9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.
11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground 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.
13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.
14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:
15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. (Zechariah 8)
Several chapters in the book of Zechariah were part of my scripture study this morning, and these verses were especially beautiful to me.
The reasons why this passage is so beautiful to me are deeply rooted in my heart, and I find my thoughts on these verses to be a very nice follow-up to my recent blogpost on Ezekiel 8. In Hebrew, "Zechariah" means "the LORD remembers," and that sentiment permeates these verses. The Lord, knowing that Israel was rebellious, that they would reject his word at the outset of his dealings with them, and that they would degenerate into a nation that committed abominations before him, always had in mind to raise up and use a remnant of Israel for his purposes. These scriptures and the charges in them are very applicable to modern-day Israel.