Zechariah 7-9

Living Bible

7 Another message came to me from the Lord in late November of the fourth year of the reign of King Darius.

² The Jews of the city of Bethel had sent a group of men headed by Sharezer, the chief administrative officer of the king, and Regem-melech, to the Lord’s Temple at Jerusalem, to seek his blessing ³ and to speak with the priests and prophets about whether they must continue their traditional custom of fasting and mourning during the month of August each year, as they had been doing for so long.

⁴ This was the Lord’s reply:

⁵ “When you return to Bethel, say to all your people and your priests, ‘During those seventy years of exile when you fasted and mourned in August and October, were you really in earnest about leaving your sins behind and coming back to me? No, not at all! ⁶ And even now in your holy feasts to God, you don’t think of me, but only of the food and fellowship and fun. ⁷ Long years ago, when Jerusalem was prosperous and her southern suburbs out along the plain were filled with people, the prophets warned them that this attitude would surely lead to ruin, as it has.’”

^8-9 Then this message from the Lord came to Zechariah. “Tell them to be honest and fair—and not to take bribes—and to be merciful and kind to everyone. ¹⁰ Tell them to stop oppressing widows and orphans, foreigners and poor people, and to stop plotting evil against each other. ¹¹ Your fathers would not listen to this message. They turned stubbornly away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing me. ¹² They hardened their hearts like flint, afraid to hear the words that God, the Lord Almighty, commanded them—the laws he had revealed to them by his Spirit through the early prophets. That is why such great wrath came down on them from God. ¹³ I called, but they refused to listen, so when they cried to me, I turned away. ¹⁴ I scattered them as with a whirlwind among the far-off nations. Their land became desolate; no one even traveled through it; the Pleasant Land lay bare and blighted.”

8 Again the Lord’s message came to me:

² The Lord Almighty says, “I am greatly concerned—yes, furiously angry—because of all that Jerusalem’s enemies have done to her. ³ Now I am going to return to my land, and I, myself, will live within Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem shall be called ‘The Faithful City,’ and ‘The Holy Mountain,’ and ‘The Mountain of the Lord Almighty.’”

⁴ The Lord Almighty declares that Jerusalem will have peace and prosperity so long that there will once again be aged men and women hobbling through her streets on canes, ⁵ and the streets will be filled with boys and girls at play.

⁶ The Lord says, “This seems unbelievable to you—a remnant, small, discouraged as you are—but it is no great thing for me. ⁷ You can be sure that I will rescue my people from east and west, wherever they are scattered. ⁸ I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, just and true and yet forgiving them their sins!”^[a]

⁹ The Lord Almighty says, “Get on with the job and finish it! You have been listening long enough! For since you began laying the foundation of the Temple, the prophets have been telling you about the blessings that await you when it’s finished. ¹⁰ Before the work began there were no jobs, no wages, no security; if you left the city, there was no assurance you would ever return, for crime was rampant.

¹¹ “But it is all so different now!” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “For I am sowing peace and prosperity among you. Your crops will prosper; the grapevines will be weighted down with fruit; the ground will be fertile, with plenty of rain; all these blessings will be given to the people left in the land. ¹³ ‘May you be as poor as Judah,’ the heathen used to say to those they cursed! But no longer! For now Judah is a word of blessing, not a curse. ‘May you be as prosperous and happy as Judah is,’ they’ll say. So don’t be afraid or discouraged! Get on with rebuilding the Temple! ^14-15 If you do, I will certainly bless you. And don’t think that I might change my mind. I did what I said I would when your fathers angered me and I promised to punish them, and I won’t change this decision of mine to bless you. ¹⁶ Here is your part: Tell the truth. Be fair. Live at peace with everyone. ¹⁷ Don’t plot harm to others; don’t swear that something is true when it isn’t! How I hate all that sort of thing!” says the Lord.

¹⁸ Here is another message that came to me from the Lord Almighty:

¹⁹ “The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in July, August, October, and January^[b] are ended. They will be changed to joyous festivals if you love truth and peace! ^20-21 People from around the world will come on pilgrimages and pour into Jerusalem from many foreign cities to attend these celebrations. People will write their friends in other cities and say, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us and be merciful to us. I’m going! Please come with me. Let’s go now!’ ²² Yes, many people, even strong nations, will come to the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem to ask for his blessing and help. ²³ In those days ten men from ten different nations will clutch at the coat sleeves of one Jew and say, ‘Please be my friend, for I know that God is with you.’”

9 This is the message concerning God’s curse on the lands of Hadrach and Damascus, for the Lord is closely watching all mankind, as well as Israel.^[c]

² “Doomed is Hamath, near Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon too, shrewd though they be. ³ Though Tyre has armed herself to the hilt and become so rich that silver is like dirt to her, and fine gold like dust in the streets, ⁴ yet the Lord will dispossess her and hurl her fortifications into the sea; and she shall be set on fire and burned to the ground.

⁵ “Ashkelon will see it happen and be filled with fear; Gaza will huddle in desperation, and Ekron will shake with terror, for their hopes that Tyre would stop the enemies’ advance will all be dashed. Gaza will be conquered, her king killed, and Ashkelon will be completely destroyed.

⁶ “Foreigners will take over the city of Ashdod, the rich city of the Philistines. ⁷ I will yank her idolatry out of her mouth and pull from her teeth her sacrifices that she eats with blood. Everyone left will worship God and be adopted into Israel as a new clan: the Philistines of Ekron will intermarry with the Jews, just as the Jebusites did so long ago. ⁸ And I will surround my Temple like a guard to keep invading armies from entering Israel. I am closely watching their movements, and I will keep them away; no foreign oppressors will again overrun my people’s land.

⁹ “Rejoice greatly, O my people! Shout with joy! For look—your King is coming! He is the Righteous One, the Victor! Yet he is lowly, riding on a donkey’s colt! ¹⁰ I will disarm all peoples of the earth, including my people in Israel, and he shall bring peace among the nations. His realm shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.^[d]

¹¹ “I have delivered you from death in a waterless pit because of the covenant I made with you, sealed with blood. ¹² Come to the place of safety, all you prisoners, for there is yet hope! I promise right now, I will repay you two mercies for each of your woes! ¹³ Judah, you are my bow! Ephraim, you are my arrow! Both of you will be my sword, like the sword of a mighty soldier brandished against the sons of Greece.”

¹⁴ The Lord shall lead his people as they fight! His arrows shall fly like lightning; the Lord God shall sound the trumpet call and go out against his enemies like a whirlwind off the desert from the south. ¹⁵ He will defend his people, and they will subdue their enemies, treading them beneath their feet. They will taste victory and shout with triumph. They will slaughter their foes, leaving horrible carnage everywhere. ^16-17 The Lord their God will save his people in that day, as a Shepherd caring for his sheep. They shall shine in his land as glittering jewels in a crown. How wonderful and beautiful all shall be! The abundance of grain and grapes will make the young men and girls flourish; they will be radiant with health and happiness.