7:1 It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.
7:2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh’s favor,
7:3 and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
7:4 Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,
7:5 “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?
7:6 When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7:7 Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”
7:8 The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,
7:9 “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
7:10 Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
7:11 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
7:12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies.
7:13 It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;
7:14 “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
8:1 The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me.
8:2 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.”
8:3 Thus says Yahweh: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’”
8:4 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
8:5 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
8:6 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?” says Yahweh of Armies.
8:7 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
8:8 and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”
8:9 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.
8:10 For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
8:11 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,” says Yahweh of Armies.
8:12 “For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
8:13 It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”
8:14 For thus says Yahweh of Armies: “As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I didn’t repent;
8:15 so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.
8:16 These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
8:17 and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.
8:18 The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me.
8:19 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.”
8:20 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come;
8:21 and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Armies. I will go also.’
8:22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh.”
8:23 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”