. Will you but heed the voice of the Lord your God, this shall be your reward...
Chapter 7
In the fourth year of Darius reign, another message from the Lord came to Zacharias; it was on the fourth day of Casleu, the ninth month. This was the occasion of it; here was Sarasar, with Rogommelech and others of his company, sending envoys to implore the Lord's favour. A question they put to the priests, there in the temple of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets besides: Must I yet mourn, yet rid myself of defilement, when the fifth month comes round, as my wont has been these many years past? Then came this message to me from the Lord of hosts: Ask this, of priests and people both; was it indeed fast of mine you kept, all these seventy years, the fifth month and the seventh observing ever with fasting and lament, you, that when food and drink were set before you, shared them with none?
Bethink you, what warnings gave he by the prophets of an earlier day, when Jerusalem was yet safe and prosperous, she and the cities about her, populous the western valleys, populous the hill-country of the south. (Such was the word the Lord sent to Zacharias.) A message from the Lord of hosts: Come now, the true award, the tender heart that pities a neighbour's need! Widow and orphan, the alien and the friendless, wrong no more; brother against brother plot no more! And would they listen? Shrank every shoulder from the burden, deaf ears they turned him, hardened their hearts to adamant. Heed his law they would not; heed they would not, when the Lord of hosts inspired those older prophets to speak in his name. What wonder if his divine anger was aroused beyond measure? What wonder, says the Lord of hosts, they should call in vain on me, that in vain had warned them? So it was I scattered them in unknown countries, left their land a desert, where none came or went; a land so fair, by its own inhabitants laid waste.
Chapter 8
This word, too, came from him: A message from the Lord of hosts! Great ruth have I for Sion, and sore it grieves me. To Sion I will return, so runs his promise and make in Jerusalem my home The loyal city, men shall call her, and that mountain where dwells the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain. This, too: Trust me, there shall yet be aged folk in the streets of Jerusalem, men and women both, that go staff in hand, they are so bowed with years; thronged they shall be, those streets, with boys and girls at play in the open. And this: Hard to believe? So now they find it, poor remnant of a people; but should I, the Lord of hosts, find it hard to perform? And this, too: See if I do not rescue my people from the east country and the west, bring them back to dwell here in the midst of Jerusalem; they my people, and I their God, in troth and loyalty either to other bound.
A message from the Lord of hosts! Take courage, then, you that still hold fast by the commands the prophets gave you, when the foundations of yonder house were a-laying, and the Lord of hosts had no temple yet. Before that time, labour went unrewarded, for man and beast; so hard pressed were you, none might come or go in safety; every man, in those days, I left at his neighbour's mercy. But now, says the Lord of hosts, this remnant of my people shall enjoy better fortune; a happier seed-time is theirs. Its fruit the vineyard shall yield, the land its harvest, heaven its rain, and all for this remnant to enjoy. Breed of Juda, breed of Israel, by-words of misfortune once, when heathen folk fell to cursing their enemies; happy deliverance, they shall be names of blessing now!. Your fears vanquish, go bravely on; he, the Lord of hosts, gives you his warrant for it. Time was, says he, when your fathers had roused my anger, and I was ever planning mischief against you; no respite then! Today, for the good estate of Juda and Jerusalem plan I no less eagerly; vanquish your fears. And for your part, this do: deal honestly with your neighbours, give ever in your market-place the true, the salutary award; harbour no ill thoughts one against another, nor set your hearts on the oath falsely sworn; every deed of wrong is hateful to me, the Lord says.
And word came to me from the Lord of hosts, bidding me say this in his name: Fasts you kept ever, when three months of the year, or four, six months or nine were gone, shall be all rejoicing and gladness for the men of Juda now, all high festival, will you but love true dealing and peaceful ways. This promise I give you from the Lord of hosts: What alien throngs, from what far cities, shall make pilgrimage yet! And ever, as fresh towns they reach, says pilgrim, Come with us, and welcome; court we the divine favour, to the Lord of hosts repair we; says townsman, Go with you I will. No nation so populous, no kingdom so strong, but shall betake itself to Jerusalem, to find the Lord of hosts and court his divine favour. This, too: A time is coming, when there is never a man of Jewish blood but shall have ten Gentiles at his heels, and no two of the same speech; clinging all at once to the skirts of him, and crying, Your way is ours! The tale has reached us, how God is there to protect you.
