Zechariah 8

New King James Version

Jerusalem, Holy City of the Future

8 Again the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(A)‘I am ^[a]zealous for Zion with great ^[b]zeal;
With great ^[c]fervor I am zealous for her.’

³“Thus says the Lord:

^(B)‘I will return to Zion,
And ^(C)dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem ^(D)shall be called the City of Truth,
^(E)The Mountain of the Lord of hosts,
^(F)The Holy Mountain.’

⁴“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(G)‘Old men and old women shall again sit
In the streets of Jerusalem,
Each one with his staff in his hand
Because of ^[d]great age.
⁵The streets of the city
Shall be ^(H)full of boys and girls
Playing in its streets.’

⁶“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘If it is ^[e]marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days,
^(I)Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?’
Says the Lord of hosts.

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, ^(J)I will save My people from the land of the ^[f]east
And from the land of the ^[g]west;
⁸I will ^(K)bring them back,
And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
^(L)They shall be My people
And I will be their God,
^(M)In truth and righteousness.’

⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(N)‘Let your hands be strong,
You who have been hearing in these days
These words by the mouth of ^(O)the prophets,
Who spoke in ^(P)the day the foundation was laid
For the house of the Lord of hosts,
That the temple might be built.
¹⁰For before these days
There were no ^(Q)wages for man nor any hire for beast;
There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in;
For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor.

¹¹^(R)But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ says the Lord of hosts.

¹²‘For^(S) the ^[h]seed shall be prosperous,
The vine shall give its fruit,
^(T)The ground shall give her increase,
And ^(U)the heavens shall give their dew—
I will cause the remnant of this people
To possess all these.
¹³And it shall come to pass
That just as you were ^(V)a curse among the nations,
O house of Judah and house of Israel,
So I will save you, and ^(W)you shall be a blessing.
Do not fear,
Let your hands be strong.’

¹⁴“For thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(X)‘Just as I determined to ^[i]punish you
When your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
^(Y)‘And I would not relent,
¹⁵So again in these days
I am determined to do good
To Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
Do not fear.
¹⁶These are the things you shall ^(Z)do:
^(AA)Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;
¹⁷^(AB)Let none of you think evil in ^[j]your heart against your neighbor;
And do not love a false oath.
For all these are things that I hate,’
Says the Lord.”

¹⁸Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(AC)‘The fast of the fourth month,
^(AD)The fast of the fifth,
^(AE)The fast of the seventh,
^(AF)And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be ^(AG)joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
^(AH)Therefore love truth and peace.’

²⁰“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Peoples shall yet come,
Inhabitants of many cities;
²¹The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,
^(AI)“Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord,
And seek the Lord of hosts.
I myself will go also.”
²²Yes, ^(AJ)many peoples and strong nations
Shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem,
And to pray before the Lord.’

²³“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men ^(AK)from every language of the nations shall ^(AL)grasp the ^[k]sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard ^(AM)that God is with you.” ’ ”

Footnotes

Zechariah 8:2 Or jealous
Zechariah 8:2 Or jealousy
Zechariah 8:2 Lit. heat or rage
Zechariah 8:4 Lit. many days
Zechariah 8:6 Or wonderful
Zechariah 8:7 Lit. rising sun
Zechariah 8:7 Lit. setting sun
Zechariah 8:12 Lit. seed of peace
Zechariah 8:14 Lit. bring calamity to you
Zechariah 8:17 Lit. his
Zechariah 8:23 Lit. wing, corner of a garment

Ezra 5

New King James Version

Restoration of the Temple Resumed^(A)

5 Then the prophet ^(B)Haggai and ^(C)Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. ²So ^(D)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of ^[a]Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and ^(E)the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

³At the same time ^(F)Tattenai the governor of the region beyond ^[b]the River and Shethar-Boznai and their companions came to them and spoke thus to them: ^(G)“Who has commanded you to build this ^[c]temple and finish this wall?” ⁴^(H)Then, accordingly, we told them the names of the men who were constructing this building. ⁵But ^(I)the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius. Then a ^(J)written answer was returned concerning this matter. ⁶This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai sent:

The governor of the region beyond the River, and Shethar-Boznai, ^(K)and his companions, the Persians who were in the region beyond the River, to Darius the king.

⁷(They sent a letter to him, in which was written thus.)

To Darius the king:

All peace.

⁸Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judea, to the ^[d]temple of the great God, which is being built with ^[e]heavy stones, and timber is being laid in the walls; and this work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.

⁹Then we asked those elders, and spoke thus to them: ^(L)“Who commanded you to build this temple and to finish these walls?” ¹⁰We also asked them their names to inform you, that we might write the names of the men who were chief among them.

¹¹And thus they returned us an answer, saying: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the ^[f]temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built ^(M)and completed. ¹²But ^(N)because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of ^(O)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and ^(P)carried the people away to Babylon. ¹³However, in the first year of ^(Q)Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to build this ^[g]house of God. ¹⁴Also, ^(R)the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem and carried into the temple of Babylon—those King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon, and they were given to ^(S)one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. ¹⁵And he said to him, ‘Take these articles; go, carry them to the temple site that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its former site.’ ¹⁶Then the same Sheshbazzar came and ^(T)laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem; but from that time even until now it has been under construction, and ^(U)it is not finished.”

¹⁷Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, ^(V)let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send us his pleasure concerning this matter.