The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 602

7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:

7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compa.s.sion every man to his brother.

7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.

7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.

7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.

7:13. And it came to pa.s.s that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.

7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man pa.s.sed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.

Zacharias Chapter 8

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 mult.i.tude of days.

8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets thereo.

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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.s, 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 G.o.dolias, 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 G.o.d 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.

Zacharias Chapter 9

G.o.d will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies to the faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to deliver the captives by his blood, and to give us all good things.

9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord's.

Hadrach... Syria.

9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise.

9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.

9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.

9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.

9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.

9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our G.o.d, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite.

His blood... It is spoken of the Philistines, and particularly of Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,) and contains a prophecy of the conversion of that people from their b.l.o.o.d.y sacrifices and abominations to the worship of the true G.o.d.

9:8. And I will encompa.s.s my house with them that serve me in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pa.s.s through them: for now I have seen with my eyes.

That serve me in war... Viz., the Machabees.

9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an a.s.s, and upon a colt, the foal of an a.s.s.

9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth.

9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.