Chapter 9
Burden of the Lord's doom, where falls it now? On Hadrach's land; ay, and Damascus shall be its resting-place; all men's eyes are fixed on the Lord, all the tribes of Israel are watching him now. Perilously near is Emath, and yonder cities of Tyre and Sidon, so famed for wisdom. This Tyre, how strong a fortress she has built, what silver and gold she has amassed, till they were common as clay, as mire in the streets! Ay, but the Lord means to dispossess her; cast into the sea, all that wealth of hers, and herself burnt to the ground! At the sight of it, how Ascalon trembles, how Gaza mourns, and Accaron for hopes belied; no chieftain in Gaza, n( townsfolk left in Ascalon now; in Azotu: dwells a bastard breed. So low will I brim the pride of yonder Philistines; snatch the blood-stained morsel from their mouths, the unhallowed food theirs no longer; servant of our God he shall be that is left surviving, a clansman in Juda; so shall Accaron be all one with the Jebusite. I have sentinels that shall march to and fro, guarding this home of mine, and none shall take toll of it henceforward; my eye are watching now.
Glad news for you, widowed Sion; cry out for happiness, Jerusalem forlorn! See where your king comes to greet you, a trusty deliverer; see how lowly he rides, mounted on an ass, patient colt of patient dam! Chariots of yours, Ephraim, horses of yours, Jerusalem, shall be done away, bow of the warrior be unstrung; peace this king shall impose on the world, reigning from sea to sea, from Euphrates to the world's end.
How should they be ransomed, but by the blood of your covenant with me, those your fellow-countrymen, in waterless dungeons bound? To these sheltering walls, patient prisoners, return; you have my warrant, double recompense shall be granted you. Bow of mine is Juda, Ephraim my shafts employ; Greece, look to your sons when I match the sons of Sion against them, sword in a warrior's hand! See him there, in visible form, high above them, the Lord God, that volleys down shaft of his lightning, sounds with the trumpet, rides on the storm-wind of the south! He, the Lord of hosts, will be their protection; with sling-stones for teeth, flesh of men eat they, drink blood like revellers at their wine; not sacrificial bowl, nor altar's horns, so drenched with blood. His own people, his own sheep, will not the Lord God in that hour defend them? His own sacred trophy themselves shall be, to this land of his beckoning all men's eyes; a people how blessed and how fair! So well with corn and wine furnished, both man and maid shall thrive.
Chapter 10
For rain in spring whom but the Lord entreat we? He it is, none else fashions the snow, waters the crops on this farm or that. Vain the false god's foretelling, vainly diviner cheats us, and dreams delude; comfort they have none to give; such ways Israel has followed, like a flock of sheep untended, and to its cost. What marvel if my anger blazed out against the shepherds? A reckoning I must have with yonder buck-goats; ay, the Lord of hosts would keep strict count of his flock, the sons of Juda.
Who but Israel is the proud charger I will ride into battle? Corner-stone, he of the building, peg of the tent's rope bow that shall win the day; spoilers of the world he, none other, shall send forth. Warriors they shall be that go out to battle trampling all before them in the mire; does not the Lord go out to battle at their side? Well mounted, their enemies could yet nothing win. Such aid the men of Juda shall have, the sons of Joseph such deliverance; in pity I will restore them, and all shall be as it was before I cast them off from me; I am the Lord their God, shall I not heed them? Ephraim, of great warriors the peer! Glad all hearts shall be, as when the wine-cup goes round; children of his shall acclaim the sight, and triumph lustily in the Lord.
Flock of ray ransoming, see how they gather at my call! Thriving now as they throve long since, yet scattered through the world, in those distant lands they shall remember me; with spirits revived, they and their children shall return. Back from to Egypt, back from Assyria I will summon them, rally them, to Galaad and Lebanon bring them home; and that home shall be too small for them. Crossed, yonder straits, the sea's wave checked, depths of the river disappointed of their prey! Assyria's pride brought low, empire of Egypt cut down! In the Lord they shall find strength, under his protection come and go; so runs the divine promise.
