Zechariah 7-10
Names of God Bible
You Should Have Obeyed the Lord’s Prophets
7 On the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Chislev) in Darius’ fourth year as king, Yahweh spoke his word to Zechariah. 2 Now, the people from Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech with their men[a] to ask Yahweh for a blessing. 3 They asked the priests from the house of Yahweh Tsebaoth as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?”
4 Then Yahweh Tsebaoth spoke his word to me. He said, 5 “Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me? 6 When you ate and drank, didn’t you do it to benefit yourselves? 7 Aren’t these the same words that Yahweh announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?’”
8 Then Yahweh spoke his word to Zechariah. He said, 9 “This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other. 10 Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don’t even think of doing evil to each other.
11 “But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn’t hear. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn’t hear the Lord’s teachings, the words that Yahweh Tsebaoth had sent by his Ruach through the earlier prophets. So Yahweh Tsebaoth became very angry.
13 “When I called, they wouldn’t listen. So now when they call, I won’t listen, says Yahweh Tsebaoth. 14 I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations, nations they hadn’t even heard of. They left behind a land so ruined that no one is able to travel through it. They have turned a pleasant land into a wasteland.”
What the Lord Will Do for Zion
8 Yahweh Tsebaoth spoke his word.
2 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
I am very jealous about Zion.
I am fiercely possessive of it.
3 This is what Yahweh says:
I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth.
The mountain of Yahweh Tsebaoth will be called the holy mountain.
4 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem.
Each will have a cane in hand because of old age.
5 The city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.
6 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
It may seem impossible to the few remaining people in those days,
but will it seem impossible to me? declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.
7 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
I am going to save my people
from the land where the sun rises
and from the land where the sun sets.
8 I will bring them back, and they will live in Jerusalem.
They will be my people, and I will be their Elohim, who is faithful and just.
9 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
Be strong so that the temple might be rebuilt,
you people who are presently listening
to the words from the mouths of the prophets
who spoke when the foundation
for the house of Yahweh Tsebaoth was laid.
10 Before that time there was no money to hire any person or animal.
No one who traveled was safe from the enemy.
I turned every person against his neighbor.
11 But now I won’t deal with the few remaining people
as I did in earlier times, declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.
12 Seeds will thrive in peacetime.
Vines will produce their grapes.
The land will yield its crops.
The sky will produce its dew.
I will give the few remaining people
all these things as an inheritance.
13 Just as you, people of Judah and people of Israel,
have been a curse among the nations,
so I will now save you,
and you will become a blessing.
Don’t be afraid. Let your hands work hard.
14 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
When your ancestors made me angry,
I made plans to destroy you, declares Yahweh Tsebaoth,
and I didn’t change my plans.
15 So now I have again made plans, but this time to do good
to Jerusalem and the people of Judah.
Don’t be afraid.
16 You must do these things:
Speak the truth to each other.
Give correct and fair verdicts for peace in your courts.
17 Don’t even think of doing evil to each other.
Don’t enjoy false testimony.
I hate all these things, declares Yahweh.
Many Nations Will Come to the Lord’s People
18 Yahweh Tsebaoth spoke his word to me again.
19 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
The fast in the fourth month, the fast in the fifth month,
the fast in the seventh month, and the fast in the tenth month
will become joyful and glad occasions
as well as happy festivals for the nation of Judah.
So love truth and peace.
20 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
People and citizens from many cities are going to come.
21 The citizens of one city will come to another city, saying,
“Let’s make a habit of going to ask Yahweh for a blessing
and to seek Yahweh Tsebaoth.
I’m also going.”
22 Many people and powerful nations will come
to seek Yahweh Tsebaoth in Jerusalem
and to ask Yahweh for a blessing.
23 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
In those days ten people from every language found among the nations
will take hold of the clothes of a Jew. They will say,
“Let us go with you
because we have heard that Elohim is with you.”
The Lord Protects His House
9 This is the divine revelation.
The word of Yahweh is against the land of Hadrach
and will rest on Damascus
2 and also Hamath, which borders on it,
and Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
(The eyes of humanity and of all the tribes of Israel are on Yahweh.)[b]
3 Tyre built itself a fortress.
It piled up silver like dust
and gold like mud in the streets.
