Zechariah 8

Zechariah 8 is the eighth of the 14 chapters in the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This chapter is a part of a section (so-called "First Zechariah") consisting of Zechariah 1–8. This chapter contains a continuation of the subject in the seventh chapter.

Text
The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 23 verses.

Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Codex Cairensis (from year 895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 4Q80 (4QXIIe; 75–50 BCE) with extant verses 2–4, 6–7.

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; $$ \mathfrak{G}$$B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: $$ \mathfrak{G}$$S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; $$ \mathfrak{G}$$A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; $$ \mathfrak{G}$$Q; 6th century). Some fragments containing parts of this chapter (a revision of the Septuagint) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., Naḥal Ḥever 8Ḥev1 (8ḤevXIIgr); late 1st century BCE) with extant verses 19–21, 23.

Restoration of Jerusalem (8:1–8)
This section returns to the 'renewal theme of earlier oracles in the vision cycle' (cf. Zechariah 1:14,16).

Verse 7

 * Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
 * Behold, I will save my people
 * from the east country,
 * and from the west country;


 * "From … east … west": that is, from every region (cf. Psalm 50:1) where they are scattered; to the east, under Nebuchadnezzar mainly to Babylonia, or to the "west", literally, "the going down of the sun" (Malachi 1:11), especially countries west of Jerusalem. The restoration of the people includes a spiritual return to God (Zechariah 8:8) in the future (43:5, 6; Ezekiel 37:21; Amos 9:14, 15; also Zechariah 13:9; Jeremiah 30:22; 31:1, 33); also Romans 11:26 (or a similar promise, John 11:52).

Verse 8

 * And I will bring them,
 * and they shall dwell in the middle of Jerusalem:
 * and they shall be my people,
 * and I will be their God,
 * in truth and in righteousness.


 * "And they shall be My people": God promises to those who were already His people, as Jeremiah says, "I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart" (cf. ), and, "This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Jeremiah 31:33).
 * "and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem": referring to 'the household of God', with 'no more foreigners and strangers'.

Prosperity of Jerusalem (8:9–13)
This part of the oracle returns to the theme of temple building (cf. ).

Verse 12

 * For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.


 * "The seed shall be prosperous": translated from Hebrew זרע השלום,  ha-, literally, "the seed of peace", denoting that the crops sown shall be crops of peace and secure". The Septuagint reads "But I will show forth peace", whereas the Syriac version reads "The seed shall be safe". The consecutive words "For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit" can also be rendered as "For the seed of peace, the vine, shall give its fruit".

Expectations for Jerusalem (8:14–17)
This section's central message is the expectations of YHWH that in view of the restoration (8:1–8) and promised prosperity (8:9–13), Jerusalem must live according to her renewed status as covenant people.

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (8:18–23)
This final part of the oracle in Zechariah 7–8 returns to the beginning theme of "fasting", arranged as a 'bracketing device' with 7:1–7, as indicated in some clues:
 * Pilgrimage to Jerusalem: by the Bethelites (7:2–3) then by the peoples of the nations (8:20–21) in order " to beseech the favor of YHWH" (7:2; 8:21)
 * Representatives sent: by a single city (7:2) and by "all languages of the nations" (8:23)
 * Fasting in sorrow (7:3) will be replaced by 'feasting for joy' (8:19).

Verse 19

 * Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
 * The fast of the fourth month,
 * and the fast of the fifth,
 * and the fast of the seventh,
 * and the fast of the tenth,
 * shall be to the house of Judah
 * joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts;
 * therefore love the truth and peace.


 * "The fast of the fourth month": Jerome gives the later Jewish traditions concerning the fastings. The fast of the seventeenth day of the fourth month commemorated the breaking of the two tables of the commandments by Moses, as well as the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem; On the ninth day "of the fourth month" of Zedekiah's eleventh year, Jerusalem, in the extremity of famine, opened to Nebuchadnezzar, and his princes sat in her gate; Jerusalem was taken (Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6, 7). It was therefore made a fast day.
 * "The fast of the fifth": This fast on the ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av), the fifth month, had been established in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The temple was burnt on the ninth or tenth of the month (see 2 Kings 25:8, 9; Jeremiah 52:12, 13). Jerome wrote that the fast of the fifth month was observed in memory of the return of the spies sent to explore Canaan, and the consequent punishment of forty years' wandering in the wilderness, as well as of the burning of the temple by the Chaldeans.
 * "The fast of the seventh", the fast of Gedaliah, (also in Zechariah 7:5): This fast was in memory of the murder of Gedaliah and those with him at Mizpah, issuing in the dispersion of the Jews (2 Kings 25:25, 26; Jeremiah 41:1-3).
 * "The fast of the tenth": On the tenth of Tevet, the tenth month, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, the siege began (Jeremiah 52:4). Jerome states that the fast of the tenth month was appointed because it was then that Ezekiel and the captive Jews received intelligence of the complete destruction of the temple.

Verse 23

 * Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
 * In those days it shall come to pass,
 * that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations,
 * even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying,
 * We will go with you:
 * for we have heard that God is with you.


 * "Ten men": The number ten is usually used for a large indefinite number (cf. ; ; ). It is also the number of men required to form a synagogue in Jewish tradition.
 * "Of all languages of the nations": The day of Pentecost was to be the reversal of the confusion of Babel; all were to have one voice, as God had said, "It (the time) shall come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory" (Isaiah 66:18).
 * "They shall lay hold of the skirt of one man who is a Jew": Jerome interpret this "one man, a Jew" as Jesus Christ, connecting it with the prophecy: "A prince shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until He shall come, for whom it is laid up, and for Him shall the Gentiles wait" (Genesis 49:8-10) and "there shall be a rod of Jesse, and He who shall arise to rule over the Gentiles, to Him shall the Gentiles seek" (Isaiah 11:10), for it was essential to the fulfillment of God's promises. The Christ was to be "the Son of David" Matthew 1:1; Matthew 22:42. "Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the linen of Bethlehem, where David was?" (John 7:42). David, "being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne Acts 2:30; "Of this man's seed hath God, according to promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus" (Acts 13:23). Paul also begins his great doctrinal Epistle with this contrast, "the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power" (Romans 1:1-4). He was that "one Man among a thousand, whom Solomon says, I found; but a woman among all those have I not found" (Ecclesiastes 7:28); the one in the whole human race. It was fulfilled when "they brought to Him all that were diseased, and besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole" (Matthew 14:35-36). "The whole multitude sought to touch Him, for there went virtue out of Him and healed all" (Luke 6:19, add Luke 8:46; Mark 5:30).

Jewish

 * Zechariah 8 Hebrew with Parallel English
 * Zechariah 8 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

 * Zechariah 8 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate