Five Oracles of Salvation for Jerusalem (8:1-8):

8:1–2 God had not abandoned desolate Judah (7:12–14). Verse 2 here echoes 1:14, “I am very jealous for Zion.” The Lord’s passionate attachment to Zion overcomes the wrath that the people’s sin provoked (7:12). The nations that had been brought against Jerusalem for judgment had gone too far. “I was only a little angry, but they [the nations] added to the calamity” (1:15). God’s wrath will turn against the conquerors in order to rescue Zion. “I am burning with jealousy for her,” God says. The final battles for Jerusalem, as portrayed in Zechariah 12 and 14, will demonstrate the Lord’s zeal on Zion’s behalf.

8:3 The next oracle also echoes Zechariah 1:16, “I will return,” and adds the specific promise that God will dwell in Jerusalem. God had ha…