Zechariah 8:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 8:10
For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
days
הַיָּמִ֣יםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
was
נִֽהְיָ֔הnih.Yah
H1961
to exist · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hire
שְׂכַ֤רse.Khar
H7939
payment of contract · noun, common masculine singular construct
man
הָֽאָדָם֙ha.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hire
וּשְׂכַ֥רu.se.Khar
H7939
payment of contract · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
beast
הַבְּהֵמָ֖הha.be.he.Mah
H929
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
peace
שָׁלוֹם֙sha.lOm
H7965
safe · noun, common masculine singular absolute
out
וְלַיּוֹצֵ֨אve.lai.yo.Tze'
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + preposition with the article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
in
וְלַבָּ֤אve.la.Ba'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + preposition with the article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
affliction
הַצָּ֔רha.Tzar
H6862
narrow · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
set
וַאֲשַׁלַּ֥חva.'a.sha.Lach
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, piel, 1st person common singular
men
הָאָדָ֖םha.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
one
אִ֥ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
neighbour
בְּרֵעֵֽהוּbe.re.'E.hu
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Haggai 1:6-11 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there…
Isaiah 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour;…
Amos 9:4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes up…
Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Haggai 2:16-18 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty…
Judges 5:6-7 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
Judges 5:11 They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD,…
Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 8:9-17
God, by the prophet, here gives further assurances of the mercy he had in store for Judah and Jerusalem. Here is line upon line for their comfort, as before there was for their conviction. These verses contain strong encouragements with reference to the difficulties they now laboured under. And we may observe,
I. Who they were to whom these encouragements did belong - to those who, in obedience to the call of God by his prophets, applied in good earnest to the building of the temple (Zac 8:9): "Let your hands be strong, that are busy at work for God, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, and are not disobedient to them as your fathers were, in the former days,…
before these days--before the time in which ye again proceeded with the building of the temple (Zac 8:9), namely, at the time that the temple lay neglected.
no hire for man . . . beast--that is, no produce of the field to repay the labor of man and beast on it (Hag 1:6, Hag 1:9-10; Hag 2:16).
neither . . . peace to him that went out or came in-- (Ch2 15:5). No one could in safety do his business at home or abroad, in the city or in the country, whether going or returning.
because of the affliction--so sorely pressed were they by the foe outside. MAURER translates, "Because of the foe" (Ezr 4:1).
every one against . . . neighbour--There was internal discord, as well as foes from witho…
For before these days there was no hire for man - Previously to this, ye had no prosperity; ye had nothing but civil divisions and domestic broils. I abandoned you to your own spirits, and to your own ways.
John Gill on Zechariah 8:10
For before these days,.... That the temple began to be built:
there was no hire for men, nor any hire for beasts; that turned to any account; the wages earned by the one, and with the other, were as if they were put into a bag with holes, did not prosper with them, or do them any service, Haggai 1:6,
neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the affliction; there was no safety in passing to and fro, nor any peaceable enjoyment of what a man had, because of affliction and oppression by the enemy on every side, and from every quarter:
for I set all men everyone against his neighbour; expressive of the internal divisions and contentions among themselves, which a…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 10.) Indeed, before those days there was no wages for humans, nor wages for animals, nor peace to the one entering and leaving because of the affliction. And I will send forth all people against their neighbors. They have all been reported to the future time, but better to the past, as it is in Hebrew, and the truth of the exposition will approve. Before the house of the Lord was founded, and the temple of the Lord was built, all your labor was in vain. And both men and animals in agriculture, in trade, and in various works, were frustrated in their empty efforts: outside there were adversaries, at home sedition disturbed the peace, and everywhere there was injustice due to the frequency of wars and domestic plots, while brother did not show faith to brother, and every kinship was hostile. Understanding this meaning, the prophet Haggai says: And now set your hearts from this day and beyond: before the stone was placed upon the stone in the temple of the Lord. When you approached a heap of twenty measures, there were ten; and you entered the winepress to press out fifty jugs, and there were twenty. I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands, and there was no one among you who returned to me, says the Lord (Hag. 2:16-17): which we can also understand in the Church and in each of the believers. Indeed, before the house of God is laid as a foundation within us, and we are built up as a temple to God, and we hear from the Apostle; You are the temple of God: and the Holy Spirit dwells within you (II Cor. VI, 16), whatever good work we seemed to have, either rational, who are called humans, or simple, who are called beasts (for you will save humans and beasts, Lord (Ps. XXXV, 7)), it has no reward from God, and there are battles and conflicts within us, and everywhere there is tribulation without the peace of Christ, which he left with the apostles as he went to the Father (John XIV), and the Lord's saying is fulfilled in us: The enemies of a man are those of his own house (Micah VII, 6). For every brother supplants with supplanting; and every friend walks deceitfully, and a man mocks his brother, and does not speak the truth, their tongue has learned to speak lies. (Jeremiah IX, 4). But if we turn to Christ, and become his temple, immediately we will hear the Apostle proclaiming: Each one will receive their own reward…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Temple, The Second · The Jews punished for not persevering in building — The Jews punished for not persevering in building
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Zechariah 8:9-11
9. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
9. Sic dicit Iehova exercituum, Roborentur manus vestrae, qui auditis in diebus his verba haec ex ore Prophetarum, qui (fuerunt) in die quo fundata est domus Iehovae exercituum, et templum extrueretur.
10. For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.
10. Quia ante d…
After these promises the prophet admonishes the people to be of good courage, because the Lord will from henceforth bestow His blessing upon them. Zac 8:9. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, on the day that the foundation of the house of Jehovah of hosts was laid, the temple, that it may be built. Zac 8:10. For before those days there were no wages for the men, and no wages of cattle; and whoever went out and in had no peace because of the oppressor: and I drove all men, one against the other. Zac 8:11. But now I am not as in the former days to the remnant of this people, is the saying of Jehovah of h…
enemies: The neighboring peoples opposed the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 4). Later, enemies opposed Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem (Neh 4).
Rashi on Zechariah 8:9
Let your hands be strong to build and to complete [the Temple]; and do not fear the people of the land, who are weakening your hands and frightening you from building it, as is related in the Book of Ezra (4:4).
you who hear in these days In the fourth year of Darius
these words of consolations from the mouths of the prophets who prophesied for [the people] - on the day the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the second year of Darius - to begin the work. Those prophets were proven with their words to be true prophets in your eyes; therefore, it is also worthy to rely on them for the words of consolation concerning the present time. And in what way were they proven? For before…