8
1 Again the Devar Hashem Tzva'os came to me, saying:
2 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
I am jealous for Tziyon with kina gedolah (great jealousy)
and I am jealous for her with chemah gedolah (great fury).
3 Thus saith Hashem:
I will return unto Tziyon,
and will dwell in the midst of Yerushalayim;
and Yerushalayim shall be called Ir HaEmes;
and Har Hashem Tzva'os, Har HaKodesh.
4 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
Zekenim and zekenot shall yet dwell in the rechovot of Yerushalayim,
and every man with his staff in his hand me'rov yamim (because of many days).*
5 And the rechovot of the city
shall be full of yeladim and yeladot
playing in the rechovot thereof.
6 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
If it be marvellous in the eyes
of the she'erit HaAm HaZeh in those days,
should it also be marvellous in Mine eyes?
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
7 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
Hineni, I will save My people from the eretz mizrach (land of the east),
and from the eretz of the setting sun;
8 And I will bring them,
and they shall dwell in the midst of Yerushalayim;
and they shall be My people,
and I will be their G-d,
in emes and in tzedakah.
9 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these devarim by the mouth of the nevi'im, on the yom that the Yesod of the Beis Hashem Tzava'os was laid, the Heikhal, that it may be built. 10 For before these days there was no sachar for man, nor any sachar for beast; neither was there any shalom to him that went out or came in because of the tzar (oppressor); for I set all men every one against his neighbor. 11 But now I will not be unto the she'erit HaAm HaZeh as in the former days, saith Hashem Tzva'os.
12 For the zera is of shalom;
the gefen shall yield her fruit,
and ha'aretz shall give her increase,
and HaShomayim shall give their tal;
and I will cause the she'erit HaAm HaZeh
to possess all these things for a nachalah.
13 And it shall come to pass,
that as ye were a kelalah (curse) among the Goyim,
O Bais Yehudah, and Bais Yisroel;
so will I save you,
and ye shall be a brocha;
fear not, but let your hands be strong.
14 For thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
As I determined to bring rah on you,
when your avot provoked Me to wrath,
saith Hashem Tzava'os,
and I relented not with rachamim:
15 So again have I determined in these days
to do good unto Yerushalayim and to Bais Yehudah;
fear ye not.
16 These are the things that ye must do:
Speak ye every man emes to his neighbor;
execute the judgment of mishpat shalom
in your she'arim (gates, courts);
17 And let none of you imagine ra'ah
in your levavot against his neighbor;
and love no shevuat sheker (false oath);
for all these are things that I hate,
saith Hashem.
18 And the Devar Hashem Tzva'os came unto me, saying: 19 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os: The tzom of the fourth month, and the tzom of the fifth, and the tzom of the seventh, and the tzom of the tenth, shall be to the Bais Yehudah for sasson and simcha, and mo'adim tovim; therefore love emes and shalom.
20 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
It shall yet come to pass,
that there shall come amim (nations),
and the inhabitants of many cities;
21 And the inhabitants of one city
shall go to another, saying:
Let us go speedily to make entreaty before Hashem,
and to seek Hashem Tzva'os.
I myself am going.
22 Yea, amim rabbim and Goyim powerful shall come
to seek Hashem Tzva'os in Yerushalayim,
and to daven before Hashem.
23 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
In those days it shall come to pass,
that asarah anashim (ten men)
out of kol leshonot HaGoyim (all the tongues of the nations) shall take hold,
even take hold of the hem of the robe of a Yehudi (Jew),
saying: Let us go with you;
for we have heard that Elohim is with you.
* 8:4 i.e., old age