Zechariah 8:17 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 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.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse forbids planned harm in the heart and false oaths because the LORD hates these practices.

Read It With

Zechariah 8:14-17

Read Zechariah 8:17 with 8:14-17. This verse forbids planned harm in the heart and false oaths because the LORD hates these practices. The complete unit establishes this movement: God's resolved good does not remove ethical responsibility: the restored community must speak truth, render decisions that produce truth and peace, reject planned harm, and refuse false oaths.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Before ritual sorrow becomes celebration, the oracle defines the truthful and peaceable practices that must characterize restored life. Within that movement, this verse forbids planned harm in the heart and false oaths because the LORD hates these practices.

Follow the Context

Former punishment is recalled as a settled divine intention after ancestral provocation.
The LORD now resolves to do good to Jerusalem and Judah.
Fear is rejected.
Neighbors must speak truth.
Gate judgments must serve truth and peace.
Heart-plotted harm and false oaths are forbidden as things the LORD hates.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

The verse does not condemn unwanted intrusive thoughts or authorize policing private mental health experiences.

What Remains True

Private plotting and public falsehood both corrupt restored community.

How It Can Shape Life

Build reliable commitments and intervene before planned harm becomes action.

Teach It Back

Explain Zechariah 8:17's contribution to Zechariah 8:14-17: forbids planned harm in the heart and false oaths because the LORD hates these practices. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Zechariah 8:14-17 — Resolved to Do Good, Commanding Truth and Peace

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

The focus is purposeful devising, not involuntary cognition.

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: Zechariah 8:14-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Zechariah

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker changes, repeated formulas, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Zech.xml, 8:14-17

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Zechariah with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and canonical-reception notes.

Exact location: NET Bible Zechariah PDF, printed pp. 1794-1795, translation and notes on 8:14-17

Open source ↗

modern critical commentary

Zechariah

Rex Mason

Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001

Supports: Whole-book movement, Persian and later horizons, literary boundaries, composition, and material alternatives.

Exact location: Mason, 'Zechariah,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 613, discussion of 8:14-17

Open source ↗

open access scholarly monograph

Exploring Zechariah, Volume 1: The Development of Zechariah and Its Role within the Twelve

Mark J. Boda

SBL Press, Ancient Near East Monographs 16, 2017

Supports: Compositional development, fast-to-feast movement, leadership expectations, messianism, and the book's role within the Twelve.

Exact location: Boda, Exploring Zechariah, Volume 1, printed pp. 31-58, chapters 2-3 on fasts, feasts, and Zechariah 8

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record