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Zechariah 8

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The Lord's Jealousy for Zion 1–8

1
Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
2
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. ​
3
Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. ​
4
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. ​
5
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
6
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. ​
7
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
8
And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

Encouragement for the Builders 9–15

9
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. ​
10
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. ​
11
But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts.
12
For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ​
13
And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. ​
14
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:
15
So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

Requirements for a Holy People 16–17

16
These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: ​
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.

Fasting Will Turn to Feasting 18–19

18
And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying,
19
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. ​

Nations Will Seek the Lord 20–23

20
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
21
And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.
22
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. ​
23
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zechariah 8

Verse 2

jealous for Zion with great jealousy — Qana’ and qinah, the zeal of one whose own is wronged, as in 1:14, ‘I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy’, and Joel 2:18, ‘Then will the LORD be jealous for his land’. The ‘great fury’ (chemah) answers 1:15, where he is ‘very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease’.

Verse 3

I am returned unto Zion — Shuv, to turn back, the verb of 1:3, ‘Turn ye unto me… and I will turn unto you’, and of 1:16, ‘I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies’. ‘Dwell’ is shakan, the verb of Ex 25:8, ‘that I may dwell among them’. ‘A city of truth’ (emeth) matches ‘the city of righteousness, the faithful city’ (Isa 1:26).

Verse 4

old men and old women — The staff is carried ‘for very age’, literally for the abundance of days. At the fall of the city ‘the young and the old lie on the ground in the streets’ (Lam 2:21); now the same streets (rechovot, broad places) hold the aged. Long life is the blessing named in the fifth commandment (Ex 20:12).

Verse 6

marvellous — Pala’, to be wonderful or beyond reach, the verb of ‘Is any thing too hard for the LORD?’ (Gen 18:14) and ‘is there any thing too hard for me?’ (Jer 32:27). ‘The remnant’ (sheerith) is the word of Hag 1:12, where ‘all the remnant of the people’ obeyed the voice of the LORD.

Verse 9

Let your hands be strong — Chazaq, the word repeated in v.13 and the charge of Hag 2:4, ‘be strong… and work: for I am with you’. The prophets are Haggai and Zechariah, who ‘prophesied unto the Jews’ while the temple was built (Ezra 5:1). They spoke ‘in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid’.

Verse 10

no hire for man, nor any hire for beast — Sakar, wages. These are the years of Hag 1:6, when the people had ‘sown much, and bring in little’ and wages were earned ‘to put it into a bag with holes’. The LORD says that he ‘set all men every one against his neighbour’; ‘affliction’ (tsar) is a narrow place, hence distress.

Verse 12

the seed shall be prosperous — Literally the seed of peace (shalom). The vine’s fruit, the ground’s ‘increase’ (yevul) and the dew are the blessings of Lev 26:4, ‘the land shall yield her increase’, and were the ones withheld in Hag 1:10, ‘the heaven over you is stayed from dew’.

Verse 13

a curse among the heathen — Qelalah, a word of cursing: ‘a curse to all the nations of the earth’ was said of Jerusalem in Jer 26:6. Both ‘house of Judah, and house of Israel’ are named together, both to be saved. ‘A blessing’ (berakah) takes up the promise to Abraham, ‘thou shalt be a blessing’ (Gen 12:2).

Verse 16

Speak ye every man the truth — The command repeats the substance of 7:9. ‘The judgment of truth and peace’ (mishpat shalom) is to be given ‘in your gates’, where the judges sat (Deut 16:18). Paul repeats the first command in ‘speak every man truth with his neighbour’ (Eph 4:25).

Verse 19

the fast of the fourth month — The four fasts mark the stages of Jerusalem’s fall: the tenth month, the siege (2 Kgs 25:1); the fourth, the famine and the breach of the wall (2 Kgs 25:3; Jer 39:2); the fifth, the burning of the LORD’s house (2 Kgs 25:8–9); the seventh, the killing of Gedaliah (2 Kgs 25:25). They become ‘cheerful feasts’, mo’adim, the ‘feasts of the LORD’ of Lev 23:2.

Verse 22

many people and strong nations — Atsum, mighty or numerous. They ‘come to seek’ (baqash) the LORD in Jerusalem ‘and to pray before the LORD’, the same words as the delegation of 7:2. Isaiah speaks likewise of ‘all nations’ that ‘shall flow unto’ the mountain of the LORD’s house (Isa 2:2) and of ‘an house of prayer for all people’ (Isa 56:7).

Verse 23

the skirt of him that is a Jew — Kanaph, the edge or corner of a garment, where the fringes were set (Num 15:38). ‘Take hold’ is chazaq, the verb of the strong hands in vv.9, 13. ‘We have heard that God is with you’ has its counterpart in ‘God is in you of a truth’ (1 Cor 14:25). ‘Languages’ is leshonot, tongues.