King James Version · The Persian return
Zechariah 8
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1Again the word of of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith of hosts; I was with great , and I was her with great fury. Thus saith ; I am returned unto , and will in the midst of : and shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of of hosts the mountain. Thus saith of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women in the streets of , and every man with his in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith of hosts. Thus saith of hosts; Behold, I will my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall in the midst of : and they shall be my people, and I will be their , in truth and in . Thus saith of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words , which were in the day that the foundation of the of hosts was laid, that might be built. 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. But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith of hosts. For the shall be prosperous; shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and shall give their ; and I will cause of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were among the heathen, O house of Judah, and ; so will I you, and ye shall be a : fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to , saith of hosts, and I not: So again have I thought in these days to do well unto and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the of truth and peace in your : And let none of you imagine evil in your against his neighbour; and love no false : for all these are things that I hate, saith . 18And the word of of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith of hosts; The of the fourth month, and the of the fifth, and the of the seventh, and the of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. Thus saith of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to before , and to seek of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek of hosts in , and to before . Thus saith of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all of the nations, even shall take hold of the of him that is a , saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that is with you.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.