Zechariah 8–14

CHAPTER 8

Jerusalem, the City of Truth

¹Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying,

²“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘¹I am ^ajealous with great jealousy for Zion, and with great wrath I am jealous for her.’

³“Thus says Yahweh, ‘I will return to Zion and will ^adwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of ^bTruth, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’

⁴“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^aOld men and old women will again sit in the ¹streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of ²age.

⁵‘And the ¹streets of the city will be filled with ^aboys and girls playing in its ²streets.’

⁶“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If it is ^1atoo difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be ^2btoo difficult in My sight?’ declares Yahweh of hosts.

⁷“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land where the ^1asun rises and from the land where the ²sun sets;

⁸and I will ^abring them back, and they will ^bdwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be ^cMy people, and I will be their God in ¹truth and righteousness.’

⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Let your hands be ^astrong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ^bprophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

¹⁰‘For before those days there was ^ano wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no ^1bpeace because of the adversary, and I ^cset all men one against another.

¹¹‘But now I will ^anot ¹treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares Yahweh of hosts.

¹²‘For there will be ^apeace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their ^bdew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit ^call these things.

¹³‘And it will be that just as you were a ^acurse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a ^bblessing. Do not fear; let your ^chands be strong.’

¹⁴“For thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Just as I ^apurposed to bring about evil to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says Yahweh of hosts, ‘and I have not ^brelented,

¹⁵so I have again purposed in these days to ^ado good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ^bDo not fear!

¹⁶‘These are the things which you should do: speak the ^atruth to one another; ^bjudge with truth and judgment for peace in your ¹gates.

¹⁷‘Also let none of you ^adevise evil in your heart against another, and do not love ^1bfalse oaths; for all these are what I ^chate,’ declares Yahweh.”

¹⁸Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,

¹⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘The fast of the ^afourth, the fast of the ^bfifth, the fast of the ^cseventh, and the fast of the ^dtenth months will become ^ejoy, gladness, and ¹merry appointed feasts for the house of Judah; so ^flove truth and peace.’

²⁰“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘It will yet be that ^apeoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities.

²¹‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to ^1aentreat the favor of Yahweh and to seek Yahweh of hosts; ²I will also go.”

²²‘So ^amany peoples and mighty nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem and to ^1bentreat the favor of Yahweh.’

²³“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from every tongue of the nations will ^1atake hold of the ²garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” ’ ”

CHAPTER 9

Yahweh’s Oracle Against Israel’s Enemies

¹The ¹oracle of the word of Yahweh is against the land of Hadrach, with ^aDamascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward Yahweh),

²And ^aHamath also, which borders on it;

^bAnd Tyre and ^cSidon, ¹because ²they are ^dvery wise.

³So Tyre built herself a ^atight fortification

And ^btied up silver like dust

And ^cfine gold like the mire of the streets.

⁴Behold, the Lord will ^adispossess her

And strike her wealth down into the sea;

And she will be ^bconsumed with fire.

⁵Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.

Gaza too will writhe in great pain;

Also Ekron, for her hope has been put to shame.

Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza,

And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

⁶And those of illegitimate birth will inhabit ^aAshdod,

And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

⁷And I will remove their blood from their mouth

And their detestable things from between their teeth.

Then they also will be a remnant for our God,

And be like a ¹clan in Judah,

And Ekron like a Jebusite.

⁸But I will camp around My house ¹because of an army,

Because of ^ahim who passes by and returns;

And ^bno taskmaster will pass over them anymore,

For now I have seen with My eyes.

The Coming King of Zion

^9aRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your ^bking is coming to you;

He is ^1crighteous and ^dendowed with salvation,

^2eLowly and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a ^3fcolt, the ⁴foal of a pack animal.

¹⁰I will ^acut off the chariot from Ephraim

And the ^bhorse from Jerusalem;

And the ^cbow of war will be cut off.

And He will speak ^dpeace to the nations;

And His ^ereign will be from sea to sea

And from the ¹River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you also, because of the ^ablood of your covenant,

I have set your ^bprisoners free from the ¹waterless pit.

¹²Return to the ^1astronghold, O prisoners ²who have the ^bhope;

This very day I am declaring that I will return ^cdouble to you.

