Zechariah 7 - 8, Revelation 17, Song of Songs 3

The People’s Hard Hearts

7Now it happened that in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is ^aChislev. ²And the town of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ¹their men to ²^,^aentreat the favor of Yahweh, ³speaking to the ^apriests, who belong to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^bfifth month ¹and abstain, as I have done these many years?” ⁴Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months ¹these ^aseventy years, was it actually for ^bMe that you fasted? ⁶‘And when you eat and when you drink, ¹are you not eating for yourselves and are you not drinking for yourselves? ⁷‘Are not these the words which Yahweh ^acalled out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^bat ease along with its cities around it, and the ¹^,^cNegev and the ²Shephelah were inhabited?’”

⁸Then the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah saying, ⁹“Thus has Yahweh of hosts said, ‘^aJudge with true justice and show ^blovingkindness and compassion each to his brother; ¹⁰and ^ado not oppress the widow or the ¹orphan, the sojourner or the afflicted; and do ^bnot devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹“But they ^arefused to give heed and ¹^,^bturned a stubborn shoulder and ²^,^cdulled their ears from hearing. ¹²“And they made their ^ahearts ¹^,^bdiamond-hard ²so that they could not hear the law and the ^cwords which Yahweh of hosts had sent by His Spirit by the hand of the ^dformer prophets; therefore great ^ewrath came from Yahweh of hosts. ¹³“And it happened that just as ^aHe called and they would not listen, so ^bthey called and I would not listen,” says Yahweh of hosts; ¹⁴“but I ¹^,^ascattered them with a ^bstorm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is ^cdesolated behind them ²so that ^dno one was passing through and returning, for they ^emade the pleasant land desolate.”

Jerusalem, the City of Truth

8Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying, ²“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘¹I am ^ajealous with great jealousy for Zion, and with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ ³“Thus says Yahweh, ‘I will return to Zion and will ^adwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of ^bTruth, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ ⁴“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘^aOld men and old women will again sit in the ¹streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of ²age. ⁵‘And the ¹streets of the city will be filled with ^aboys and girls playing in its ²streets.’ ⁶“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If it is ¹^,^atoo difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be ²^,^btoo difficult in My sight?’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ⁷“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land where the ¹^,^asun rises and from the land where the ²sun sets; ⁸and I will ^abring them back, and they will ^bdwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be ^cMy people, and I will be their God in ¹truth and righteousness.’

⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Let your hands be ^astrong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ^bprophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built. ¹⁰‘For before those days there was ^ano wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no ¹^,^bpeace because of the adversary, and I ^cset all men one against another. ¹¹‘But now I will ^anot ¹treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ¹²‘For there will be ^apeace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their ^bdew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit ^call these things. ¹³‘And it will be that just as you were a ^acurse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a ^bblessing. Do not fear; let your ^chands be strong.’

¹⁴“For thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Just as I ^apurposed to bring about evil to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says Yahweh of hosts, ‘and I have not ^brelented, ¹⁵so I have again purposed in these days to ^ado good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ^bDo not fear! ¹⁶‘These are the things which you should do: speak the ^atruth to one another; ^bjudge with truth and judgment for peace in your ¹gates. ¹⁷‘Also let none of you ^adevise evil in your heart against another, and do not love ¹^,^bfalse oaths; for all these are what I ^chate,’ declares Yahweh.”

¹⁸Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘The fast of the ^afourth, the fast of the ^bfifth, the fast of the ^cseventh, and the fast of the ^dtenth months will become ^ejoy, gladness, and ¹merry appointed feasts for the house of Judah; so ^flove truth and peace.’

²⁰“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘It will yet be that ^apeoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to ¹^,^aentreat the favor of Yahweh and to seek Yahweh of hosts; ²I will also go.” ²²‘So ^amany peoples and mighty nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem and to ¹^,^bentreat the favor of Yahweh.’ ²³“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from every tongue of the nations will ¹^,^atake hold of the ²garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”

The Woman and the Beast

17^aThen one of the ^bseven angels who have the ^cseven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you ^dthe judgment of the ^egreat harlot who ^fsits on many waters, ²with whom ^athe kings of the earth committed ¹sexual immorality, and ^bthose who dwell on the earth were ^cmade drunk with the wine of her ²sexual immorality.” ³And ^ahe carried me away ¹^,^bin the Spirit ^cinto a wilderness; then I saw a woman sitting on a ^dscarlet beast, full of ^eblasphemous names, having ^fseven heads and ten horns. ⁴And the woman ^awas clothed in purple and scarlet, and ¹adorned with gold and precious ²stones and pearls, having in her hand ^ba gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her ³sexual immorality, ⁵and on her forehead a name was written, a ^amystery, “^bBABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF ^cTHE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” ⁶Then I saw the woman drunk with ^athe blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered ¹greatly. ⁷And the angel said to me, “Why ¹do you wonder? I will tell you the ^amystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the ^bseven heads and the ten horns.

⁸“^aThe beast that you saw ^bwas, and is not, and is about to ^ccome up out of the ^dabyss and ¹^,^ego to destruction. And ^fthose who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. ⁹“^aHere is the mind which has wisdom. The ^bseven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, ¹⁰and they are seven ^akings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. ¹¹“And the beast which ^awas and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he ^bgoes to destruction. ¹²“And the ^aten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast ^bfor one hour. ¹³“These have ^aone ¹purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴“These will wage ^awar against the Lamb, and the Lamb will ^bovercome them, because He is ^cLord of lords and ^dKing of kings, and ^ethose who are with Him are the ^fcalled and elect and faithful.”

¹⁵And he *said to me, “The ^awaters which you saw where the harlot sits, are ^bpeoples and crowds and nations and tongues. ¹⁶“And the ^aten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will ^blay waste to her and make her ^cnaked, and will ^deat her flesh and will ^eburn her up with fire. ¹⁷“For ^aGod gave it in their hearts to do His ¹purpose both ²by ^bdoing their own common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the ^cwords of God will be finished. ¹⁸“And the woman whom you saw is ^athe great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”

The Bride’s Troubled Dream

3“¹On my bed night after night I sought him^aWhom my soul loves;I ^bsought him but did not find him.²‘¹I must arise now and ²go about the city;In the ^astreets and in the squares³I must seek him whom my soul loves.’I sought him but did not find him.³“^aThe watchmen who go about the city found me,And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’⁴“^aScarcely had I passed them byWhen I found him whom my soul loves;I ^bseized him and would not let him goUntil I had ^cbrought him to my mother’s house,And into the chamber of her who conceived me.”⁵“¹I ^acall you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,By the ^bgazelles or by the hinds of the field,That you do not arouse or awaken my loveUntil ²she pleases.”

Solomon Arrives on His Wedding Day

⁶“¹^,^aWho is this coming up from the wildernessLike ^bcolumns of smoke,As rising incense of ^cmyrrh and ^dfrankincense,With all scented powders of the merchant?⁷“Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;Sixty mighty men around it,Of the mighty men of Israel.⁸“All of them are those who seize the sword,^aLearned in war;Each man has his ^bsword at his side,Guarding against the ¹^,^cdreadful things of the night.⁹“King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chairFrom the timber of Lebanon.¹⁰“He made its posts of silver,Its ¹back of goldAnd its seat of purple fabric,With its interior inlaid with loveBy the ^adaughters of Jerusalem.¹¹“Go forth and see, O ^adaughters of Zion,King Solomon with the ¹crownWith which his mother has crowned himOn the ^bday of his wedding,And on the day of his gladness of heart.”