The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
Parallel Translations
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The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
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And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
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And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Zechariah 8:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 31:13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
- Psalms 128:3-4 Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears Yahweh.
- Psalms 144:12-15 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 30:19-20 Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them.
- Jeremiah 31:27 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
- Jeremiah 33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into Yahweh’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says Yahweh.
- Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.
- Zechariah 2:4 and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.
- Matthew 11:16-17 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He repeats and confirms the same thing by another…
He repeats and confirms the same thing by another representation — that boys and girls would play in the streets and on the public roads, which could not be during the troublous time of war; for when arms clatter, the sound of trumpets is heard, and assaults of enemies are dreaded, every one keeps his children at home, and in public there is sad confusion, and few are found abroad; in short there is no cheerfulness even in children when fear is hanging over them. We hence see, that what is here promised is a state of quietness to Jerusalem; for God would keep off the onsets of enemies — not that Jerusalem was ever exempt from all evils, but that God’s defense was so effectual as to render them safe amidst many and various dangers.
It is not needful here anxiously to raise the questions — Whether it is lawful to play during times of peace? for the Prophet here took his language from the common habits of men, and even from the very nature of things; for we know that men give way to cheerfulness when no fear lays hold on their minds, and that play and sport are allowed to children. The Prophet meant only this, that though the Jews might then have something to do with various enemies, they would yet be in a state of peace and safety. He afterwards adds —
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 8:5 And the streets of the city shall…
Zec 8:5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Ver. 5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls] Lads and lasses (as the Hebrew seems to sound), that mind little else but play as if, with leviathan, they had been made to sport, or as those people of Tombutum, in Africa, who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing. But this they could not do if the times were troublesome, and the soldier at his bloody play, according to that of Abner, 2Sa 2:14 "Let the young men now arise and play before us," that is, thrust their swords in their fellows’ sides, 2Sa 2:16.
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 The streets; every street.
The streets; every street.
Shall be full of boys and girls; have many young ones healthful, strong, brisk, and lively, the present joy and future hope of all; so will I fulfil the promise of multiplying your children.
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Playing in the streets: Jerusalem shall be in that peace, health, and plenty, that parents shall neither fear danger to their children abroad, nor need their labour at home. So shall that Psa 128 be fulfilled to them.
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 Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... This is repeated…
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... This is repeated for the same end as before; See Gill on Zac 8:4,
If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days; either in the then present days and time; and the sense is, if it should seem wonderful, incredible, and scarcely possible to the small number of the Jews in Judea, that all the great and good things before promised should be fulfilled; or in the times of the Gospel, when the remnant, according to the election of grace, would wonder at the marvellous loving kindness of the Lord, in doing each great things for his church and people:
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should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts; no, not as if it was impossible to be done; it shall be done, as marvellous as it may seem to be. Aben Ezra understands these words, not as spoken by way of interrogation and admiration, but as an affirmation; that God would do that which was marvellous, and such as he had never done the like, even as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. The streets of the city shall be…
Verse 5. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls] The progeny shall be numerous, healthy, and happy. Their innocent gambols and useful exercises shall be a means of health, and a proof of happiness. To be healthy, children must have exercise. But they cannot take exercise, except in the way of play and diversion: ergo, such playfulness cannot be sinful. Let them be kept from evil words, lying, swearing, and scurrility; and all the rest may be innocent.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain boys and girls playing--implying security and a numerous progeny,…
boys and girls playing--implying security and a numerous progeny, accounted a leading blessing among the Jews. Contrast Jer 6:11; Jer 9:21.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Full of boys and girls. Jerusalem and the other…
Full of boys and girls. Jerusalem and the other cities had long been strangers to any such happy sight. Large increase of population is a blessing often promised in the latter days. (Hos_1:10 Mic_2:12) Perowne remarks that our Lord alludes to the games of children the marketplaces as a familiar incident his days. (Mat_11:16, Mat_11:17; comp. Jer 11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.