Yahweh promises to bless Jerusalem

8 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, gave me another message: 2 This is what I, Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, say: “I love the people of Jerusalem; I love them very much, and I am very angry with their enemies.”

3 So this is what I, Yahweh, say: “Some day I will return to Mount Zion and I will live there. At that time, people will call Jerusalem The City of Faithful People, and they will call the mountain that Yahweh, the commander of angel armies, possesses The Sacred Mountain.”

4 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “Some day old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each of them holding a cane because they are very old. 5 Boys and girls will fill the city streets, playing there.”

6 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “When those things happen, it will seem marvelous to the people who are still alive, but it certainly will not seem marvelous to me!”

7 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, also says this: “Pay attention! I will rescue my people from countries in the east and in the west, wherever they are. 8 I will bring them back, and they will live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will be faithful to them and treat them fairly.”

9 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “When people laid the foundation for my temple, there were prophets there who gave messages from me. Some of you people heard what those prophets said. So be brave while you are building the temple, in order that you may finish building it. 10 Before that time, no one could earn any wages for their work, and no one could hire animals for work because there was no money. No one was safe going about their daily activities because of enemies, since I caused everyone to fight against one another. 11 But now I will act differently toward you people who are still alive than I did previously.” That is what Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, says.

12 “Instead, everything will go well for them: planting time will be peaceful, grapevines will produce grapes, good crops will grow in the fields, and rain will fall from the sky. I will give all these things to the people of this nation who have survived. 13 You people of Judah and Israel, right now, the people of other nations think of you when they say what a curse means. But I will rescue you, and I will give you so many good things that they will think of you when they say what a blessing means. So be brave; work hard to finish building the temple.”

14 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “When your ancestors caused me to become very angry, I did not change my mind about that. Instead, I indeed punished them. 15 But now I will do something different. I am planning to do good things to the people of Jerusalem and other towns in Judah again. So do not be afraid. 16 These are the things that you should do: You should always tell the truth to each other. In the courts, your judges must make decisions according to what is correct and fair. 17 Do not plan to do evil things to others, and do not approve of swearing false accusations against others. I hate all those things,” says Yahweh.

18 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, said this to me: 19 “I tell you: the times when you people of Judah abstain from food during the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months of each year will become times when you celebrate pleasant and joyful festivals instead. But you must want to speak truthfully and to be peaceful.”

20 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “Some day people from many people groups and foreign cities will come here to Jerusalem. 21 People from one city will go to the people in another city and say, ‘Quick! Let us go together to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh and request him to bless us; we ourselves are going.’ 22 And people from many people groups and from powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to and request Yahweh, the commander of angel armies, to bless them and to worship him.”

23 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, also says this: “At that time, many people from every people group, speaking their own language, will come and firmly grab the fringe of robe belonging to a man from Judah’s tribe. They will say to him, ‘We want to be near you because we have heard people say that God is with you.’ ”

9 This is another message that Yahweh gave to me. Yahweh said, “I pay close attention to all people everywhere, and especially to all the tribes of Israel. So I will punish the people who live in the region of Hadrach and in the city of Damascus.” 2 I will also punish the people of the nearby city of Hamath, and the people of the cities of Tyre and Sidon, even though those people think that they are very wise.

3 The people of Tyre have built a strong wall around their city, and they have piled up as much silver and gold as if it were dust and mud in the streets. 4 But I, the Lord, will take away everything that the people of Tyre own, and I will destroy their ships out at sea, and an enemy army will burn their city down.

5 When the people of the city of Ashkelon see that happen, they will be afraid. The people of the city of Gaza will tremble in great anguish, and the people of the city of Ekron will tremble too, because they will no longer expect anything good to happen. There will no longer be a king ruling in Gaza, and no one will live in Ashkelon anymore. 6 People of mixed descent will live in the city of Ashdod, and so I will cause the Philistine people to no longer be proud. 7 I will no longer allow them to eat meat that still has blood in it, and I will no longer allow them to eat the disgusting food that they offered to their idols. Then the Philistine people who survive will worship me and become my people, like one of the clans in Judah. The people of the city of Ekron will become my people, just as the people of the city of Jebus did.

8 I will protect my temple like an army that guards it, so that no enemy soldiers can march through it or come back to attack it. No one who oppresses my people will ever invade them again, because now I am watching over my people carefully.

9 You people of Jerusalem, rejoice very much! Shout joyfully! Your king is coming to you. He does what is right, and God will give him victory. He is humble, and he will ride into the city on a donkey, on a young donkey.

