Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church of Christ.
8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for Sion with a
great jealousy, and with a great indignation have I been jealous for
her.
8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion, and I will
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city
of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The sanctified
mountain.
8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women
dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every man with his staff in his
hand through multitude of days.
8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,
playing in the streets thereof.
8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the eyes of the
remnant of this people in those days: shall it be hard in my eyes, saith
the Lord of hosts?
8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my people from the
land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun.
8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth
and in justice.
8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you
that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, in the
day that the house of the Lord of hosts was founded, that the temple
might be built.
8:10. For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was there
hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor to him
that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go every
one against his neighbour.
8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people according
to the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.
8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her
fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give
their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all
these things.
8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the
Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel: so will I save you, and
you shall be a blessing: fear not, let your hands be strengthened.
8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed to afflict you,
when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord,
8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days
to do good to the house of Juda, and Jerusalem: fear not.
8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak ye truth
every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and judgment of peace in your
gates.
8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his
friend: and love not a false oath: for all these are the things that I
hate, saith the Lord.
8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and
the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the
tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great
solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.
The fast of the fourth month, etc... They fasted, on the ninth day of
the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem,
Jer. 52.6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the
temple was burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month, for
the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth day of the tenth
month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege Jerusalem, 4
Kings 25.1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for the future,
shall be changed, as is here promised, into joyful solemnities.
8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and dwell in many
cities,
8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us go, and
entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts: I also
will go.
8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord
of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord.
8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein ten men of
all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold, and shall hold fast the
skirt of one that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you: for we have
heard that God is with you.
Ten men, etc... Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to the Jewish
religion before Christ: but many more were converted to Christ by the
apostles and other preachers of the Jewish nation.