Zechariah 8

1 And there is a word of YHWH of Hosts, saying,

2 “Thus said YHWH of Hosts: I have been zealous for Zion with great zeal, With great heat I have been zealous for her.

3 Thus said YHWH: I have turned back to Zion, And I have dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem, And Jerusalem has been called The City of Truth, And The Mountain of YHWH of Hosts, The Holy Mountain.

4 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Again old men and old women dwell In broad places of Jerusalem, And each his staff in his hand, Because of abundance of days.

5 And broad places of the city are full of boys and girls, Playing in its broad places.

6 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Surely it is wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, Also in My eyes it is wonderful, A declaration of YHWH of Hosts.

7 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Behold, I am saving My people from the land of the rising, And from the land of the going in, of the sun,

8 And 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.

9 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Let your hands be strong, You who are hearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, That in the day the house of YHWH of Hosts has been founded, The temple [is] to be built.

10 For before those days there has been no hiring of man, Indeed, 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 neighbor.

11 And now, not as [in] the former days [am] I to the remnant of this people, A declaration of YHWH of Hosts.

12 Because of the sowing of peace, The vine gives her fruit, And the earth gives her increase, And the heavens give their dew, And I have caused the remnant of this people To inherit all these.

13 And it has come to pass, As you have been a reviling among nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, So I save you, and you have been a blessing, Do not fear, let your hands be strong.

14 For thus said YHWH of Hosts: As I purposed to do evil to you, When your fathers made Me angry—said YHWH of Hosts—And I did not relent,

15 So I have turned back, I have purposed, in these days, To do good with Jerusalem, And with the house of Judah—do not fear!

16 These [are] the things that you do: Each speak truth with his neighbor, Judge [with] truth and peaceful judgment in your gates,

17 And do not devise the evil of his neighbor in your heart, And do not love a false oath, For all these [are] things that I have hated, A declaration of YHWH.”

18 And there is a word of YHWH of Hosts to me, saying,

19 “Thus said YHWH 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 times, and the truth and the peace they have loved.

20 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Yet peoples come, and inhabitants of many cities,

21 Indeed, inhabitants of one Have gone to another, saying, We go diligently, To appease the face of YHWH, To seek YHWH of Hosts—I go, even I.

22 Indeed, many peoples have come in, and mighty nations, To seek YHWH of Hosts in Jerusalem, And to appease the face of YHWH.

23 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: In those days ten men of all languages of the nations take hold, Indeed, they have taken hold on the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying, We go with you, for we heard God [is] with you!”