Zechariah 8:9

9 This 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.

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 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west.

8 I will bring them back to dwell in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

9 This 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.

10 For 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.

11 But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts.