Zechariah 8:13

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁰For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past," declares the LORD of Hosts. ¹²"For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance. ¹³As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong."¹⁴For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent," says the LORD of Hosts, ¹⁵"so now I have resolved to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound decisions in your gates, ¹⁷do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all these things," declares the LORD.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a curse: Deuteronomy 28:37, Deuteronomy 29:23-28, 1 Kings 9:7, 1 Kings 9:8, 2 Chronicles 7:20-22, Psalms 44:13, Psalms 44:14, Psalms 44:16, Psalms 79:4, Isaiah 65:15, Isaiah 65:16, Jeremiah 24:9, Jeremiah 25:18, Jeremiah 26:6, Jeremiah 29:18, Jeremiah 42:18, Jeremiah 44:12, Jeremiah 44:22, Lamentations 2:15, Lamentations 2:16, Lamentations 4:15, Ezekiel 5:15, Daniel 9:11

O house: Zechariah 1:19, Zechariah 9:13, Zechariah 10:6, 2 Kings 17:18-20, Isaiah 9:20, Isaiah 9:21, Jeremiah 32:30-32, Jeremiah 33:24, Ezekiel 37:11, Ezekiel 37:16-19

ye shall: The consideration that all nations who now worship the true God, and receive the Sacred Scriptures as His word, have derived the whole of their divine knowledge, under God, from Jewish prophets, apostles, and teachers, and that the Saviour "in whom all nations shall be blessed," sprang from that favoured race, emphatically explains what is meant by "ye shall be a blessing." The full accomplishment of this prediction, however, is probably reserved for the future restoration of the Jews. Zechariah 8:20-23, Zechariah 10:6-9, Genesis 12:2, Genesis 12:3, Genesis 26:4, Ruth 4:11, Ruth 4:12, Psalms 72:17, Isaiah 19:24, Isaiah 19:25, Micah 5:7, Zephaniah 3:20, Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:28, Galatians 3:29, Haggai 2:19

fear not: Zechariah 8:9, Isaiah 35:3, Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 41:10-16, 1 Corinthians 16:13

Reciprocal: Numbers 5:27 - the woman Deuteronomy 31:6 - Be strong 2 Samuel 16:21 - the hands Isaiah 43:28 - and have Isaiah 61:9 - their seed Ezekiel 34:26 - make them Daniel 10:19 - be strong Zephaniah 3:15 - hath taken Haggai 2:5 - fear Zechariah 8:15 - fear Romans 4:20 - but was Ephesians 6:10 - be

Cross-References

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall come to pass, [that] as ye were a curse among the heathen,.... Reproached, vilified, and called accursed by them; see Jeremiah 24:9 as true Christians, and real believers in Christ, are by the men of this world, 1 Corinthians 4:12:

O house of Judah, and house of Israel; both being carried captive at different times, and were typical of the true and Spiritual Israel of God:

so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing; be blessed in themselves with the above blessings of plenty and prosperity in outward things; see Haggai 2:19 and a blessing to others, and blessed by them; and all those who are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation are blessed with all spiritual blessings in him:

fear not; neither their enemies, nor the accomplishment of these promises:

[but] let your hands be strong; as in Zechariah 8:9.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you - The ten tribes bore the name of Israel, in contrast with the two tribes with the name of Judah, not only in the history but in the prophets; as Hosea says, “I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, and on the house of Judah I will have mercy” Hosea 1:6-7. Here he unites both; both, in the time of their captivity, were a curse, were held to be a thing accursed, as it is said, “He that is hanged is the curse of God” Deuteronomy 21:23, that is, a thing accursed by Him; and God foretold of Judah, that they should be “a desolation and a curse” 2 Kings 22:10, and by Jeremiah, “I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for hurt, a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places whither I shall drive them” ; and in deed, when it was so, “therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse without an inhabitant, as at this day” Jeremiah 44:22.

Now the sentence was to be reversed as to both. “As ye were a curse, among the nations, naming each, so I will save you.” There would have been no proportion between the curse and the blessing, unless both had been included under the blessing, as they were under the curse. But Israel had no share in the temporal blessing, not returning from captivity, as Zechariah knew they were not returned hitherto. Therefore the blessings promised must be spiritual. Even a Jewish commentator saw this. “It is possible, that this may have been spoken of the second temple, on condition that they should keep the commandments of the Lord; or, it is still future, referring to the days of the Messiah: and this is proved by the following verse which says, ‘O house of Judah and house of Israel.’ During the second temple the house of Israel did not return.”

And ye shall be a blessing - This is a revival and an application of the original promise to Abraham, “thou shalt be a blessing” Genesis 12:2; which was continued to Jacob, “God give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee” Genesis 28:4. And of the future king, of whom it is said, “Thou gavest him length of days forever and ever,” David says, “Thou hast made him blessings forever” Psalms 21:4, Psalms 21:6, and again, “They shall be blessed in Him” Psalms 72:17). So Isaiah had said of the days of Christ, “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land;” Isaiah 19:24; and symbolically of the cluster of grapes, “Destroy it not: for a blessing is in it” Isaiah 65:8; and Ezekiel, “I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing” Ezekiel 34:26. They were this; for of them, “according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever” Romans 9:5; of them were the Apostles and Evangelists, of them every writer of God’s word, of them those who carried the Gospel throughout the world. Osorius: “Was this fulfilled, when the Jews were under the Persians? or when they paid tribute to the Greeks? or when they trembled, hour by hour, at the mention of the Roman name? Do not all count those who rule much happier than those oppressed by the rule of others? The prediction then was fulfilled, not then, but when Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, shone on the earth, and He chose from the Hebrews lights, through whom to dissipate darkness and illumine the minds of people who were in that darkness. The Jews, when restored from the captivity, seemed born to slavery.” They were reputed to be of slaves the most despised. “But when they had through Christ been put in possession of that most sure liberty, they overthrew, through their empire, the power and tyranny of the evil spirits.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 8:13. As ye were a curse — Instead of being execrated among the people, ye shall be blessed; instead of being reproached, ye shall be commended. Ye shall be a blessing to all the nations round about. All these promises we may expect to be completely fulfilled when the Jews acknowledge their Messiah.

O house of Judah, and house of Israel — The restoration shall be complete, when both Israel and Judah are brought back.