17 From that time, while Jesus was in Capernaum city, he began to preach this to people: "God [MTY/EUP] will very soon begin to rule, and he will judge you when he rules. So you (pl) need to turn from your sinful ways so that God will not punish you."

8 Do what is appropriate [IDM] for people who have truly turned away from their sinful behavior before you come to me in order to be baptized {that I baptize you}.

13 He continued by saying, "You need to learn what these words that God said mean: ‘I want you to act mercifully to people and not just to offer sacrifices.’ Keep in mind that I came from heaven, not to invite people who think [IRO] that they are righteous to turn away from their sinful lives and come to me, but to invite people who know they are sinners to turn from their sins and come to me."

15 He was repeatedly saying, "Now is the time when God will begin to rule people’s lives in a new way. So turn away from your sinful behavior! Believe the good message in order ◄to belong to him/to become those whose lives he will rule►!"

3 I assure you, that was not so! But instead of being concerned about them, you need to remember that God will similarly punish you eternally if you do not turn away from your sinful behavior.

32 Similarly, I did not come from heaven to invite those who think they are righteous to come to me. On the contrary, I came to invite those who know that they are sinners to turn from their sinful behavior and come to me."

38 Peter answered them, "Each of you should turn away from your sinful behavior. Then we(exc) will baptize you, if you now believe in Jesus Christ. Then God will give you the Holy Spirit.

19 So, turn away from your sinful behavior and ask God to help you do what pleases him, in order that he may completely forgive you for your sins.

30 During the times when people did not know what God wanted them to do, he did not immediately punish them for what they did. But now God commands all people everywhere to turn away from their evil behavior.

19 Since I rebuke and correct all those whom I affectionately love, earnestly stop your sinful behavior.

9 Therefore, you should not think that because Christ has not yet come back to judge people, the Lord God is ◄delaying/slow to do► what he promised. Some people think that this is so, and they say that Christ will never come back. But you should understand that the reason why Christ has not yet come back to judge people is that God is being patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be lost eternally. Instead, he wants everyone to turn away from their sinful behavior.

32 I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that I am not pleased about your dying. So repent, and remain alive!"

14 if the people who belong to me humble themselves and pray, and request me to help them, and if they turn away from their sinful behavior, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive them for having sinned and I will cause them to prosper again.

1-3 The king and his officials and all the other people who had gathered in Jerusalem wanted to celebrate the Passover Festival. But they were not able to celebrate it at the usual time, because many of the priests had still not performed the rituals to purify themselves; therefore they were not allowed to do serve in the festival. Also, everyone had still not come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. So they decided to celebrate it one month later than usual. 4 The king and all the other people who had gathered thought that was a good plan. 5 So they decided to send messages to all the towns in Judah and in Israel, from Beersheba in the far south to Dan in the far north, including towns in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, to invite people to come to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Festival to honor Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli people worshiped/belonged to. Many of the people had not previously celebrated that festival, even though it had been written in the laws of Moses that they should do that.

6 Obeying what the king commanded, messengers went throughout Judah and Israel, taking messages that had been written by the king and his officials. This is what they wrote:

"You Israeli people, you who survived after being slaves of the kings of Assyria, return to Yahweh, the God whom our great ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped/belonged to, in order that he may return to you. Your fathers and brothers did not faithfully obey Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped. 7 Do not act like they did, because what they did caused other people to become disgusted with them. 8 Do not be stubborn as our ancestors were. Do what Yahweh desires. Come to Jerusalem to the temple, which he has set apart forever. Do what pleases Yahweh our God, in order that he will no longer be angry with you. 9 If you return to Yahweh, the people who have captured our brothers and sisters and our children will be kind to them, and allow them to return to this land. Do not forget that Yahweh our God is kind and merciful. If you return to him, he will no longer reject you."

10 The messengers went to all the towns in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, and gave them this message, but most of the people there scorned them and ridiculed them. 11 But some of the people of the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. 12 Also in Judah God motivated the people to be united in wanting to do what Yahweh wanted them to do, which is what the king and his officials had told them to do in the message that they sent.

13 So a huge crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem in May, to celebrate the Festival of Eating Unleavened Bread. 14 They removed the altars of Baal in Jerusalem and took away the altars for burning incense to honor other gods, and burned them in Kidron Valley.

15 They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of that month. Some of the priests and the other descendants of Levi were ashamed because they had not performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to work for Yahweh. So they performed those rituals, and brought to the temple animals to be completely burned on the altar.

16 Then they stood at the places where Moses had written in his laws that they should stand. Then the descendants of Levi gave to the priests bowls containing blood of the animals that were being sacrificed, and the priests sprinkled the altar with some of the blood. 17 Many people in the crowd had not purified themselves, and therefore they were not able to kill the lambs and dedicate them to Yahweh. So it was necessary for the descendants of Levi to kill the lambs for them. 18 Although most of the people who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Issachar had not purified themselves, they ate the food of the Passover Festival anyway, ignoring the rules written by Moses. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying "Yahweh, you always do what is good; I pray that you will forgive everyone 19 who sincerely wants to honor you, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, even if they have not purified themselves by obeying the sacred laws that you gave to us." 20 And Yahweh heard what Hezekiah prayed; he forgave the people, and did not punish them.

21 The Israeli people who were there in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Eating Unleavened Bread for seven days. They rejoiced greatly as they celebrated, while the priests and other descendants of Levi sang to Yahweh every day, and played musical instruments to praise God.

