Zechariah 8:9

9 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Let your hands be ¹strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ²prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

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.

---

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 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west ;

8 and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.'

9 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

10 'For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another.

11 'But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,' declares the LORD of hosts.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Chronicles 22:13; Isaiah 35:4; Haggai 2:4
• 2. Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14