20250412

time to escape

Zechariah 1:18-2:13 (JDV)

Zechariah 1:18 Then I looked up and noticed four horns.
Zechariah 1:19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Zechariah 1:20 Then Yahveh showed me four craftsmen.
Zechariah 1:21 I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
Zechariah 2:1 I looked up and noticed a man with a measuring line in his hand.
Zechariah 2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”
Zechariah 2:3 Then I noticed as the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.
Zechariah 2:4 He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be lived in without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it.”
Zechariah 2:5 The declaration of Yahveh: “I myself will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”
Zechariah 2:6 “Listen! Listen! Flee from the land of the north”– this is Yahveh’s declaration– ” because I have scattered you like the four winds of the sky” – this is Yahveh’s declaration.
Zechariah 2:7 “Listen, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.”
Zechariah 2:8 For Yahveh of Armies says this: “In pursuit of his glory, he sent me against the nations plundering you, for whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.
Zechariah 2:9 You see, notice, I am raising my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that Yahveh of Armies has sent me.
Zechariah 2:10 “Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, notice – because I am coming to dwell among you”– this is Yahveh’s declaration.
Zechariah 2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to Yahveh on that day and become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that Yahveh of Armies has sent me to you.
Zechariah 2:12 Yahveh will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.
Zechariah 2:13 Let everything with skin on be silent before Yahveh, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”

time to escape

Those who scattered Judah will themselves be shaken, and the people will return to a city protected by the LORD himself. Those who have been living in Babylon are told to flee from that land of the north, and escape to Zion.

Where are you living today? Are you at home in the LORD’s land, or do you live in the land of Babylon? You cannot stay on that foreign soil. The LORD is about to judge it. Escape to the LORD’s protected city.

LORD, we have been living in Babylon too long. Give us the courage to escape it, before it is too late.