Zechariah 8:9

9 The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: Be strong, you who are now hearing these words from the mouths of the prophets spoken on the day when the foundations for the house of the LORD of heavenly forces were laid.

Zechariah 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 8:9

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong,
&c.] 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 Haggai 2:18 ) : 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 ^F13.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 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.

Zechariah 8:9 In-Context

7 The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: I'm about to deliver my people from the land of the east and the land of the west.

8 I'll bring them back so they will dwell in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God—in truth and in righteousness.

9 The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: Be strong, you who are now hearing these words from the mouths of the prophets spoken on the day when the foundations for the house of the LORD of heavenly forces were laid.

10 Before this time, there were no wages for people or animals; there was no relief from distress about going out or coming in, because I set everyone against their own neighbor.

11 But now, unlike those earlier days, I'll be with the few remaining among this people, says the LORD of heavenly forces.