I was then alone, so I bowed down and cried out to the LORD, “Why are you doing this? Are you so angry at the people of Jerusalem that everyone must die?”
Tell my servants, the priests, to cry inside the temple and to offer this prayer near the altar: “Save your people, LORD God! Don't let foreign nations make jokes about us. Don't let them laugh and ask, ‘Where is your God?’ ”
Those who have made fun of this day of small beginnings will celebrate when they see Zerubbabel holding this important stone. Those seven lamps represent my eyes—the eyes of the LORD—and they see everything on this earth.
You are merciful, and you treat people better than they deserve. So please forgive these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.