¹³For I will ^abend Judah ¹as My bow;

I will fill the bow with Ephraim.

And I will rouse up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O ^2bGreece;

And I will make you like a ^cmighty man’s sword.

¹⁴Then Yahweh will appear ^aover them,

And His ^barrow will go forth like lightning;

And Lord Yahweh will blow the ^ctrumpet

And will go in the ^dstorm winds of the south.

^15aYahweh of hosts will defend them.

And they will ^bconsume and trample on the ^cstones of a sling;

And they will drink and ^droar as with wine;

And they will be filled like a sacrificial bowl,

Drenched like the ^ecorners of the altar.

¹⁶And Yahweh their God will ^asave them in that day

As the flock of His people;

For they are as the stones of a ^bcrown,

¹Sparkling in His land.

¹⁷For what ^agoodness and ^bwhat beauty will be ¹theirs!

Grain will make the choice men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

CHAPTER 10

Yahweh Will Redeem Judah and Israel

¹Ask ^arain from Yahweh at the time of the ¹late rain—

Yahweh who ^bmakes the ²storm clouds;

And He will give them ^cshowers of rain, the plant in the field to each man.

²For the ^ateraphim speak wickedness,

And the ^bdiviners behold ¹false visions

And speak ^cworthless dreams;

They comfort in vain.

Therefore the people journey like ^dsheep;

They are afflicted because there is no shepherd.

³“My ^aanger burns against the shepherds,

And I will visit punishment upon the ¹male goats;

For Yahweh of hosts has ^bvisited His flock, the house of Judah,

And will make them like His splendid horse in battle.

⁴“From ¹them will come the ^acornerstone,

From ²them the tent peg,

From ³them the bow of ^4bbattle,

From ⁵them every good ⁶taskmaster, all of them together.

⁵“And they will be as mighty men,

^aTreading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;

And they will battle, for Yahweh will be with them;

And the ^briders on horses will be put to shame.

⁶“I will ^amake the house of Judah mighty,

And I will ^bsave the house of Joseph,

And I will ^1ccause them to return,

Because I have had ^dcompassion on them;

And they will be as though I had ^enot rejected them,

For I am Yahweh their God, and I will ^fanswer them.

⁷“And Ephraim will be like a mighty man,

And their heart will be glad as if from wine;

Indeed, their ^achildren will see it and be glad;

¹Their heart will rejoice in Yahweh.

⁸“I will ^awhistle for them to gather them together,

For I have redeemed them;

And they will be as ^bnumerous as they ^cwere ¹before.

⁹“And I will sow them among the peoples,

And they will ^aremember Me in far countries,

And they with their children will live and turn back.

¹⁰“Then I will cause them to ^areturn from the land of Egypt

And gather them from Assyria;

And I will bring them into the land of ^bGilead and Lebanon

¹Until ^cno room can be found for them.

¹¹“And ¹they will pass through the ^asea of distress,

And He will strike the waves in the sea,

So that all the depths of the ^bNile will dry up;

And the pride of ^cAssyria will be brought down,

And the scepter of ^dEgypt will depart.

¹²“And I will ^amake them mighty in Yahweh,

And in His name ^bthey will walk,” declares Yahweh.

CHAPTER 11

Woe to the Worthless Shepherd

¹Open your doors, O Lebanon,

That a ^afire may consume your ^bcedars.

²Wail, O ¹cypress, for the cedar has fallen,

Because the mighty trees have been destroyed;

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

For the ²impenetrable forest has come down.

³There is a sound of the shepherds’ ^awail,

For their might is destroyed;

There is a ^bsound of the young lions’ roar,

For the ¹pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

⁴Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flock doomed to ^aslaughter.

⁵“Those who buy them slaughter them and are not ^aheld guilty, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, ^bI have become rich!’ And their ^cown shepherds do not spare them.

⁶“For I will ^ano longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will ^bcause the men to ¹fall, each into another’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^cnot deliver them from their hand.”

⁷So I ^ashepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—¹hence the ^bafflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^cstaffs: the one I called ^2dFavor, and the other I called ^3eUnion; so I shepherded the flock.

⁸Then I annihilated the three shepherds in ^aone month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ¹was weary of me.

⁹Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to ^adie, ¹let it…