Chapter 8
- 1
- This word of the LORD of hosts came: Thus says the LORD of hosts:
- 2
- I am intensely jealous for Zion, stirred to jealous wrath for her.
- 3
- Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and I will dwell within Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.
- 4
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women, each with staff in hand because of old age, shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem.
- 5
- The city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her streets.
- 6
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it in those days be impossible in my eyes also, says the LORD of hosts?
- 7
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: Lo, I will rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun.
- 8
- I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.
- 9
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: Let your hands be strong, you who in these days hear these words spoken by the prophets on the day when the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid for the building of the temple.
- 10
- For before those days there were no wages for men, or hire for beasts; those who came and went had no security from the enemy, for I set every man against his neighbor.
- 11
- But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in former days, says the LORD of hosts,
- 12
- for it is the seedtime of peace: the vine shall yield its fruit, the land shall bear its crops, and the heavens shall give their dew; all these things I will have the remnant of the people possess.
- 13
- Just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you that you may be a blessing; do not fear, but let your hands be strong.
- 14
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: As I determined to harm you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the LORD of hosts, and I did not relent,
- 15
- so again in these days I have determined to favor Jerusalem and the house of Judah; do not fear!
- 16
- These then are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another; let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates,
- 17
- and let none of you plot evil against another in his heart, nor love a false oath. For all these things I hate, says the LORD.
- 18
- This word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
- 19
- 1 Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast days of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months shall become occasions of joy and gladness, cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; only love faithfulness and peace.
- 20
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: There shall yet come peoples, the inhabitants of many cities;
- 21
- and the inhabitants of one city shall approach those of another, and say, "Come! let us go to implore the favor of the LORD"; and, "I too will go to seek the LORD."
- 22
- Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to implore the favor of the LORD.
- 23
- Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
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1 [19] The fast day of the fourth month recalled the fall of Jerusalem in June, 587 B.C. (2 Kings 25:3-4); that of the fifth month, the burning of the temple by Nebuzaradan in July of the same year (2 Kings 25:8-9); that of the seventh month, the murder of Gedaliah in September of the same year (Jeremiah 41:1-2); that of the tenth month, the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem in January, 588 B.C. (2 Kings 25:1).
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