Zechariah 8
1NOW a word of the Lord Almighty is come saying,
2Thus saith the Lord Almighty: I have had a great jealousy of Jerusalem and Sion, and with great wrath I have been jealous of her.
3But thus saith the Lord, I will return to Sion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord Almighty, a holy mountain.
4Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Again old men and matrons shall sit in the streets of Jerusalem, every one with his staff in his hand, for many days;
5and the streets of the city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her streets.
6Thus saith the Lord Almighty: If this shall appear impossible in the view of the remnant of this people in these days; shall it also be impossible in My sight, saith the Lord Almighty?
7Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Behold I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west.
8And I will gather them and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness.
9Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Let your hands be strong, ye who in these days hear these words from the mouth of the prophets, from the day the foundation of the house of the Lord Almighty was laid and during the time the temple was being built.
10For before those days, the earnings of the men could be of no avail, and the proceeds of cattle could not be lasting; nor could there be any security from affliction to him who went out or to him who came in. For I set all the men each one against his neighbour.
11But I will not deal now with the remnant of this people, as in the former days, saith the Lord Almighty:
12but will shew peace. Their vine shall yield its fruit; and the earth shall yield its products; and the heaven shall shed its dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
13And it shall come to pass, that as you, the house of Juda and the house of Israel, were for a curse among the nations; so I will save you, and you shall be for a blessing. Be of good courage and let your hands be strong,
14for thus saith the Lord Almighty: In the same manner as I thought of afflicting you, when your fathers provoked Me, (saith the Lord Almighty) and I relented not;
15so I have determined and have My mind bent, in these days, on prospering Jerusalem and the house of Juda. Be of good courage.
16These are the things which ye shall do—Speak truth each one to his neighbour; administer the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
17and devise not evil in your hearts each one against his neighbour; and love not a false oath: for all these things I hate, saith the Lord Almighty.
18Then a word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying,
19Thus saith the Lord Almighty: The fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast shall be to the house of Juda for joy and gladness and for cheerful festivals, and ye shall rejoice. Therefore love truth and peace.
20Thus saith the Lord Almighty: There shall yet come many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities—
21even the inhabitants of five cities shall come together to one city, saying, Let us go to pray before the Lord and to seek the face of the Lord Almighty. I am going.
22And many peoples and many nations will come to seek the face of the Lord Almighty at Jerusalem, and to conciliate the favour of the Lord.
23Thus saith the Lord Almighty: If in those days ten men of all the tongues of the nations take hold, they must take hold of the skirt of a Jew, saying, We will go with thee, for we have heard that God is with you.