ZEC 7-9 edits/corrections

38-ZEC.usfm

@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusa
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 \v 1 When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on the fourth day of Kislev (which was the ninth month in their calendar), Yahweh gave me another message.
-\v 2 The people of the city of Bethel sent two men, Sharezer and Regem-Melek,, along with some other men, to the temple of Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, to request that Yahweh be kind to them.
+\v 2 The people of the city of Bethel sent two men, Sharezer and Regem-Melek, along with some other men to the temple of Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, to request that Yahweh be kind to them.
 \v 3 They also asked the priests at Yahweh's temple and the prophets this question: "For many years, during the fifth month and during the seventh month of each year, we have mourned and fasted. Should we continue to do that?"
 
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@@ -239,13 +239,13 @@ He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusa
 \v 4 Then Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, gave me a message.
 \v 5 He told me to say this to the priests and, in fact, to everyone in the whole land: "Tell me whom you were honoring when you did not eat but went around in dirty clothing. You were not really honoring me, were you?
 \v 6 And when you feasted at my temple, you did it just to have a good time; you did not really intend to honor me, did you?
-\v 7 This is exactly what I kept telling the former prophets to proclaim to the people, when the people in Jerusalem and the nearby towns were many and prosperous, and when people also lived in the southern Judean wilderness, and in the foothills to the west."
+\v 7 This is exactly what I kept telling the former prophets to proclaim to the people when the people in Jerusalem and the nearby towns were many and prosperous and when people also lived in the southern Judean wilderness and in the foothills to the west."
 
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 \v 8 Yahweh gave another message to me:
-\v 9 "Tell the people that this is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says: 'I told you to do what is just, to act kindly and mercifully toward each other, in order to honor my covenant with you.
-\v 10 I told you not to oppress widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. I said to not even think about doing evil to anyone else.'"
+\v 9 "Tell the people that this is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says: 'I told you to do what is just and to act kindly and mercifully toward each other in order to honor my covenant with you.
+\v 10 I told you to not oppress widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. I said to not even think about doing evil to anyone else.'"
 
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@@ -255,42 +255,42 @@ He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusa
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 \v 13 In those times, when Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, called to the people, they refused to listen. So he said, "In exactly the same way, I will refuse to listen when they call to me.
-\v 14 And I will scatter them among many nations, nations that they have never been to before. I will scatter them as a storm scatters leaves. After they are gone, their own land will be empty, with no one living there. No one will travel through it and no one will come back to it, because they have turned it, their most pleasant land, into a wilderness."
+\v 14 And I will scatter them among many nations—nations they have never been to before. I will scatter them as a storm scatters leaves. After they are gone, their own land will be empty, with no one living there. No one will travel through it and no one will come back to it because they have turned it—their most pleasant land—into a wilderness."
 
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 \v 1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
-\v 2 "This is what I, Yahweh the Commander of the angel armies, say: I love the people of Jerusalem; I love them very much, and I am very angry with their enemies.
+\v 2 "This is what I, Yahweh the commander of the angel armies, say: I love the people of Jerusalem; I love them very much, and I am very angry with their enemies.
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-\v 3 So this is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, say: On that day I will return to Mount Zion and I will live there. At that time, Jerusalem will be called The City of Faithful People, and Mount Zion will be called The Mountain that Belongs to Yahweh."
+\v 3 So this is what I, Yahweh the commander of the angel armies, say: On that day I will return to Mount Zion and I will live there. At that time, Jerusalem will be called The City of Faithful People, and Mount Zion will be called The Mountain that Belongs to Yahweh."
 
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-\v 4 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "On that day the old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each of them holding a cane because of their being very old.
+\v 4 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "On that day the old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each of them holding a cane because of their being very old.
 \v 5 And the city streets with be full of boys and girls playing."
 
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-\v 6 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When those things happen, it will seem marvelous to the people who are still alive, but it certainly will not seem marvelous to me!"
+\v 6 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When those things happen, it will seem marvelous to the people who are still alive, but it certainly will not seem marvelous to me!"
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 \v 7 Yahweh also says this: "I will bring my people back from the land to the east—Babylonia—and from the land to the west—Egypt—to which they had to go.
 \v 8 I will bring them back to Judah, and they will again live in Jerusalem. They will again worship me as my people, and I will be their God. I will be faithful to them and act toward them in a just manner."
 
