Zechariah 8:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 8:4
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָא֔וֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
men
זְקֵנִ֣יםze.ke.Nim
H2205
old · adjective, masculine plural absolute
women
וּזְקֵנ֔וֹתu.ze.ke.Not
H2205
old · conjunction + adjective, feminine plural absolute
dwell
יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ye.she.Vu
H3427
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
streets
בִּרְחֹב֖וֹתbir.cho.Vot
H7339
a width · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
Jerusalem
יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑םye.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
man
וְאִ֧ישׁve.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
staff
מִשְׁעַנְתּ֛וֹmish.'an.To
H4938
support (abstractly) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
בְּיָד֖וֹbe.ya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
very
מֵרֹ֥בme.Ro
H7230
abundance (in any respect) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
age
יָמִֽיםya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine 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 65:20-22 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old;…
Job 42:17 So Job died, being old and full of days.
1 Samuel 2:31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
Job 5:26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
Lamentations 5:11-15 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Lamentations 2:20-22 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 8:1-8
The prophet, in his foregoing discourses, had left his hearers under a high charge of guilt and a deep sense of wrath; he had left them in a melancholy view of the desolations of their pleasant land, which was the effect of their fathers' disobedience; but because he designed to bring them to repentance, not to drive them to despair, he here sets before them the great things God had in store for them, encouraging them hereby to hope that their case of conscience would shortly determine itself and that God's providence would as loudly call them to joy and gladness as ever it called them to fasting and mourning. It is here promised,
I. That God will appear for Jerusalem, and will espouse and p…
So tranquil and prosperous shall the nation be that wars shall no longer prematurely cut off the people: men and women shall reach advanced ages. The promise of long life was esteemed one of the greatest blessings in the Jewish theocracy with its temporal rewards of obedience (Exo 20:12; Deu 4:40). Hence this is a leading feature in millennial blessedness (Isa 65:20, Isa 65:22).
for very age--literally, "for multitude of days."
Adam Clarke on Zechariah 8:4
There shall yet old men and old women - In those happy times the followers of God shall live out all their days, and the hoary head be always found in the way of righteousness.
John Gill on Zechariah 8:4
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... These words are used at every consolatory promise given, as Kimchi observes, for the confirmation of it:
there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem; signifying that the inhabitants should be very healthful; no sweeping disease or calamity should be among them, but they should live to a good old age, as follows:
and every man with his staff in his hand for very age; or "because of multitude of days" (i); the length of time they should have lived in the world, being worn out, not with diseases, but with old age, and therefore obliged to use a staff when they walk the streets for their support; all which is an emblem of the health…
The Church Fathers
(Verses 4, 5.) This is what the Lord of hosts says. Yet old men and old women will dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets. LXX: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Yet old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets. So great, he says, will be the prosperity of all things and the peace and tranquility of war, with no enemy remaining, that old age in both sexes will reach the very last age, and trembling limbs will be supported by a ruling staff. The streets of the city will also be filled with playing boys and girls. However, this usually happens when there is security and deep peace in the cities, so that the joy of the cities may celebrate with games and dances the playful age. But if we refer to the Church, of which it is said: Glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:3), and: The streams of the river make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved (Psalm 46:4-5), who can doubt that the streets of the Church are the virtues, in which wisdom acts confidently and is proclaimed on the heights of the walls? Therefore, the Psalmist cries out to the Lord: I hold your commandments in high esteem (Psalm 119:96). In the streets, seeking the Lord and Savior, the bride speaks in the Song of Songs: I will arise and go about the city in the streets and in its squares, until I find him whom my soul loves (Song of Songs 3:2). Therefore, the elderly men and women will dwell or sit, of whom it is written (if anyone is willing to receive the book): Honorable old age, not measured by time or numbered by years (Wisdom 4:8). But dogs are the wisdom of men, and old age is a blameless life: of which the Lord also speaks to Moses: Gather with you seventy elders, whom you know to be elders (Num. XI, 16); wherefore before Abraham no one was called old, of whom we read: Abraham died being old: nourished in good old age, old and full of days (Gen. XXV, 8). For the glory of old men is gray hair, of whom it is said: The gray hair of a man is his wisdom (Wis. IV, 8). They will hold rods and staffs in their…
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
Age — Used to denote the period of a man’s life (Gen. 47:28), the maturity of life (John 9:21), the latter end of life (Job 11:17), a generation of the human race (Job 8:8), and an indefinite period (Eph.…
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
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 8:4
4. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
4. Sic dicit Iehova exercituum, Adhuc habitabunt vetuli et vetulae (vel, senes et anus, sed est idem nomen) in plateis Ierosolymae, et viro baculus ejus in manu sua prae multitudine dierum.
He confirms what we have already stated, that the Jews would be safe under the hand and protection of God, as he would dwell among them. The cause of a safe and quiet state he made to be the presence of God. For when we have peace with the whole world, we may yet disturb one another, except the God of peace restrains us; inasmuch…
Zac 8:4. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Yet will there sit old men and women in the streets of Jerusalem, every one with his staff in his hand, for the multitude of the days of his life. Zac 8:5. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in their streets." Long life, to an extreme old age, and a plentiful number of blooming children, were theocratic blessings, which the Lord had already promised in the law to His people, so far as they were faithful to the covenant. Consequently there does not appear to be any Messianic element in this promise. But if we compare this fourth verse with Isa 65:20, we shall see that extreme old age also belonged to the blessings of the M…
The images of old men and women walking and of boys and girls playing in the streets indicate repopulation and resumption of normal family life in the once decimated city of Jerusalem. The return of God’s presence to his rebuilt Temple would bring peace and safety to the city’s inhabitants (see Jer 33:10-11).
Rashi on Zechariah 8:4
because of old age they will require the staff in their hand.