Chapter 11
Fling your gates wide, Lebanon, for the fire to come in, and devour your cedars! Lament, neighbour pine-tree, for cedar overthrown; here be lordly ones plundered; lament, oaks of Basan, for the secret forest that is cut down! Hark, how the shepherd-folk lament, their fine mantle gone, how roars lion for the thickets of Jordan stripped!
This message the Lord my God sent me: To this flock that is a-fattening for slaughter you must play the shepherd. What, would they slay without remorse, yonder lords of the flock, sell carcase, and thank the Lord that so enriches them; are there shepherds so unmerciful? Nay, I will be unmerciful too, the Lord says, to all that dwell on earth; I will leave every son of Adam at the mercy of his neighbour, or the king that rules over him; broken and bowed the land shall be and no redress shall they have from me henceforward!
Poor sheep fattening for slaughter, take charge of your flock I must; and two staves I made me, for the better tending of it, one I called Beauty, and the other Cords. Before a month was up, of three shepherds I had rid them, yet had I no patience with them, and they of me grew no less weary. No more will I tend you, said I; perish all of you that will perish, be lost all that will be lost; and for the residue, let them devour one another; I care not. With that, I took up the staff I called Beauty, and cut it in two; in token that my covenant with all the world should be null. Null it was thenceforward; and doubt they might not, the starvelings of the flock that looked up to me, the Lord's word had come to them.
... And now, said I, pay me my wages, if pay you will; if not, say no more. So they paid me for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Why, the Lord said, here is a princely sum they rate me at! Throw it to the craftsman yonder. So there, in the Lord's temple, I threw the craftsman my thirty pieces of silver...
Then I took my other staff, Cords, and cut it in two; in token that all brotherhood was at an end between Juda and Israel. And the Lord said, Gear of a foolish shepherd you must take to you now. See if I do not find me such a shepherd for this land of theirs, as will leave lost sheep uncounted, strayed sheep unsought, hurt sheep unhealed; and such as are left whole, feed he will not, but eat ever the fattest of them, tearing only the hoofs away. Out upon the false shepherd that abandons his flock! Sword shall pierce the arm of him, and the right eye of him, till arm is withered and eye darkened quite.
Chapter 12
Burden of the Lord's doom, where falls it now? On Israel. Word from the Lord, who spread heaven out, founded earth, fashions the life that beats in man! This is my decree, that Jerusalem's walls (ay, and the whole of Juda shall man those ramparts) be offered to all the nations round about for a fatal cup; to all the world Jerusalem shall be a stone immoveable; lift it who will, shall be torn unmercifully. See where they muster to the attack, all the kingdoms of the world! Time now, the Lord says, to dazzle steed and craze rider's wits; for Juda, the sunshine of my regard, the heathen must ride in darkness. Vainly do yonder chieftains of Juda look to the garrison of Jerusalem to be their succour, in the strength of the Lord their God; chieftains of Juda themselves shall be my instruments then, firebrand in the forest, spark among the dry sheaves, to devour all the nations right and left of them. Jerusalem shall stand, when all is over, where Jerusalem stood; but to the country folk of Juda the Lord grants deliverance first; clan of David, citizens of Jerusalem shall not boast themselves better than the rest.
When that day comes, the men of Jerusalem shall have the Lord for their stay; the lowest fallen among them shall seem royal as David's self, and David's clansmen a race divine, as though an angel of the Lord marched at their head.
Never a nation that marched on Jerusalem but I will hunt it down, when that day comes, and make an end of it.
On David's clan, on all the citizens of Jerusalem, I will pour out a gracious spirit of prayer; towards me they shall look, me whom they have pierced through. Lament for him they must, and grieve bitterly; never was such lament for an only son grief so bitter over first-born dead. When that day comes, great shall be the mourning in Jerusalem, great as Adadremmon's mourning at Mageddo; the whole land in mourning, all its families apart. Here the men of David's clan, yonder their women, here the men of Nathan's, yonder their women, here the men of Levi's, yonder their women, here the men of Semei's, yonder their women; apart they shall mourn, whatever families there be, and all their women-folk apart. When that day comes, clansmen of David and citizens of Jerusalem shall have a fountain flowing openly, of guilt to rid them, and of defilement.