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-\v 9 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When the foundation for my temple was laid, there were prophets there who gave messages from me. Some of you people heard what those prophets said. So be brave while you are building the temple, in order that you may finish building it.
-\v 10 Before you started to rebuild the temple, your fields gave no crops, no return for either man or beast working in them. And people were afraid to go anywhere because I had caused people to be against each other.
+\v 9 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When the foundation for my temple was laid, prophets were there who gave messages from me. Some of you people heard what those prophets said. So be brave while you are building the temple so that you may finish building it.
+\v 10 Before you started to rebuild the temple, your fields gave no crops—no return for either man or beast working in them. And people were afraid to go anywhere because I had caused people to be against each other.
 
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-\v 11 But now I will act differently toward you people who are still alive, differently than I did previously. That is what I, Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, say.
+\v 11 But now I will act differently toward you people who are still alive, differently than I did previously. That is what I, Yahweh the commander of the angel armies, say.
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 \v 12 From now on, I will give you peace. Your grapevines will produce grapes, and good crops will grow in your fields. There will be rain from the sky. I will always give all these things to you people who are still alive.
 
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 \v 13 You people of Judah and Israel, the people of other nations think of you when they speak of what a curse means. But I will rescue you, and I will give you many good things. So do not be afraid; work hard to finish building the temple."
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-\v 14 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When your ancestors caused me to become very angry, I did not change my mind about that. Instead, I indeed punished them.
+\v 14 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "When your ancestors caused me to become very angry, I did not change my mind about that. Instead, I indeed punished them.
 \v 15 But now I will do something different. I am planning to do good things to the people of Jerusalem and other towns in Judah again. So do not be afraid.
 
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@@ -299,31 +299,31 @@ He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusa
 
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-\v 18 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, spoke to me again.
+\v 18 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, spoke to me again.
 \v 19 This is what he said: "The times when you people of Judah abstain from food during the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months of each year will become times when you celebrate pleasant and joyful festivals instead. But you must want to speak truthfully and to be peaceful."
 
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-\v 20 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "There will be people gathered from many peoples and from many foreign cities, and they will come here to Jerusalem.
+\v 20 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "There will be people gathered from many peoples and from many foreign cities, and they will come here to Jerusalem.
 \v 21 People from one city will go to the people in another city and say, 'Let us go together to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh and request him to bless us; we ourselves are going.'
 \v 22 And people from many peoples and from powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh and request him to bless them."
 
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-\v 23 Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, also says this: "At that time, this is what will happen everywhere: For every Jewish person, there will be ten foreigners, people who speak a different language, who will come and grab the fringe of his robe. They will say to him, 'We have heard people say that God is with you. So allow us to go with you to Jerusalem to worship him.' People from every nation and language will do this."
+\v 23 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also says this: "At that time, this is what will happen everywhere: For every Jewish person, there will be ten foreigners—people who speak a different language—who will come and grab the fringe of his robe. They will say to him, 'We have heard people say that God is with you. So allow us to go with you to Jerusalem to worship him.' People from every nation and language will do this."
 
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 \c 9
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-\v 1 This is another message that I received from Yahweh about the region of Hadrach and the city of Damascus, the place where they get their rest. All the eyes of the nations and the people of the tribe of Israel are all looking toward Yahweh, to see what he will say.
-\v 2 This message is also about the people in the region of Hamath near to Damascus, and about the people in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, people who are very wise.
+\v 1 This is another message that I received from Yahweh about the region of Hadrak and the city of Damascus, the place where they get their rest. All the eyes of the nations and the people of the tribe of Israel are all looking toward Yahweh to see what he will say.
+\v 2 This message is also about the people in the region of Hamath near to Damascus and about the people in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, people who are very wise.
 
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-\v 3 The people in Tyre have built a high wall around their city. They piled up huge amounts of silver and gold like other people pile up soil when they dig in the streets.
+\v 3 The people in Tyre have built a high wall around their city. They piled up huge amounts of silver and gold as other people pile up soil when they dig in the streets.
 \v 4 But I, Yahweh, will make them lose everything, including their ships in which their men fight on the sea. Their city will burn to the ground.
 
