Zechariah 8:9

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

Let: Zechariah 8:13, Zechariah 8:18, Joshua 1:6, Joshua 1:8, 1 Chronicles 22:13, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Isaiah 35:4, Haggai 2:4-9, Ephesians 6:10, 2 Timothy 2:1

the prophets: Ezra 5:1, Ezra 5:2, Haggai 1:1, Haggai 1:12, Haggai 2:21

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 32:7 - strong Daniel 10:19 - be strong Haggai 2:18 - even Zechariah 6:12 - he shall build Zechariah 8:11 - General Romans 4:20 - but was 1 Corinthians 16:13 - be

Cross-References

Deuteronomy 28:65
Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

Psalms 116:7
Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

Isaiah 60:8
Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters?

Ezekiel 7:16
The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, all moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.

Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong,.... In going on with the building of the temple, which was typical of the church of God, since so many great and good things were promised by the Lord, Haggai 2:4:

ye that hear in these days; such as Zerubbabel the ruler, Joshua the high priest, and the rest of the people of the land:

these words by the mouth of the prophets; that is, these prophecies of future good things, which were delivered by Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; who were the prophets,

which [were] in the day [that] the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid; which was in the second year of Darius, on the twenty fourth day of the ninth month, Haggai 2:10:

that the temple might be built; in order to the rebuilding of it, the foundation was laid; and from that time it was to continue building, till it was finished m.

m The true reading of these words, according to the accents, is, "Thus saith the Lord [of hosts:] let your hands be strong, that hear in those days these words: [out of] the prophets, [I say, ye have heard], that, from the day the house of the Lord of hosts shall be founded, the temple [should be continued] to be built." So Reinbeck. De Accent. Heb. p. 453.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let your hands be strong - The fulfillment of God’s former promises are the earnest of the future; His former providences, of those to come. Having then those great promises for the time to come, they were to be earnest in whatever meantime God gave them to do. He speaks to them, “as hearing in these days,” that is, that fourth year of Darius in which they apparently were, “these words from the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day when the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, the temple, that it might be built.” Haggai was now gone to his rest. His voice had been silent for two years. But his words lived on. The fulfillment of what the prophets had then spoken in God’s Name, was a ground, why their hands should be strong, now and thereafter, for every work which God gave or should give them to do. Ribera: “Some things are said to Jerusalem, that is, to the Jews, which belong to them only; some relate to what is common to them and the other members of the Church, that is, these who are called from the Gentiles. Now he speaks to the Jews, but not so as to seem to forget what he had said before. He would say, Ye who hear the words, which in those days when the temple was founded, Haggai and Zechariah spake, be strong and proceed to the work which ye began of fulfilling the will of the Lord in the building of the temple, and in keeping from the sins, in which ye were before entangled. For as, before ye began to build the temple, ye were afflicted with many calamities, but after ye had begun, all things went well with you, as Haggai said, “so, if you cultivate piety and do not depart from God, ye shall enjoy great abundance of spiritual good” Haggai 2:15-19. Osorius: “The memory of past calamity made the then tranquillity much sweeter, and stirred the mind to greater thanksgiving. He set forth then the grief of those times when he says;”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 8:9. By the mouth of the prophets — The day or time of the foundation was about two years before, as this discourse of the prophet was in the fourth year of Darius. After this God raised up prophets among them.