10 Yahweh says “I will take away the chariots from the region of Ephraim and the war horses from the city of Jerusalem, and I will destroy the bows that soldiers use in war. Your king will tell the nations that they will now live peacefully. He will rule over all the earth, from one sea to the farthest sea, and from the Euphrates River to the most distant places on the earth.”

11 As for you people of Jerusalem, because of the blood of the animals that the priests killed when I made my covenant with you, I will set your people free, the ones who suffer like prisoners stuck in a dry pit that has no water in it. 12 You people who are like prisoners but who still confidently expect me to help you, return to your land, where you will be safe. Today I am telling you that I will give back to you twice as much as you have lost. 13 I will use the people of Judah to fight for me like a warrior uses a bow, and I will use the people of Ephraim like the arrows in that bow. People of Jerusalem, I will stir up your young men to fight against the army of Greece, and I will make you as powerful as a warrior’s sword.

14 Then Yahweh will appear above his people, and the arrows that he shoots will flash like lightning. Yahweh my Lord will blow a trumpet to signal the attack, and he will advance fiercely like a storm blowing from the south. 15 Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, will protect his people. His soldiers will completely defeat their enemies who attack them with slingstones. Those soldiers will shout in victory and celebrate as noisily as men who have drunk much wine. They will be as full of joy as the bowls that the priests fill with blood and pour out on the corners of the altar.

16 On that day, Yahweh, the God his people worship, will rescue them, just as a shepherd rescues his flock of sheep from danger. They will be as precious to him as sparkling jewels in a crown shining over his land. 17 How wonderful and how beautiful everything will be! The young men will grow strong from eating plenty of grain, and the young women will grow strong from drinking plenty of new wine.”

10 Ask Yahweh to cause rain to fall in the springtime, because he is the one who makes the clouds from which the rain falls in storms. He causes showers to fall on us, and he causes crops to grow well in the fields. 2 What people think that the idols in their houses say is only nonsense, and people who say that they can interpret dreams tell only lies. When they tell people things to comfort them, what they say is useless, so the people who consult them are like lost sheep; they are in danger because they have no one to protect them like sheep with no shepherd. 3 Yahweh says, “I am angry with the leaders of my people, and I will punish them. I, Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, I will take care of my people, the people of Judah, like a shepherd takes care of his flock, and I will cause them to be like war horses in battle. 4 From Judah will come rulers who will be very important. From Judah will come leaders who will hold the people together, like a tent peg keeps a tent up. From Judah will come leaders who will take the soldiers into war, like a king holding his own bow for battle. From them will come every one of their own leaders. 5 They will be like mighty warriors who trample their enemies into the mud during battle. I, Yahweh, will be with them, so they will defeat and shame their enemies who ride on horses. 6 I will make the people of Judah strong, and I will rescue the people of Israel. I will bring them back from the countries to which they were exiled; I will do that because I pity them. Then it will be as though I had never abandoned them because I am Yahweh, their God, and I will answer them when they pray for help. 7 The people of Israel will then be like strong soldiers; they will be as happy as people who have drunk a lot of wine. Their children will see their fathers being very happy, and they also will be happy because of what I have done for them. 8 I will signal for my people to return from far away, and I will gather them together in their own country. I will rescue them, and they will become very numerous as they were previously. 9 I have caused them to be scattered among many people groups, but in those distant countries they will think about me again. They and their children will remain alive and return to Judah. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and from Assyria; I will bring them back to the regions of Gilead and Lebanon, but there not be enough space for them all to live there. 11 I will go before them through their sufferings, as if I were walking through a sea, but I will calm those waves and end their sufferings, as if I were drying up the Nile River. I will defeat the proud soldiers of Assyria, and I will cause Egypt to no longer be powerful. 12 I will enable my people to be strong, and they will honor me and obey me. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

11 You people of Lebanon must open your gates and allow the fire to burn your cedar trees! 2 Your cypress trees must be like people who are wailing, because enemies have cut down the cedar trees. Those glorious trees are all gone. The oak trees in the region of Bashan should also be like people who are wailing, because enemies have cut down the oak trees in the dense forest. 3 And listen to the shepherds crying because the fertile pastures have been ruined. Listen to the lions roar; they roar because the thick forest where they live near the Jordan River has been ruined.

