‘Wake up, wake up; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer enter you.
Wake yourself, wake yourself up! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of his fury from the Lord’s hand; you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs – the cup that causes people to stagger.
So the angel of the Lord said to those standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes! ’ Then he said to him, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with festive robes.’
Wake up, wake up! Arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength. Wake up as in days past, as in generations long ago. Wasn’t it you who hacked Rahab to pieces, who pierced the sea monster?
A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path. Fools will not wander on it.
Look to the mountains – the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace. Celebrate your festivals, Judah; fulfil your vows. For the wicked one will never again march through you; he will be entirely wiped out.
I rejoice greatly in the Lord, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
All your people will be righteous; they will possess the land for ever; they are the branch I planted, the work of my hands, so that I may be glorified.
Now the leaders of the people stayed in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine-tenths remained in their towns.
Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel #– #this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land #– #this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you #– #the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
‘This is what the Lord God says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter my sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites.
This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘When I restore their fortunes, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: “May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement, holy mountain.”
to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him.
I will restore your judges to what they were at first, and your advisers to what they were at the start. Afterwards you will be called the Righteous City, a Faithful Town.’
But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Don’t measure it, because it is given to the nations, , and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Look up, and look round. They all gather together; they come to you. As I live’ – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘you will wear all your children as jewellery, and put them on as a bride does.
Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never overrun it again.