Zechariah 8:19

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD of Hosts addresses the house of Judah through the prophet, responding to their inquiry about mourning practices after the declaration of future restoration.

The words — The text identifies צֹם (Tzom) as "fast" and lists the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months as specific calendar markers that will be transformed.

The thread — The fourth and fifth months correspond to the historical breaches and fasts noted in Jeremiah 39:2 and Zechariah 7:3, while the ethical imperative mirrors the command in Zechariah 8:16 to speak truth and render sound judgments.

Why it lands — The text declares that appointed times of mourning will become cheerful feasts and commands the people to actively love both truth and peace in their conduct.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

כֹּֽה־koh-thus אָמַ֞ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָ֣הYah.wehYahweh צְבָא֗וֹתtze.va.'otof hosts צ֣וֹםTzom[the] fast of הָרְבִיעִ֡יha./re.vi.'Ithe/ fourth [month]וְצ֣וֹםve./Tzomand/ [the] fast of הַחֲמִישִׁי֩ha./cha.mi.Shithe/ fifth [month]וְצ֨וֹםve./Tzomand/ [the] fast of הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜יha./she.vi.'Ithe/ seventh [month]וְצ֣וֹםve./Tzomand/ [the] fast of הָעֲשִׂירִ֗יha./'a.si.Rithe/ tenth [month]יִהְיֶ֤הyih.Yehit will become לְבֵית־le./veit-for/ [the] house of יְהוּדָה֙ye.hu.DahJudah לְשָׂשׂ֣וֹןle./sa.Son<into>/ joy וּלְשִׂמְחָ֔הu./le./sim.Chahand/ <into>/ gladness וּֽלְמֹעֲדִ֖יםu./le./mo.'a.Dimand/ <into>/ appointed feasts טוֹבִ֑יםto.Vimgood וְהָאֱמֶ֥תve./ha./'e.Metand/ <the>/ truth וְהַשָּׁל֖וֹםve./ha./sha.Lomand/ <the>/ peace אֱהָֽבוּ׃ פ'e.Ha.vulove

King James Version

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 Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 39:2 And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.
Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
Zechariah 7:3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”
Zechariah 7:5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
2 Kings 25:25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
Psalms 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
Jeremiah 52:4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
2 Kings 25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
Luke 1:74 deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear,
Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.