Zechariah 7–8

7TH CHAPTER

You Should Have Obeyed the Lord’s Prophets

¹On the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Chislev) in Darius’ fourth year as king, the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah. ²Now, ⸤the people from⸥ Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech with their men^ato ask the Lord for a blessing. ³They asked the priests from the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?” 

⁴Then the Lord of Armies spoke his word to me. He said, ⁵“Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me? ⁶When you ate and drank, didn’t you do it to benefit yourselves? ⁷Aren’t these the same words that the Lord announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?’ ” 

⁸Then the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah. He said, ⁹“This is what the Lord of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other. ¹⁰Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don’t even think of doing evil to each other. 

¹¹“But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn’t hear. ¹²They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn’t hear the Lord’s teachings, the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord of Armies became very angry. 

¹³“When I called, they wouldn’t listen. So now when they call, I won’t listen, says the Lord of Armies. ¹⁴I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations, nations they hadn’t even heard of. They left behind a land so ruined that no one is able to travel through it. They have turned a pleasant land into a wasteland.” 

8TH CHAPTER

What the Lord Will Do for Zion

¹The Lord of Armies spoke his word. 

²This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

I am very jealous about Zion. 

I am fiercely possessive of it. 

³This is what the Lord says: 

I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth. 

The mountain of the Lord of Armies will be called the holy mountain. 

⁴This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem. 

Each will have a cane in hand because of old age. 

⁵The city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets. 

⁶This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

It may seem impossible to the few remaining people in those days, 

but will it seem impossible to me? declares the Lord of Armies. 

⁷This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

I am going to save my people 

from the land where the sun rises 

and from the land where the sun sets. 

⁸I will bring them back, and they will live in Jerusalem. 

They will be my people, and I will be their God, who is faithful and just. 

⁹This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Be strong so that the temple might be rebuilt, 

you people who are presently listening 

to the words from the mouths of the prophets 

who spoke when the foundation 

for the house of the Lord of Armies was laid. 

¹⁰Before that time there was no money to hire any person or animal. 

No one who traveled was safe from the enemy. 

I turned every person against his neighbor. 

¹¹But now I won’t deal with the few remaining people 

as I did in earlier times, declares the Lord of Armies. 

¹²Seeds will thrive in peacetime. 

Vines will produce their grapes. 

The land will yield its crops. 

The sky will produce its dew. 

I will give the few remaining people 

all these things as an inheritance. 

¹³Just as you, people of Judah and people of Israel, 

have been a curse among the nations, 

so I will now save you, 

and you will become a blessing. 

Don’t be afraid. Let your hands work hard. 

¹⁴This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

When your ancestors made me angry, 

I made plans to destroy you, declares the Lord of Armies, 

and I didn’t change my plans. 

¹⁵So now I have again made plans, but this time to do good 

to Jerusalem and the people of Judah. 

Don’t be afraid. 

¹⁶You must do these things: 

Speak the truth to each other. 

Give correct and fair verdicts for peace in your courts. 

¹⁷Don’t even think of doing evil to each other. 

Don’t enjoy false testimony. 

I hate all these things, declares the Lord. 

Many Nations Will Come to the Lord’s People

¹⁸The Lord of Armies spoke his word to me again. 

¹⁹This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

The fast in the fourth month, the fast in the fifth month, 

the fast in the seventh month, and the fast in the tenth month 

will become joyful and glad occasions 

as well as happy festivals for the nation of Judah. 

So love truth and peace. 

²⁰This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

People and citizens from many cities are going to come. 

²¹The citizens of one city will come to another city, saying, 

“Let’s make a habit of going to ask the Lord for a blessing 

and to seek the Lord of Armies. 

I’m also going.” 

²²Many people and powerful nations will come 

to seek the Lord of Armies in Jerusalem 

and to ask the Lord for a blessing. 

²³This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

In those days ten people from every language found among the nations 

will take hold of the clothes of a Jew. They will say, 

“Let us go with you 

because we have heard that God is with you.”