22 Hezekiah thanked all the descendants of Levi for doing this work for Yahweh, and for very skillfully leading the people who were worshiping. For those seven days the people ate the Passover food and brought offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh and praised Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors belonged to/had worshiped.

23 Then the whole group decided to celebrate for seven more days, so they did: They celebrated joyfully for seven more days. 24 King Hezekiah provided 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to be slaughtered for the people to eat during the festival, and the officials also gave them 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep and goats. Many priests consecrated themselves. 25 All the people of Judah rejoiced, including the priests and other descendants of Levi and all the people from Israel who had come, and including some from other countries who were living in Israel and some from other countries who were living in Judah. 26 Everyone in Jerusalem was very joyful, because nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the time when David’s son Solomon was the king of Israel. 27 The priests and the other descendants of Levi stood up to bless the people, and God heard them in heaven, the holy place where he lives.

13 Do not tear your clothes

to show that you are sorry;

instead, show [MET] that you are sorry."

Yahweh is merciful and kind;

he does not quickly become angry;

he faithfully loves people.

He does not quickly become angry;

instead, he greatly and faithfully loves you,

and he does not like to punish you.

1 I am Zechariah, a prophet, the son of Berekiah and grandson of Iddo. When Darius had been the emperor of Persia for almost two years, during November of that year, Yahweh gave me this message:

2 "I was very angry with your ancestors. 3 So tell this to the people: I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say, ‘Return to me, and if you do that, I will help you again. 4 Do not be like your ancestors. Other prophets, who have now died, continually proclaimed to your ancestors that they should stop doing the evil things that they were continually doing. But they refused to pay attention to what I said. 5 Your ancestors have died and are now in their graves [RHQ]. And the prophets did not [RHQ] live forever, either. 6 But I punished [IDM] the people for disobeying the commands and the decrees which I commanded my servants the prophets to tell to the people.

Then they ◄repented/turned away from their evil behavior► and said, ‘The Commander of the armies of angels has done to us what we deserved for our evil behavior, just like he said that he would do.’ "

7 Three months later, on February 15, Yahweh gave another message to me.

8 During the night I had a vision. In the vision I saw an angel who was on a red horse. He was in a narrow valley among some myrtle trees. Behind him were angels on red, brown, and white horses.

9 I asked the angel who had been talking to me, "Sir, who are those angels on the horses?"

He replied, "I will show you who they are."

10 Then the angel who had been under the myrtle trees explained. He said, "They are the angels whom Yahweh sent to ◄patrol/see what is happening in► the entire world."

11 Then those angels reported to the angel who was there among the myrtle trees, "We have traveled throughout the world, and we have found out that the army of the emperor of Persia has conquered nations throughout the world, and that those nations are now ◄helpless/unable to resist his army►."

12 Then the angel asked, "Commander of the armies of angels, how long will you continue to not be merciful to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah? You have been angry with them for 70 years!" 13 So Yahweh spoke kindly to the angel who had talked to me, saying things that comforted/encouraged him.

14 Then the angel who had been talking with me said to me, "Proclaim this to the people of Jerusalem: The Commander of the armies of angels says that he is very concerned about the people who live on Zion Hill and in the other parts of Jerusalem. 15 But he is very angry with the nations that are proud and feel safe. He was only a little bit angry with the people of Judah, but he is very angry with the surrounding nations because they caused the people of Judah to experience complete disaster.

16 Therefore, this is what he says: ‘I will again be merciful to the people of Jerusalem, and they will rebuild my temple. Men will measure all the land in the city before they start rebuilding the houses.’

17 The Commander of the armies of angels also said this: ‘Tell the people that the people in my towns in Judah will soon be very prosperous again, and I will encourage the people of Jerusalem, and their city will again be my chosen city.’"

18 Then I looked up, and I saw in front of me four animal horns. 19 I asked the angel who had been speaking to me, "What are those horns?"

He replied, "Those horns represent the armies that forced the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah and Israel to go to other countries."

20 Then Yahweh showed me four ◄craftsmen/men who make things from metal►. 21 I asked, "What are those men coming to do?"

He replied, "The armies represented by those horns caused the people of Judah to be scattered, with the result that they suffered greatly. But the craftsmen have come to cause those who attacked [IDM] Judah to be terrified and crushed."

13 Those who refuse to confess/admit their sins will not prosper,

but God acts mercifully/kindly toward those who confess their sins and turn away from their sinful behavior.

23 If you pay attention to me when I rebuke you,

I will tell you what I am thinking in my inner being;

I will give you some good advice.

9 But God will do what he says that he will do, and what he does is always right. So, if we confess to him that we have behaved sinfully, he will forgive us for our sins and ◄will free us from/remove► the guilt of all our sins. Because of that, we should confess to him that we have behaved sinfully.

7 I tell you (pl) that similarly God will be very happy about each and every sinner who turns from doing evil. God is not happy about 99 people who think that they are [IRO] righteous and think that they do not need to turn from doing evil.

10 I tell you that similarly the angels will be happy about even just one sinner who turns from doing evil."

8 Come near spiritually to God, and as a result he will come near to you. You who are sinners, stop doing what is wrong, and do only what is good [SYN, MET]. You who cannot decide whether you will ◄commit yourselves to God/obey God completely►, stop thinking wrong thoughts, and think only pure thoughts [MTY].