eir ears,
that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant lest
they should hear the teaching, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had
sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore there came great
wrath from Jehovah of hosts. And even when I cried they would not hear, so
when they cried I did not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts. And I scattered
them by a whirlwind among the nations which they did not know. Thus the
land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed to or fro; for
they made the pleasant land a desolation.

[Sidenote: Zech. 8:1-5]
Now this word of Jehovah of hosts came to me:
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,
'I cherish for Zion a great jealousy,
And I am jealous for her with great indignation.'
Thus saith Jehovah, 'I have returned to Zion,
And will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem;
And Jerusalem shall be called, "The City of Truth;"
And the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, "The Holy Mountain."
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
'Old men and old women shall again sit in the broad places of Jerusalem,
Each man with his staff in his hand because of old age.
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys,
And of girls playing in its broad places.'

[Sidenote: Zech. 8:6-8]
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
Because it seemeth impossible to the remnant of this people,
Is it impossible for me? saith Jehovah of hosts.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
I am about to rescue my people,
From the land of the east and the land of the west,
And I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
And they shall be my people in truth and righteousness,
And in turn I will be their God.

I. Zechariah's Ancestry and Point of View. Haggai's contemporary, the
prophet Zechariah, was evidently a priest. In the genealogy of Nehemiah
12:4, it is stated that he belonged to the priestly family of Iddo. This
conclusion is confirmed by the character of his prophecies. Like the
priest-prophet Ezekiel he is exceedingly fond of apocalyptic symbolism. He
is also deeply interested in the priesthood and in its ceremonial purity.
Furthermore, it is exceedingly probable that he was a descendant of one of
the many priests carried as exiles to Babylon. This is shown by his keen
interest in and exact knowledge of the great political movements that were
then shaking the Persian Empire. His conception of Jehovah is also
strongly influenced by the analogies drawn from the Persian court. In his
thought Israel's