The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion

¹And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: sI am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. ³Thus says the Lord: tI have returned to Zion and uwill dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, vand Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, wand the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. ⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts: xOld men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. ⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: yIf it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, zshould it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts? ⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, aI will save my people bfrom the east country and from the west country, ⁸and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. cAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God, din faithfulness and in righteousness.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts: e“Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of fthe prophets who were present on gthe day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. ¹⁰For before those days hthere was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. ¹²iFor there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, jand the heavens shall give their dew. kAnd I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ¹³And as lyou have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, mso will I save you, and nyou shall be a blessing. oFear not, but elet your hands be strong.”

¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts: p“As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, ¹⁵so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; ofear not. ¹⁶These are the things that you shall do: qSpeak the truth to one another; rrender in your gates judgments sthat are true and make for peace; ¹⁷tdo not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and ulove no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”

¹⁸And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the vfourth month and the fast of the wfifth and the fast of the xseventh and the fast of the ytenth shall be to the house of Judah zseasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love atruth and peace.

²⁰“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, b‘Let us go at once cto entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ ²²bMany peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and cto entreat the favor of the Lord. ²³Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days dten men efrom the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for fwe have heard that God is with you.’”