Zechariah 8 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

The word of Yahweh who commands armies came:

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: I want Zion for my own, and I want her fiercely. The wanting burns in me like rage.

This is what Yahweh says: I have come back to Zion, and I am going to live right in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Yahweh who commands armies will be called the Mountain Kept for God.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: old men and old women will sit in the squares of Jerusalem again, every one of them with a cane in hand, because they have lived so many days.

And the squares of the city will be full of boys and girls, playing out in the squares.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: if that looks impossible to the handful of this people who are left, in those days, does it look impossible to me? Yahweh who commands armies has spoken.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: I am going to rescue my people from the country where the sun comes up and the country where it goes down.

I will bring them home and they will live in the middle of Jerusalem. They will be my people and I will be their God, and it will hold, and it will be done right.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: get your hands strong, all of you hearing these words now from the mouths of the prophets who were there the day the foundation was laid for the house of Yahweh who commands armies, so the temple could go up.

Before those days there was no pay for a man's work and nothing to be earned from an animal, and nobody could go out or come back in safely because of the enemy. I had turned everyone loose on his neighbor.

But I will not treat the handful of this people who are left the way I treated them in the earlier days. Yahweh who commands armies has spoken.

The seed will be peace. The vine will give its fruit, the ground will give its crop, and the sky will give its dew. All of it I will hand over to the handful of this people who are left.

House of Judah, house of Israel, you used to be the name people said when they wanted to curse someone. Now I will rescue you, and you will be the name they say when they want to wish someone well. Do not be afraid. Get your hands strong.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: when your ancestors made me furious I set out to do you harm, and I did not back off. Yahweh who commands armies has spoken.

In these days I have set out just as firmly to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not be afraid.

Here is what you are to do. Tell each other the truth. In your town gates, judge by what is true and hand down rulings that put things back together.

Do not sit there planning harm against your neighbor, and do not fall in love with swearing to a lie. Every bit of this I hate. Yahweh has spoken.

Then the word of Yahweh who commands armies came to me:

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: the fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth are going to turn into happiness and gladness for the house of Judah, good feast days. So love truth, and love peace.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: peoples are still going to come, and the people who live in many cities.

The people of one city will go to another and say, "Let's go right now to ask Yahweh for his favor, to go looking for Yahweh who commands armies. I am going myself."

Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to go looking for Yahweh who commands armies, and to ask him for his favor.

This is what Yahweh who commands armies says: in those days ten men from every language the nations speak will take hold of one Jewish man. They will grab the corner of his coat and say, "We are going with you, because we have heard that God is with you."