A time shall come, says the Lord of hosts, when I will efface the memory of the false gods; the very names of them shall be forgotten; banish, too, the false prophets, and the unclean spirit they echo. Dares one of them prophesy again, all men will turn against him, even the parents that begot him; Still at your lying, and in the Lord's name? You shall die for it! And with a javelin's thrust father and mother will take the life they gave. When that day comes, never a prophet but shall rue the false vision he trusted in. Deceitful garb of sackcloth each one shall throw aside; No prophet am I, but a simple peasant, that grew up to follow Adam's trade!
Ask they, What wounds be these in your clasped hands? Thus wounded was I, he shall answer, in the house of my friends.
Up, sword, and attack this shepherd of mine, neighbour of mine, says the Lord of hosts.
Smite shepherd, and his flock shall scatter; so upon the common folk my vengeance shall fall. All over this land, the Lord says, two thirds of them are forfeit to destruction, only a third shall be left to dwell there; and this third part, through fire I will lead them; purged they shall be as silver is purged, tried as gold is tried. Theirs on my name to call, their plea mine to grant; My own people, so I greet them, and they answer, The Lord is my own God.
Chapter 14
The Lord's appointed time is coming, when spoil of you shall be divided in your midst. All the nations of the world I will muster to the siege of Jerusalem; taken the city shall be, and its houses pillaged, and its women-folk ravished; of the defenders, half will go into exile, and leave but a remnant in the city. And then the Lord will go out to battle against those nations, as he did ever in the decisive hour. There on the mount of Olives, that faces Jerusalem on the east, his feet shall be set; to east and west the mount of Olives shall be cloven in two halves, with a great chasm between, and the two halves shall move apart, one northward, one southward. Down the clefts of that sacred hill-side you shall flee, each of them now leading to the next; flee as you fled before the earthquake, in Ozias time, that reigned over Juda; on, on he comes, the Lord my God, with all his sacred retinue.
Light there shall be none that day, all shall be frost and cold; one day there shall be, none but the Lord knows the length of it, that shall be neither daylight nor dark, but when evening comes, there shall be light. Then a living stream will flow from Jerusalem, half to the eastern, half to the western sea, winter and summer both; and over all the earth the Lord shall be king, one Lord, called everywhere by one name.. What shall be the land's frontiers? The desert, and Geba, and Remmon that is south of Jerusalem. What of the city? It shall be built up high, and its true limits keep, from gate of Benjamin to main gate and corner gate, from tower of Hananeel to the king's wine-press. A populous city, no ban resting on it thenceforward; a secure dwelling-place.
And what of the visitation that shall smite down the assailants of Jerusalem? Wasted away the flesh of them, till they can keep their feet no longer; wasted away eye in socket and tongue in mouth; with great tumult of mind the Lord will bemuse them that day, each of them laying hands on his fellow, brother engaging brother in fight. Juda meanwhile, shall set about the regaining of Jerusalem, and find the spoils of every neighbouring people amassed there, gold, and silver, and of raiment great abundance; but as for horse and mule, camel and ass, and all the cattle in yonder camp, these will have perished by the same plague as their masters.
Yet of all the nations that sent their armies against Jerusalem there shall be some remnant left; and these, year by year, shall make pilgrimage, to worship their King, the Lord of hosts, and keep his feast of Tent-dwelling. Come and worship their King they must, the Lord of hosts; else no rain shall fall on them, all the world over. What then of Egypt's folk, that rain have none? What if they refuse to go on pilgrimage? Why, for their neglecting of this feast, the same plague shall fall on them which the Lord sent on the heathen armies aforesaid. Be it Egypt, or be it any other nation, that will not keep the feast of Tent-dwelling, punished it shall be in this fashion or in that.
Spoils from the enemy's bridle-rein shall be consecrated on that day to the Lord's service, till there is never pot or pan in his temple but rivals the altar's bowls for costliness! Nay, never pot or pan in all Jerusalem but shall be consecrated to the Lord of hosts, for any who will to come and take it and see the victim in it; trafficking there shall be no more in the Lord's temple, when that day comes.