Zechariah 8:2

2 "I have longed to help Jerusalem because of my deep love for her people, a love which has made me angry with her enemies.

Zechariah 8:2 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 8:2

Thus saith the Lord of hosts
This prophecy, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, respects time to come; the days of the Messiah, in the war of Gog and Magog, when they shall come up against Jerusalem, and the Lord shall pour out his great wrath upon them; and it seems right to interpret it, not only literally of Jerusalem, but spiritually of the church in Gospel times: I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy;
the Arabic version reads, "for Jerusalem, and for Zion"; as in ( Zechariah 1:14 ) , (See Gill on Zechariah 1:14): and I was jealous for her with great fury:
that is, against her enemies; the Babylonians and Chaldeans now, and the antichristian powers in Gospel times. The Targum paraphrases it, "against the people that provoked her to jealousy"; the past tense is put for the future, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe.

Zechariah 8:2 In-Context

1 The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah:

2 "I have longed to help Jerusalem because of my deep love for her people, a love which has made me angry with her enemies.

3 I will return to Jerusalem, my holy city, and live there. It will be known as the faithful city, and the hill of the Lord Almighty will be called the sacred hill.

4 Once again old men and women, so old that they use canes when they walk, will be sitting in the city squares.

5 And the streets will again be full of boys and girls playing.