Zechariah 8:2

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I hated Zion with great fervor, and with great indignation I hated it. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, I hated the enemies of Zion with great fervor, and I hated them with great indignation.)

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 the Lord of hosts was made to me, and said,

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I hated Zion with great fervor, and with great indignation I hated it. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, I hated the enemies of Zion with great fervor, and I hated them with great indignation.)

3 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I am turned again to Zion, and I shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and [the] hill of the Lord of hosts shall be called an hill hallowed. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have returned to Zion, and I shall live in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the hill, or the mount, of the Lord of hosts shall be called The Holy Hill, or the Sacred Mountain.)

4 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Yet eld men and eld women shall dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and the staff of a man shall be in his hand, for the multitude of years. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, Once again old men and old women shall sit in the streets of Jerusalem, and the staff of a man shall be in his hand, for the multitude of his years.)

5 And the streets of the city shall be filled with young children and damsels, playing in the streets thereof. (And the streets of the city shall be filled with young boys and young girls, playing in its streets.)