a remainder or residual (surviving · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
people
הָעָ֣םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
former
הָרִֽאשֹׁנִים֙ha.ri.sho.Nim
H7223
first · definite article + ordinal number, masculine plural absolute
days
כַיָּמִ֤יםkhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
saith
נְאֻ֖םne.'Um
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָאֽוֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
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
Isaiah 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst…
Psalms 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
Haggai 2:19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from t…
Zechariah 8:8-9 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in…
Isaiah 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex…
Malachi 3:9-11 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
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,…
"But now that the temple has been built, I will not do as I had formerly done to those who returned from Babylon" [JEROME]. Henceforth I will bless you.
Adam Clarke on Zechariah 8:10
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 8:11
But now I will not be unto the residue of this people,.... The remnant brought out of captivity, settled in the land, and now rebuilding the temple:
as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts; when they neglected the house of the Lord, caring only for their own cieled houses, Haggai 1:2.
John Calvin on Zechariah 8:9-11
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…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 11, 12): But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. LXX: And now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Almighty Lord; but I will show peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of my people to possess all these things. Before the foundations of the house of God were laid and the temple was built, there was no merchandise of men, nor merchandise of livestock, nor was there peace for those entering and leaving, and all people were in hostile disagreement with one another. But now, because the foundations of the house of the Lord are already laid and the temple is built, I will not do as I did before to those who have returned from the captivity of Babylon; but there will be peace and joy everywhere, and the abundance of the former times will compensate for the drought and famine. For the vine shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall be filled with the produce of the harvest; the presses shall overflow with wine, and the land shall be adorned with bountiful crops. With abundant rain and nightly dew, all shall sprout and grow. I will fulfill all that I have spoken and the remnants of my people shall possess. For the foundations of the house of the Lord have been laid, and the temple has been built. These same words were spoken by the prophet Haggai at the same time, who said: 'I struck you with scorching wind, mildew, and hail, destroying all the work of your hands, after the foundations of the temple were laid. Set it in your hearts from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month: from the day the foundations of the temple were laid, set it upon your hearts.' Is the seed already in the bud: and has the vineyard, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree not yet blossomed? From this day forward, I will bless you, and I will shake the heavens and the earth again (Haggai 2:18-19). Let us also say, following another explanation of the Church. Before anyone receives the faith of Christ, and the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
But now the Lord will act differently to His remaining people, and bless it again with a fruitful harvest of the fruits of the field and soil. כּי in Zac 8:12, "for," after a negative clause, "but." זרע השּׁלום, not the seed will be secure (Chald., Pesh.), but the seed of peace, viz., the vine. This is so designated, not because there is a berâkhâh in the grape (Isa 65:8); but because the vine can only flourish in peaceful times, and not when the land is laid waste by enemies (Koehler). On the words which follow, compare Lev 26:4., Psa 67:7; Hag 1:10; Hag 2:19. "Future abundance will compensate for the drought and scarcity of the past" (Jerome).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Zechariah 8:10
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…