4 This is what Yahweh my God said to me: “I want you to supervise this flock of sheep until the flock perishes. 5 The dealers in sheep will kill the sheep, and no one will punish them. Those who sell the sheep will say, ‘I praise Yahweh, because I will become rich!’ And the shepherds whom the owners hire do not feel sorry for the sheep. 6 And similarly, I no longer feel sorry for the people of this country. I am going to allow their fellow countrymen and their king, to oppress them. They will ruin this country, and I will not rescue any of them.”

7 So I became the shepherd of a flock of sheep that dealers were going to slaughter and to sell the meat. Then I took two shepherds’ staffs. I named the one staff “Kindness” and the other staff “Union.” This is how I began to shepherd the sheep. 8 But the three shepherds who had been with the flock detested me, and I became impatient with the owners who had hired us all. Within one month I had destroyed those shepherds.

9 So I said to the dealers, “I will no longer be a shepherd for you. I will allow the ones that are dying to die. I will allow the ones that are getting lost to perish. And I will not prevent those that remain from eating each other.”

10 Then I took the staff that I had named “Kindness,” and I broke it. I did this because Yahweh had told me to cancel the covenant that he had made with all his tribes of Israel. 11 So that covenant was ended on that very day. The dealers who were watching me knew by seeing what I was doing that I was giving them a message from Yahweh.

12 I told them, “If you think it is right, pay me for my work. If you do not think it is right, do not pay me.” So they paid me only thirty pieces of silver.

13 Then Yahweh said to me, “That is a ridiculously small amount of money that they have for your work. So put it into the treasury.” So I took the silver to the temple of Yahweh, and I deposited it in the treasury there.

14 Then I broke my second staff, the one that I had named “Union.” That indicated that Judah and Israel would no longer be together as brothers.

15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again the things that a foolish shepherd uses, 16 because I am going to appoint a new shepherd for the people, one who will not take care of my people. He will be a foolish shepherd: He will ignore the dying sheep and those that have gotten lost. As for the healthy sheep, he will not feed them; instead, he will butcher them for his own food and will tear off their hooves. 17 But terrible things will happen to that foolish shepherd who abandons the flock. May his enemies strike his arm and his right eye with their swords. May he have no more strength in his arm, and may his right eye become completely blind.”

12 This is a message from Yahweh concerning Israel—Yahweh, the one who stretched out the sky, who created the earth, and who gave life to human beings. This is what he says: 2 “I will soon cause Jerusalem to be like a cup full of very strong alcoholic drink, and the people of other nations who drink it will stagger around. The people of Judah will drink it, too, for they also will suffer when the enemy besieges Jerusalem. 3 At that time, the armies of all the people groups will gather to attack Jerusalem, but I will cause Jerusalem to be like a very heavy rock, and all who try to lift it will be badly injured. This will happen when the armies of all the world’s nations attack Jerusalem. 4 At that time I will cause every one of their enemies’ horses to panic, and their riders to become crazy. I will protect the people of Judah, but I will cause all their enemies’ horses to become blind. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people in Jerusalem encourage us because Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, is the one they worship.’

6 At that time I will make the leaders of Judah like a pot of fire that someone puts in piles of firewood; and like a burning torch in a field of ripe grain. The leaders of Judah and their soldiers will destroy the people groups surrounding them in all directions. But the people of Jerusalem will remain safe in their own city.”

7 Yahweh will protect those who live in the other places in Judah before he rescues the people of Jerusalem, in order that people will not honor the descendants of David and those in Jerusalem more than the people in all the rest of Judah. 8 At that time, Yahweh will protect everyone in Jerusalem. The weakest soldiers among them will be as strong as David was, and the descendants of David will be like God; they will lead the others like the angel of Yahweh himself. 9 “At that time, I will start to destroy all the armies that attack Jerusalem.”

10 “I, Yahweh, will cause the descendants of David to have mercy on others, and to beg me to have mercy on themselves. They will gaze at me, whom they pierced. They will cry bitterly, as people cry for a firstborn son, an only son, who has died. 11 At that time, many people in Jerusalem will be crying bitterly, as people cry at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 Many people in Judah will cry, each clan by themselves. The male descendants of David will mourn by themselves, and their wives will mourn by themselves; the male descendants of Nathan will mourn by themselves, and their wives will mourn by themselves. 13 The male descendants of Levi will mourn by themselves, and their wives will mourn by themselves; the male descendants of Shimei will mourn by themselves, and their wives will mourn by themselves. 14 All the clans will mourn separately, their males by themselves, and their wives by themselves.”