Zechariah 8–14

¹And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts, saying: ²‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: I have been zealous for Zion with great zeal, With great heat I have been zealous for her. ³Thus said Jehovah: I have turned back unto Zion, And I have dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem, And Jerusalem hath been called ‘The city of truth,’ And the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, ‘The holy mountain.’ ⁴Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Again dwell do old men and old women, In broad places of Jerusalem, And each his staff in his hand, Because of abundance of days. ⁵And broad places of the city are full of boys and girls, Playing in its broad places. ⁶Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Surely it is wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, Also in Mine eyes it is wonderful, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts. ⁷Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am saving My people from the land of the rising, And from the land of the going in, of the sun, ⁸And I have brought them in, They have dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, In truth and in righteousness.

⁹Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Let your hands be strong, Ye who are hearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, That in the day the house of Jehovah of Hosts Hath been founded, the temple is to be built. ¹⁰For, before those days there hath been no hiring of man, Yea, a hiring of beasts there is none; And to him who is going out, And to him who is coming in, There is no peace because of the adversary, And I send all men—each against his neighbour. ¹¹And now, not as in the former days am I to the remnant of this people, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts. ¹²Because of the sowing of peace, The vine doth give her fruit, And the earth doth give her increase, And the heavens do give their dew, And I have caused the remnant of this people To inherit all these. ¹³And it hath come to pass, As ye have been a reviling among nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, So I save you, and ye have been a blessing, Do not fear, let your hands be strong. ¹⁴For, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, As I did purpose to do evil to you, When your fathers made Me wroth, Said Jehovah of Hosts, and I did not repent, ¹⁵So I have turned back, I have purposed, in these days, To do good with Jerusalem, And with the house of Judah—fear not! ¹⁶These are the things that ye do: Speak ye truth each with his neighbour, Truth and peaceful judgment judge in your gates, ¹⁷And each the evil of his neighbour ye do not devise in your heart, And a false oath ye do not love, For all these are things that I have hated, An affirmation of Jehovah.’

¹⁸And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying: ¹⁹‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth months, are to the house of Judah for joy and for rejoicing, and for pleasant appointed seasons, and the truth and the peace they have loved. ²⁰Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Yet come do peoples, and inhabitants of many cities, ²¹Yea, gone have inhabitants of one To another, saying: We go diligently, To appease the face of Jehovah, To seek Jehovah of Hosts—I go, even I. ²²Yea, come in have many peoples, and mighty nations, To seek Jehovah of Hosts in Jerusalem, And to appease the face of Jehovah. ²³Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: In those days take hold do ten men of all languages of the nations, Yea, they have taken hold on the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying: We go with you, for we heard God is with you!

Chapter 9

¹The burden of a word of Jehovah against the land of Hadrach, and Demmeseh—his place of rest: (When to Jehovah is the eye of man, And of all the tribes of Israel.) ²And also Hamath doth border thereon, Tyre and Zidon, for—very wise! ³And Tyre doth build a bulwark to herself, And doth heap silver as dust, And gold as mire of out-places. ⁴Lo, the Lord doth dispossess her, And He hath smitten in the sea her force, And she with fire is consumed. ⁵See doth Ashkelon and fear, Also Gaza, and she is exceedingly pained, Also Ekron—for her expectation dried up, And perished hath a king from Gaza, And Ashkelon doth not remain, ⁶And dwelt hath a foreigner in Ashdod, And I have cut off the excellency of the Philistines. ⁷And turned aside his blood from his mouth, His abominations from between his teeth, And he hath remained, even he, to our God, And he hath been as a leader in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite. ⁸And I have pitched for My house a camp, Because of the passer through, and of the returner, And pass not through against them again doth an exactor, For, now, I have seen with My eyes.

⁹Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo, thy King doth come to thee, Righteous—and saved is He, Afflicted—and riding on an ass, And on a colt—a son of she-asses. ¹⁰And I have cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, Yea, cut off hath been the bow of battle, And he hath spoken peace to nations, And his rule is from sea unto sea, And from the river unto the ends of earth. ¹¹Also thou—by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent thy prisoners out of the pit, There is no water in it.

¹²Turn back to a fenced place, Ye prisoners of the hope, Even to-day a second announcer I restore to thee. ¹³For I have trodden for Me Judah, A bow I have filled with Ephraim, And I have stirred up thy sons, O Zion, Against thy sons, O Javan, And I have set thee as the sword of a hero. ¹⁴And Jehovah doth appear for them, And gone forth as lightning hath His arrow, And the Lord Jehovah with a trumpet bloweth, And He hath gone with whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵Jehovah of Hosts doth cover them over, And they consumed, and subdued sling-stones, Yea, they have drunk, They have made a noise as wine, And they have been full as a bowl, As corners of an altar. ¹⁶And saved them hath Jehovah their God In that day, as a flock of His people, For stones of a crown are displaying themselves over His ground. ¹⁷For what His goodness! and what His beauty! Corn the young men, And new wine the virgins—make fruitful!

Chapter 10

¹They asked of Jehovah rain in a time of latter rain, Jehovah is making lightnings, And rain in showers He doth give to them. To each—the herb in the field. ²Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for there is no shepherd. ³Against the shepherds did Mine anger burn, And against the he-goats I lay a charge, For inspected hath Jehovah of Hosts His flock, the house of Judah, And set them as His beauteous horse in battle. ⁴From him is a corner-stone, From him a nail, from him a battle-bow, From him goeth forth every exactor together.

⁵And they have been as heroes, Treading in mire of out-places in battle, And they have fought, for Jehovah is with them, And have put to shame riders of horses. ⁶And I have made mighty the house of Judah, And the house of Joseph I do save, And I have caused them to dwell, for I have loved them, And they have been as if I had not cast them off, For I am Jehovah their God, And I answer them. ⁷And Ephraim hath been as a hero, And rejoiced hath their heart as wine, And their sons see, and they have rejoiced, Rejoice doth their heart in Jehovah. ⁸I hist for them, and I gather them, For I have redeemed them, And they have multiplied as they did multiply. ⁹And I sow them among peoples, And in far-off places they remember Me, And they have lived with their sons, And they have turned back. ¹⁰And I have brought them back from the land of Egypt, And from Asshur I do gather them, And unto the land of Gilead and Lebanon I do bring them in, And there is not found for them space. ¹¹And He hath passed over through the sea, And hath pressed and smitten billows in the sea, And dried up have been all depths of a flood, And brought down hath been the excellency of Asshur, And the rod of Egypt doth turn aside. ¹²And I have made them mighty in Jehovah, And in His name they walk up and down, An affirmation of Jehovah!

Chapter 11

¹Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars. ²Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest, ³A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

⁴Thus said Jehovah my God: ‘Feed the flock of the slaughter, ⁵Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed is Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.’ ⁷And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock. ⁸And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me. ⁹And I say, ‘I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.’ ¹⁰And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples: ¹¹and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it is a word of Jehovah. ¹²And I say unto them: ‘If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;’ and they weigh out my hire—thirty silverlings. ¹³And Jehovah saith unto me, ‘Cast it unto the potter;’ the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them to the…