Zechariah 8:9-17

⁹“The Lord of armies says this: ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of armies was laid, so that the temple might be built. ¹⁰For before those days there was no wage for man nor any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I sent all the people against one another. ¹¹But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the Lord of armies. ¹²‘For there will be the seed of peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will provide their dew; and I will give to the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance. ¹³And it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’

¹⁴“For this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Just as I determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and I have not relented, ¹⁵so I have again determined in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear! ¹⁶These are the things which you shall do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace at your gates. ¹⁷Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these things are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.”