Zechariah 8:23
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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
"Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days ten men out of all languages of the nations take hold; they will take hold of the skirt of a Jewish man, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard God is with you." Not only will the heathen then flow to Jerusalem to seek the God of Israel, but they will crowd together to Israel and Judah to be received into fellowship with them as a nation. Ten men from the heathen nations to one Jewish man: so great will be the pressure of the heathen. Ten is used as an indefinite number, denoting a great and complete multitude, as in Gen 31:7; Lev 26:26; Num 14:22, and Sa1 1:8. For the figure, compare Isa 4:1. והחזיקוּ is a resumption of יחזיקוּ in the form of an apodosis. The unusual combination כּל לשׁנות הגּוים, "all the tongues of the nations," is formed after Isa 66:18 (הגּוים והלּשׁנות, "all nations and tongues," i.e., nations of all languages), and on the basis of Gen 10:20 and Gen 10:31. For נלכה עמּכם, compare Rut 1:16; and for אלהים עמּכם, Ch2 15:9. The promise, that the Lord would change the fast-days in the future into days of rejoicing and cheerful feasts, if Israel only loved truth and peace (Zac 8:20), when taken in connection with what is said in Zac 7:5-6 concerning fasting, left the decision of the question, whether the fast-days were to be given up or to be still observed, in the hands of the people. We have no historical information as to the course adopted by the inhabitants of Judah in consequence of the divine answer. All that we know is, that even to the present day the Jews observe the four disastrous days as days of national mourning. The talmudic tradition in Rosh-hashana (f. 18, a, b), that the four fast-days were abolished in consequence of the answer of Jehovah, and were not restored again till after the d…
Open source ↗The work of ministers is rightly to divide the word of truth and to give every one his portion. So the prophet is here instructed to do, in the further answer he gives to the case of conscience proposed about continuing the public fasts. His answer, in the foregoing chapter, is by way of reproof to those that were disobedient and would not obey the truth. But here he is ordered to change his voice, and to speak by way of encouragement to the willing and obedient. Here are two words from the Lord of hosts, and they are both good words and comfortable words. In the former of these messages (Zac 8:1) God promises that Jerusalem shall be restored, reformed, replenished (Zac 8:2-8), that the country shall be rich, and the affairs of the nation shall be successful, their reputation retrieved, and their state in all respects the reverse of what it had been for many years past (Zac 8:9-15); he then exhorts them to reform what was amiss among them, that they might be ready for these favours designed them (Zac 8:16, Zac 8:17). In the latter of these messages (Zac 8:18) he promises that their fasts should be superseded by the return of mercy (Zac 8:19), and that thereupon they should be replenished, enriched, and strengthened, by the accession of foreigners to them (Zac 8:20-23).
Open source ↗8:23 God is with you: God’s presence restored the ideal of fellowship between God and human beings (Gen 3:8; Exod 24:9-11; 25:8; Isa 7:14; 57:15; Ezek 43:7; John 1:14).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”
and the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.
so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.
And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”
Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.
Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the Thirty, and he said: “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you.” So David received them and made them leaders of his troops.