4 Adonay will take away its possessions.
He will throw its wealth into the sea
and burn the city down.
5 Ashkelon will see this and be afraid.
Gaza will also be in great pain,
also Ekron, because its hope will fade.
Gaza will lose its king.
Ashkelon will no longer be lived in.
6 A mixed race will live in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the Philistines’ arrogance.
7 I will remove the blood from their mouths
and the disgusting things from between their teeth.
Then only a few of them will be left for our Elohim
like a tribe in Judah,
and Ekron will be like a Jebusite.
8 I will camp in front of my house
as a guard against those who come and go.
No oppressors will pass through them,
because I have seen it with my own eyes.[c]
The Lord Sends His King
9 Rejoice with all your heart, people of Zion!
Shout in triumph, people of Jerusalem!
Look! Your Melek is coming to you:
He is righteous and victorious.
He is humble and rides on a donkey,
on a colt, a young pack animal.
10 He[d] will make sure there are no chariots in Ephraim
or war horses in Jerusalem.
There will be no battle bows.
He will announce peace to the nations.
He will rule from sea to sea
and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
11 I will set your captives free from the waterless pit
because of the blood that sealed my promise[e] to you.
12 Return to your fortress, you captives who have hope.
Today I tell you that I will return to you double blessings.
13 I will bend Judah as my bow
and draw my bow with Ephraim as its arrow.
I will stir up your people, Zion, against your people, Greece,
and I will use you like a warrior’s sword.
14 Yahweh will appear over them,
and his arrow will go out like lightning.
Adonay Yahweh will blow the ram’s horn
and will march in the storms from the south.
15 Yahweh Tsebaoth will defend them.
They will destroy and trample the stones used in slings.
They will drink and shout as if they were drunk.
They will be filled like a sacrificial bowl
used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.
16 On that day Yahweh their Elohim will rescue them
as the flock of his people.
They will certainly sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.
17 They will be beautiful and lovely.[f]
Young men will prosper on grain,
and young women will prosper on new wine.
The Lord’s People Will Be Victorious
10 Ask Yahweh for rain in the springtime.
Yahweh makes thunderstorms.
He gives everyone rain showers for the plants in the field.
2 The idols speak lies.
The fortunetellers see false visions.
They speak about false dreams.
They give useless comfort.
That is why people wander around like sheep.
They are troubled because there is no shepherd.
3 “My burning anger is directed against the shepherds.
I will punish the male goats.
Yahweh Tsebaoth takes care of his flock, the people of Judah.
He makes them like his splendid war horse.”
4 From them will come a cornerstone,
from them a tent peg,
from them a battle bow,
from them every leader.
5 Together they will be like warriors
who trample the enemy in the mud on the streets.
They will fight because Yahweh is with them.
They will put to shame those who ride on horses.
6 “I will strengthen the people of Judah.
I will rescue Joseph’s people.
I will bring them back, because I have compassion for them.
It will be as though I had never rejected them,
because I am Yahweh their Elohim, and I will answer them.
7 The people of Ephraim will be like mighty warriors.
Their hearts will be glad as if they had some wine to drink.
Their sons will see it and be glad.
Their hearts will find joy in Yahweh.
8 I will signal them with a whistle
and gather them because I have reclaimed them.
They will be as numerous as they have ever been.
9 Although I have scattered them among the nations,
they will remember me even in faraway places.
They will live with their children and then return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt.
I will gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and to Lebanon,
and there won’t be enough room for them.”
11 Yahweh will pass through a sea of distress,
strike the waves in the sea,
and dry up all the deep places of the Nile River.
The pride of Assyria will be humiliated,
and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
12 “I will strengthen them in Yahweh.
They will live in his name,” declares Yahweh.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:2 Or “Bethel Sharezer sent Regem Melech with his men.”
- Zechariah 9:2 This sentence has been moved from verse 1 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.
- Zechariah 9:8 Hebrew meaning of verses 7–8 uncertain.
- Zechariah 9:10 Greek, Syriac; Masoretic Text “I.”
- Zechariah 9:11 Or “covenant.”
- Zechariah 9:17 Or “He will be beautiful and lovely.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
