Zechariah 8:1-Zechariah 9:17 - Yahweh's Promise To Jerusalem

¹ And the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying: ² Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, I am jealous for Zion with a great jealousy, - Yea, with great wrath, am I jealous for her. ³ Thus, saith Yahweh, I have returned unto Zion, and will make my habitation in the midst of Jerusalem, - and Jerusalem, shall be called, The city of fidelity, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts, The mountain of holiness. ⁴ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Yet shall old men and old women sit in the broadways of Jerusalem, - Yea, each one with his staff in his hand for multitude of days: ⁵ And, the broadways of the city, shall be full of boys and girls, - playing in the broadways thereof. ⁶ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Because it will be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people, in those days, In mine own eyes also, shall it be marvellous? Demandeth Yahweh of hosts. ⁷ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Behold me! saving my people out of the land of the dawn, - and out of the land of the going in of the sun; ⁸ And I will bring them in, and they shall have their habitation in the midst of Jerusalem, - and shall become my people, and, I, will become their God, In faithfulness and in righteousness.

⁹ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Let your hands be strong, ye who are hearing, in these days, these words, - from the mouth of the prophets who, on the day the house of Yahweh of hosts, was founded, foretold that, the temple, should be built: - ¹⁰ That, before those days, hire for man, could not be obtained, and, hire for beast, was there none, - and, neither to him who went out nor to him who came in, was there success by reason of the danger, Yea I let all men loose, each one against his neighbour. ¹¹ But, now, not as in the former days, am I to this remnant of the people, - Declareth Yahweh of hosts; ¹² For, the seed, shall be secure - the vine, shall yield her fruit, and the land, yield her increase, and the heavens, yield their dew, - and I will cause this remnant of the people to inherit all these things. ¹³ And it shall come to pass that - Just as ye had become a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, So, will I save you, and ye shall become a blessing, - Do not fear, let your hands, be strong. ¹⁴ For, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Just as I planned to bring calamity upon you, when your fathers provoked me, saith Yahweh of hosts, - and I relented not, ¹⁵ So, have I again planned, in these days, to do good unto Jerusalem, and unto the house of Judah, - Do not fear! ¹⁶ These, are the things which ye shall do: Speak ye the truth, every man with his neighbour, truth and the sentence of peace, pronounce ye in your gates; ¹⁷ And let, no man, devise, the injury of his neighbour, in your heart, and the oath of falsehood, do not love, - for, all these, are things which I hate, declareth Yahweh.

¹⁸ And the word of Yahweh of hosts came unto me, saying: ¹⁹ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the eleventh, shall become to the house of Judah a gladness and a rejoicing, and pleasant appointed meetings, - But, truth and peace, see that ye love. ²⁰ Thus, saith Yahweh of hoses, - It shall yet be that there shall come in peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; ²¹ And the inhabitants of one city, shall go, unto them of another, saying, Let us be going on to pacify the face of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts, - I also, will go! ²² So shall enter many peoples, and strong nations, to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, - and to pacify the face of Yahweh. ²³ Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, In those days, it shall be that ten men out of all the tongues of the nations, shall take hold, - yea take hold of the skirt of every one that is a Jew, saying - We will go with you! For we have heard that , God, is with you.

¹ The oracle of the word of Yahweh on the land of Hadrach, and, Damascus, shall be the resting-place thereof, - For, Yahweh, hath an eye - to mankind, and to all the tribes of Israel; ² Moreover also, Hamath, adjoineth thereto, Tyre and Zidon, - because very wise; ³ Therefore did Tyre build a stronghold for herself, - and did heap up silver like dust, yea gold, like the mire of the lanes. ⁴ Lo! My Lord, shall dispossess her, and smite, into the sea, her fortress, - and, she herself, in fire, shall be consumed. ⁵ Ashkelon, shall see, and fear, Gaza, also, which shall writhe in great anguish, Ekron, also, because abashed is her expectation, - and the king, shall perish, from Gaza, and, Ashkelon, not be inhabited; ⁶ And there shall be seated a half-breed in Ashdod, - So will I cut off the arrogance of the Philistines; ⁷ And will take away his reeking prey out of his mouth, and his abominations, from between his teeth, but, he that is left, even he, shall belong to our God, - So shall he become as a chief in Judah, and, Ekron, as a Jebusite! ⁸ Then will I encamp about my house - against an army, against him that passeth by, and against him that returneth, neither shall an exactor, tread them down any more, - for, now, have I seen with mine own eyes.

⁹ Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo! thy king, cometh unto thee, vindicated and victorious, is he, - lowly, and riding upon an ass, yea, upon a colt, a young ass. ¹⁰ So will he cut off the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the war-bow, shall be cut off, So shall he speak peace to the nations, and, his dominion, shall be from sea to sea, and from the river Euphrates to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ As for thee also, - By the blood of thy covenant, have I sent forth thy prisoners out of a pit, wherein is no water. ¹² Return to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, - Even to-day, do I declare - Double, will I return to thee! ¹³ For I have bent for me - Judah, As a bow, have I grasped Ephraim, Thus will I rouse up thy sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty one. ¹⁴ But, Yahweh, over them, will appear, and forth shall go, as lightning, his arrow, - Yea, My Lord Yahweh, with a horn, will blow, and will move along in the whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵ Yahweh of hosts, will throw a covering over them, so shall they eat, and trample underfoot sling-stones, and shall drink - shall shout as with wine, - and shall be filled like tossing-bowls, - like the corners of an altar. ¹⁶ So will Yahweh their God, save them, on that day. yea, as a flock of sheep, his people, - for they shall be like the jewels of a diadem sparkling over his land. ¹⁷ For how excellent it is! Yea how beautiful! Corn, shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.