Zechariah 8:2

2 "Thus says Yahweh of hosts: '{I am exceedingly jealous for Zion}; I am jealous for it [with] great wrath.'

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 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying,

2 "Thus says Yahweh of hosts: '{I am exceedingly jealous for Zion}; I am jealous for it [with] great wrath.'

3 Thus says Yahweh: 'I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called the faithful city, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts [will be called] the holy mountain.'

4 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Old men and old women shall again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand {because of great age}.

5 And the public squares of the city will be filled [with] boys and girls playing in its public squares.'

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "I am jealous for Zion [with] great jealousy"