The Lord's Promises to Zion
1 The Lord All-Powerful said to me:
2 I love Zion so much that her enemies make me angry. 3 I will return to Jerusalem and live there on Mount Zion. Then Jerusalem will be known as my faithful city, and Zion will be known as my holy mountain.
4 Very old people with walking sticks will once again sit around in Jerusalem, 5 while boys and girls play in the streets. 6 This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn't impossible for me, the Lord All-Powerful. 7 I will save those who were taken to lands in the east and the west, 8 and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, faithful to bring about justice.
9 I am the Lord All-Powerful! So don't give up. Think about the message my prophets spoke when the foundation of my temple was laid. 10 Before that time, neither people nor animals were rewarded for their work, and no one was safe anywhere, because I had turned them against each other.
11 My people, only a few of you are left, and I promise not to punish you as I did before. 12 Instead, I will make sure that your crops are planted in peace and your vineyards are fruitful, that your fields are fertile, and the dew falls from the sky. 13 People of Judah and Israel, you have been a curse to the nations, but I will save you and make you a blessing to them. So don't be afraid or lose courage.
14 When your ancestors made me angry, I decided to punish you with disasters, and I didn't hold back. 15 Now you no longer need to be afraid. I have decided to treat Jerusalem and Judah with kindness. 16 But you must be truthful with each other, and in court you must give fair decisions that lead to peace. 17 Don't ever plan evil things against others or tell lies under oath. I, the Lord, hate such things.
A Time of Celebration
18 The Lord All-Powerful told me to say:
19 People of Judah, I, the Lord, demand that whenever you go without food as a way of worshiping me, it should become a time of celebration. No matter if it's the fourth month, the fifth month, the seventh month, or the tenth month, you should have a joyful festival. So love truth and live at peace.
20 I tell you that people will come here from cities everywhere. 21 Those of one town will go to another and say, “We're going to ask the Lord All-Powerful to treat us with kindness. Come and join us.”
22 Many people from strong nations will come to Jerusalem to worship me and to ask me to treat them with kindness. 23 When this happens, ten people from nations with different languages will grab a Jew by his clothes and say, “Let us go with you. We've heard that God is on your side.” I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken!
1 Againe the worde of the Lord of hostes came to me, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, I was ielous for Zion with great ielousie, and I was ielous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus saith the Lord, I wil returne vnto Zion, and wil dwel in the mids of Ierusalem: and Ierusalem shalbe called a citie of trueth, and the Mountaine of the Lord of hostes, the holy Mountaine. 4 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, There shall yet olde men and olde women dwell in the streetes of Ierusalem, and euery man with his staffe in his hand for very age. 5 And the streetes of the citie shalbe full of boyes and girles, playing in the streetes thereof. 6 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, Though it be vnpossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these dayes, should it therefore be vnpossible in my sight, sayth the Lord of hostes? 7 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Beholde, I will deliuer my people from the East countrey, and from the West countrey. 8 And I wil bring them, and they shall dwel in the mids of Ierusalem, and they shalbe my people, and I wil be their God in trueth, and in righteousnes. 9 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Let your hands be strong, ye that heare in these dayes these words by the mouth of the Prophets, which were in the day, that the foundation of the House of the Lord of hostes was laide, that the Temple might be builded. 10 For before these dayes there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men, euery one against his neighbour. 11 But nowe, I wil not intreate the residue of this people as aforetime, saith the Lord of hostes. 12 For the seede shall be prosperous: the vine shall giue her fruite, and the ground shall giue her increase, and the heauens shall giue their dewe, and I will cause the remnant of this people to possesse all these things. 13 And it shall come to passe, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Iudah, and house of Israel, so wil I deliuer you, and ye shalbe a blessing: feare not, but let your hands be strong. 14 For thus sayth the Lord of hostes, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers prouoked me vnto wrath, sayth the Lord of hostes, and repented not, 15 So againe haue I determined in these daies to doe well vnto Ierusalem, and to the house of Iudah: feare ye not. 16 These are ye things that ye shall doe. Speake ye euery man the trueth vnto his neighbour: execute iudgement truely and vprightly in your gates, 17 And let none of you imagine euill in your hearts against his neighbour, and loue no false othe: for all these are the things that I hate, saith the Lord. 18 And the worde of the Lord of hostes came vnto me, saying, 19 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, The fast of the fourth moneth, and the fast of the fift, and the fast of the seuenth, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Iudah ioy and gladnes, and prosperous hie feasts: therefore loue the trueth and peace. 20 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, That there shall yet come people, and the inhabitants of great cities. 21 And they that dwell in one citie, shall go to another, saying, Vp, let vs go and pray before the Lord, and seeke the Lord of hostes: I wil go also. 22 Yea, great people and mightie nations shall come to seeke the Lord of hostes in Ierusalem, and to pray before the Lord. 23 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, In those dayes shall ten men take holde out of all languages of the nations, euen take holde of the skirt of him that is a Iewe, and say, We will go with you: for we haue heard that God is with you.