"You hoped for large harvests, but they turned out to be small. And when you brought the harvest home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? Because my Temple lies in ruins while every one of you is busy working on your own house.

Joseph, as governor of the land of Egypt, was selling grain to people from all over the world. So Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter.

At the place where they spent the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey and found his money at the top of the sack.

The LORD will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever; he will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die.

"When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them,

"When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them,

The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

"I sent a scorching wind to dry up your crops. The locusts ate up all your gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.

This time tomorrow I will cause a heavy hailstorm, such as Egypt has never known in all its history.

Some of the king's officials were afraid because of what the LORD had said, and they brought their slaves and animals indoors for shelter.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky, and hail will fall over the whole land of Egypt---on the people, the animals, and all the plants in the fields."

a heavy hailstorm, with lightning flashing back and forth. It was the worst storm that Egypt had ever known in all its history.

The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail.

Pray to the LORD! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go; you don't have to stay here any longer."

The Lord has someone strong and powerful ready to attack them, someone who will come like a hailstorm, like a torrent of rain, like a rushing, overpowering flood, and will overwhelm the land.

I have brought drought on the land---on its hills, grainfields, vineyards, and olive orchards---on every crop the ground produces, on people and animals, on everything you try to grow."

He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.

The LORD has made a solemn promise, And by his power he will carry it out: "Your grain will no longer be food for your enemies, And foreigners will no longer drink your wine.

But the worship of Baal, the god of shame, has made us lose flocks and herds, sons and daughters---everything that our ancestors have worked for since ancient times.

When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the LORD more than ever.

Those who are godless keep on being angry, and even when punished, they don't pray for help.

The people of Israel have not repented; even though the LORD Almighty has punished them, they have not returned to him.

So he made us feel the force of his anger and suffer the violence of war. Like fire his anger burned throughout Israel, but we never knew what was happening; we learned nothing at all from it.

Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.

The LORD said to his people, "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace." But they said, "No, we will not!"

Then the LORD appointed sentries to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, "We will not listen."

The LORD told me to say to his people, "When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back?

I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, 'What have I done wrong?' Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

and do not realize that this reliance on foreigners has robbed them of their strength. Their days are numbered, but they don't even know it.

The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. In spite of everything that has happened, they have not returned to me, the LORD their God.

Weak with thirst, the people of several cities went to a city where they hoped to find water, but there was not enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me.

"I sent a plague on you like the one I sent on Egypt. I killed your young men in battle and took your horses away. I filled your nostrils with the stink of dead bodies in your camps. Still you did not come back to me.

The LORD Almighty told Zechariah to say to the people, "I, the LORD, was very angry with your ancestors,

Do not be like your ancestors. Long ago the prophets gave them my message, telling them not to live evil, sinful lives any longer. But they would not listen to me or obey me.

"Long ago I gave these commands to my people: 'You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another.

"But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds

Because they did not listen when I spoke, I did not answer when they prayed.

I have given her time to repent of her sins, but she does not want to turn from her immorality.

The rest of the human race, all those who had not been killed by these plagues, did not turn away from what they themselves had made. They did not stop worshiping demons, nor the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic, their sexual immorality, or their stealing.