Zechariah 8:1-23
8 And Jehovah’s word came to me
2 “Says Jehovah of Armies, I am greatly jealous for Sion, very resentfully jealous.
3 Says Jehovah, I have come back to Sion and will dwell within Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called ‘the loyal city’ and ‘the city of Jehovah of Armies, the sacred city.’
4 Says Jehovah of Armies, Again shall old men and old women sit in the squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for length of years;
5 and the squares of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its squares.
6 Says Jehovah of Armies, Because it looks impossible to the remnant of this people in those days is it to look impossible to me too? quoth Jehovah of Armies.
7 “Says Jehovah of Armies, Here, I am saving my people out of the East and out of the West,
8 and bringing them in where they are to settle inside of Jerusalem; and I will have them for my people, and they shall have me for their God, loyally and honestly.
9 * “Says Jehovah of Armies, Courage, you that in these days hear these words from the mouths of the prophets who spoke on the day of the founding of Jehovah of Armies’ house, the temple, to be built;
10 * for before those days there had not come any pay for man and there was no pay for beast, and goer and comer had no peace from the foe, and I set all mankind man against man.
11 But now I am not as I was in the former days toward the remnant of this people, quoth Jehovah of Armies;
12 * for I will sow peace, the vines shall give their fruit and the earth its growth and the sky its dew, and I will allot all this to the remnant of this people;
13 and as you have been a word of cursing among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing; do not be afraid, courage!
14 For Jehovah of Armies says, As I designed to do bad things to you when your fathers incensed me, says Jehovah of Armies, and I did not change my mind,
15 so I have in these days come back and design to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah; do not be afraid.
16 * These are the things you are to do: speak truth to each other, give judgments true in fact and sound in law in your gates,
17 and do not think up harm for each other in your minds, and do not love a false oath; for all these things I hate, quoth Jehovah.”
18 And Jehovah of Armies’ word came to me
19 “Says Jehovah of Armies, The fourth-month fast and the fifth-month fast and the seventh-month fast and the tenth-month fast shall become rejoicings and merry-makings and happy occasions for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.
20 Says Jehovah of Armies, Peoples and the inhabitants of many cities shall yet come in,
21 and the inhabitants of one shall go to another saying ‘Yes, let us go to propitiate Jehovah, to look up Jehovah of Armies; I will go too.’
22 * And many peoples and mighty nations shall come to look up Jehovah of Armies at Jerusalem and to propitiate Jehovah.
23 Says Jehovah of Armies, In those days ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall take hold of the flap of a Jewish man’s coat saying ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard you have God with you.’”
Footnotes
^ 8:9 Lit. who are on the day or who were on the day
^ 8:10 Lit. goer out and comer in
^ 8:12 (sow peace) Susp.
^ 8:16 Var. and give wholesome judgments in your gates
^ 8:22 Or numerous peoples
