What Does Zechariah 8:17 Mean?
Let none of you plan harm in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these are things I hate, says the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The Hebrew sound-link between “harm” and “neighbor” makes the relationship audible inside the harm the heart is planning.
THE MEANING
Harm is already being formed when it is rehearsed inwardly, and falsehood is already being embraced when it is loved. The LORD names both the hidden design and the sworn lie as things he hates.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A hidden plot is harmless until it is acted out, or a lie becomes trustworthy once wrapped in an oath.
THE ROOT
תַּחְשְׁבוּ
tachshevu
GROWS FROM
חשב
Think through, reckon, or devise.
This root can describe both devising and reckoning: the heart is not a blank place where harm does not count. The verse names the inward plan as an intentional design before it is spoken or carried out.
ALSO GROWS
machashavah: Thought, plan, or design.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This branch shows that “imagine” can carry the weight of forming a plan, not just letting a passing thought arise.
neḥshav: Counted or considered.
נֶחְשָׁב
The same root links thinking with reckoning, giving the inner design real weight in the verse.
רָעַת
ra'at
GROWS FROM
רעע
Be bad or do harm.
“evil” in this verse is ra'at. Here רָעַת (ra’at, “harm”) stands beside רֵעֵהוּ (re’ehu, “his companion” or “neighbor”). Their shared consonants resh-ayin (ר־ע) create a sound echo, not proof that the words have the same root; English hides how the threatened relationship sounds inside the word for harm.
ALSO GROWS
raʿ: Bad or evil.
רַע
This form names the harmful quality the heart is planning against another person.
ra'ah: Harm, evil, or misfortune.
רָעָה
This noun keeps the focus on what is being designed against the neighbor: harm itself.
שְׁבֻעַת שֶׁקֶר
shevu'at sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
Deceive or deal falsely.
“false oath” in this verse is shevu'at sheqer. The word שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “falsehood”) names what the oath carries; this is not merely an oath that accidentally misses the truth. The verse says falsehood is loved, making deceit an embraced posture alongside the inward plan.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: Falsehood or a lie.
שֶׁקֶר
It names the false content held inside the oath.
shaqar: To lie or deal falsely.
שָׁקַר
This verbal branch shows falsehood as something enacted in a relationship, not merely an incorrect statement.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats inwardly planned harm and deceitful speech as one breach of trust with a neighbor.
You shall not answer against your neighbor as a witness of falsehood.He does not walk upon his tongue, does no harm to his neighbor, nor lifts up a taunt against his neighbor.Therefore, taking off lying, speak truth, each one with his neighbor, for we are limbs of one another.THE THREAD
Who plan harms in the heart, and every day they gather for war.Zechariah’s תַּחְשְׁבוּ (tachshevu, “imagine or devise”) and the psalm’s חָשְׁבוּ (chashvu, “imagine”) share the root חשב (chashav, “think through or devise”). The psalm shows that inwardly devised harm can gather into war, revealing why the verse treats the heart’s intent as already consequential.
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