Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. | ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. |
Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!” | For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live.” |
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This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. | This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. |
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! | He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus! |
For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’” | For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’” |
I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live! | “For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!” |
“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” | “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” |
Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’ | Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ |
“Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord. | “Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh. |
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” | “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh. |
As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” | For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” |
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. | Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” |
Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’ | Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear nor listen to me, says Yahweh. |
That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” | “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” |
“They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.” | “They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.” |
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” | “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” |
I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. | For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening, he shall have whatever he says. |
O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. | ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.’ |
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. |
“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. | “For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you. |
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” | “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.” |
Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. | Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. |
This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’” | Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” |
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” | “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.” |
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? | If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? |