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-\v 5 The people in the city of Ashkelon will see that happen, and they will become very afraid. The people in the city of Gaza will shake because they are terrified, and the people in the city of Ekron will shake too, because they no longer hope to escape enemies. The king of Gaza will die; no one will live any longer in Ashkelon.
+\v 5 The people in the city of Ashkelon will see that happen, and they will become very afraid. The people in the city of Gaza will shake because they are terrified, and the people in the city of Ekron will also shake because they no longer hope to escape enemies. The king of Gaza will die; no one will live any longer in Ashkelon.
 \v 6 Yahweh says, "Foreigners will occupy the city of Ashdod. I will no longer allow the people in all those cities of Philistia to be proud.
 \v 7 I will no longer allow them to eat meat that still has blood in it, and I will forbid them to eat food that they offered to idols. At that time, the people in the region of Philistia who survive will worship me; they will become like a clan in Judah. The people of the city of Ekron will become part of my people, as the people of the city of Jebus did when the Israelites conquered them.
 
@@ -331,26 +331,26 @@ He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusa
 \v 8 I will protect my land, and I will not allow any enemy soldiers to enter it. No enemies will harm my people again, because I myself will be watching over them carefully.
 
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-\v 9 Rejoice very much, you people of Jerusalem and shout joyfully,
+\v 9 Rejoice very much, you people of Jerusalem, and shout joyfully
 \q because your king will be coming to you.
 \q He is righteous and victorious;
 \q he will be gentle,
 \q and he will be riding on a donkey,
 \q on a young female donkey.
 \v 10 I will destroy the chariots in the region of Ephraim that are used in war and all the horses in Jerusalem that they take into battle. I will break all the bows they use in wars.
-\q Your king will proclaim that he will cause things to go well and peacefully among the nations. He will rule the area from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, and from the Euphrates River to the most distant places on the earth.
+\q Your king will proclaim that he will cause things to go well and peacefully among the nations. He will rule the area from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea and from the Euphrates River to the most distant places on the earth.
 
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-\v 11 As for you, my people of Jerusalem, because of the blood that flowed when I made my covenant with you, I will free your people whom they took to other countries, where it was as though they were prisoners in a waterless pit.
-\v 12 You people who were prisoners in those countries who still believe that I will help you, return to Judah, for I will defend you there. Today I declare that I will give you two blessings for each of the troubles that you have experienced.
+\v 11 As for you, my people of Jerusalem, because of the blood that flowed when I made my covenant with you, I will free your people whom they took to other countries where it was as though they were prisoners in a waterless pit.
+\v 12 You people who were prisoners in those countries who still believe that I will help you: Return to Judah, for I will defend you there. Today I declare that I will give you two blessings for each of the troubles that you have experienced.
 \v 13 I will cause Judah to be like my bow, and I will cause Israel to be like my arrow. I will enable you young men of Jerusalem to fight against the soldiers of Greece; you will be like a warrior's sword."
 
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-\v 14 One day Yahweh will appear in the sky above his people, and the arrows that he shoots will be like lightning bolts. Yahweh our Lord will blow his trumpet, and he will march with the powerful storms that come from the land of Teman in the south.
+\v 14 One day, Yahweh will appear in the sky above his people, and the arrows that he shoots will be like lightning bolts. Yahweh our Lord will blow his trumpet, and he will march with the powerful storms that come from the land of Teman in the south.
 \v 15 Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will protect his people; the soldiers of Judah will attack and defeat their enemies who attack them using slings and stones. Those soldiers of Judah will drink and celebrate and shout like people who are drunk; they will be as full of wine as the bowl that holds the blood of the animals priest kill at the altar—the blood that the priests sprinkle on the corners of the altar.
 
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-\v 16 On that day, Yahweh our God will save his people like a shepherd saves his flock of sheep from danger. In our land, they will be like jewels that sparkle in a crown.
+\v 16 On that day, Yahweh our God will save his people as a shepherd saves his flock of sheep from danger. In our land, they will be like jewels that sparkle in a crown.
 \v 17 They will be delightful and beautiful. The young men will become strong from eating grain, and the young women will become strong from drinking new wine.
 
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