Zechariah 8–14

Chapter 8

The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion

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

²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am ^aexceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’

³“Thus says the Lord, ‘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 the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’

⁴“Thus says the Lord 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 streets.’

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

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the ^1aeast and from the land of the ²west;

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

⁹“Thus says the Lord 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 the Lord 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 ²his enemies, 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 the Lord 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‘It will come about 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 the Lord of hosts, ‘Just as I ^apurposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the Lord 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 ^1bperjury; for all these are what I ^chate,’ declares the Lord.”

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

¹⁹“Thus says the Lord 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 ¹cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so ^flove truth and peace.’

²⁰“Thus says the Lord 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 ^aentreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; ¹I will also go.”

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

²³“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the ¹nations will ^2agrasp the ³garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” ’ ”

Chapter 9

Prophecies against Neighboring Nations

¹The ¹burden of the word of the Lord 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 the Lord),

²And ^aHamath also, which borders on it;

^bTyre and ^cSidon, ¹though ²they are very wise.

³For Tyre built herself a ^afortress

And ^bpiled up silver like dust,

And ^cgold like the mire of the streets.

⁴Behold, the Lord will ^adispossess her

And cast her wealth 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 expectation has been confounded.

Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza,

And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

⁶And a ¹mongrel race will dwell in ^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 oppressor will pass over them anymore,

For now I have seen with My eyes.

^9aRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your ^bking is coming to you;

He is ^1cjust and ^dendowed with salvation,

^eHumble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a ^fcolt, the ²foal of a donkey.

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 ^edominion will be from sea to sea,

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

Deliverance of Judah and Ephraim

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

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 restore ^cdouble to you.

¹³For I will ^abend Judah ¹as My bow,

I will fill the bow with Ephraim.

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

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

¹⁴Then the Lord will appear ^aover them,

And His ^barrow will go forth like lightning;

And the Lord ¹God will blow the ^ctrumpet,

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

^15aThe Lord of hosts will defend them.

And they will ^bdevour and trample on the ^csling stones;

And they will drink and be ^dboisterous as with wine;

And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin,

Drenched like the ^ecorners of the altar.

¹⁶And the Lord 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 ^1acomeliness and ^bbeauty will be ²theirs!

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

Chapter 10

God Will Bless Judah and Ephraim

¹Ask ^arain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—

The Lord who ^bmakes the ¹storm clouds;

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

²For the ^ateraphim speak ¹iniquity,

And the ^bdiviners see ²lying visions

And tell ^cfalse dreams;

They comfort in vain.

Therefore the people ³wander like ^dsheep,

They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

³“My ^aanger is kindled against the shepherds,

And I will punish the ¹male goats;

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

And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.

⁴“From ¹them will come the ^acornerstone,

From them the tent peg,

From them the bow of ^bbattle,

From them every ²ruler, all of them together.

⁵“They will be as mighty men,

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

And they will fight, for the Lord will be with them;

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

⁶“I will ^astrengthen the house of Judah,

And I will ^bsave the house of Joseph,

And I will ^1cbring them back,

Because I have had ^dcompassion on them;

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

For I am the Lord their God and I will ^fanswer them.

⁷“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 the Lord.

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

For I have redeemed them;

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

⁹“When I ¹scatter them among the peoples,

They will ^aremember Me in far countries,

And they with their children will live and come back.

¹⁰“I will ^abring them back 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 they 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 ^astrengthen them in the Lord,

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

Chapter 11

The Doomed Flock

¹Open your doors, O Lebanon,

That a ^afire may feed on your ^bcedars.

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

Because the glorious 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 glory is ruined;

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

For the ¹pride of the Jordan is ruined.

⁴Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to ^aslaughter.

⁵“Those who buy them slay them and ¹go ^aunpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for ^bI have become rich!’ And their ^cown shepherds have no pity on them.

⁶“For I will ^ano longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will ^bcause the men to ¹fall, each into another’s ²power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will ^cnot deliver them from their power.”

⁷So I ^apastured 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 pastured 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 pasture you. What is to ^adie, ¹let it die, and what is to be annihilated, ²let it be annihilated; and ³let those who are left…