so again I have thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.
Parallel Translations
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so again I have thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.
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So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
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so again do I purpose in these days to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear ye not.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Zechariah 8:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zechariah 8:13 It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”
- Micah 7:18-20 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
- Luke 12:32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” says Yahweh, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh. I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”
- Jeremiah 32:42 For Yahweh says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.
- Micah 4:10-13 Be in pain, and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion.” But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
- Isaiah 43:1-2 But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.
- Zephaniah 3:16-17 In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, “Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be weak.” Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Now at the end of the verse the Prophet…
Now at the end of the verse the Prophet reminds us of the application of his doctrine, even to encourage the Jews, that they might go on with alacrity in the work of building the temple. But we have said that we ought to be armed with God’s promises, so that we may with courageous hearts follow wherever he may call us; for we shall all presently faint except we find that the hand of God is present with us. Since then we are by nature slothful and tender, and since inconstancy often creeps in, this is our only remedy, — that when we seek to go on in the course of our calling to the end, we know that God will be ever a help to us; and this is what the Prophet now teaches us. He then applies what he had before promised to its legitimate purpose, — to encourage the Jews to lay aside their fear, courageously to undertake their work, and to expect what was not yet evident, even a complete restoration. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which declareth that man cannot turn to God till…
Which declareth that man cannot turn to God till he changes man’s heart by his spirit, and so begin to do well, which is to pardon his sins and to give him his graces.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 8:15 So again have I thought in these…
Zec 8:15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
Ver. 15. So again have I thought] Sic conversus sum. This change was not in God, but in the people, to whom he is now resolved to show mercy, and that from a gracious purpose and determination, such as altereth not.
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Fear ye not] Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear; but awful dread breedeth it, feedeth, fostereth, and cherisheth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain So again; so with like steadiness of mind with…
So again; so with like steadiness of mind with an equal unchangeableness, I have purposed and promised to do well to you, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and house of Judah.
Fear ye not; for if in punishing, which I love not, I was constant, in blessing, which pleaseth me, I cannot but be constant.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain These are the things that ye shall do,.... Which…
These are the things that ye shall do,.... Which were duties incumbent on them, and which it became them to perform, under a sense of the favours bestowed on them, to show their gratitude to God, and that they might glorify him:
Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; not using deceit, prevarication, and lying, Eph 4:25 and it becomes every man under the Gospel dispensation, according to the gift he has received, to speak, publish, and declare the truth of the Gospel, to the edification of others:
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execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; that is, execute true judgment, as in Zac 7:9 do justice between man and man, without respect of persons; the issue of which will be peace between the contending parties: and this was to be done in their "gates", because there their courts of judicature were kept.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain So - So with like steadiness of mind I…
So - So with like steadiness of mind I have purposed to do well to you.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So have I turned and purposed in these days…
So have I turned and purposed in these days to do well unto Jerusalem - Dionysius: “God, to be better understood, speaketh with the feelings and after the manner of men, although, in the passionless and unchangeable God, there is no provocation to anger, nor turning, implying change in Himself.” So He says by Jeremiah, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil” Jer 29:11. And, with the same contrast as here, “As I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down, and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build and to plant, saith the Lord” Jer 31:28. His having done what He purposed before was an earnest the more, that He would do what He purposed now. His chastisements were the earnests of His mercies; for they too were an austere form of His love. Osorius: “When the Lord stretches out His hand to strike those who are contumacious in guilt, none can hold His hand that He exact not the due punishment. Therefore He says, that He repented not; so, when He receives to grace those who repent of their sins, no one can any way delay the course of His benevolence. “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” Rom 11:29.
And to the house of Judah - Ribera: He speaks to the two tribes, not to, or of the ten, because Christ was to come to the two tribes, and Zechariah was prophesying to them, and they were to be admonished to prepare themselves in good works, lest the coming of Christ should not profit them, on account of their depraved ways. But the ten tribes were far off in the cities of the Medes, nor was Christ to come to them; but they were to hear the Gospel through the Apostles, and so he prophesies of the conversion of all to the glory of Christ, yet he could not admonish all, but those only to whom he was sent.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain So again have I thought, etc. The past chastisement,…
So again have I thought, etc. The past chastisement, which happened as it was threatened, is a guarantee of the fulfilment of the promised blessing. But there is a condition to be observed, which is set forth in the two next verses. The LXX has, "So have I ordered and purposed." In these special blessings Judah and Jerusalem alone were to share at the first; Israel"s happy time (ver. 13) was to come later.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.