XLVII. ZECH. viii. 7. Thus faith the Lord of Hosts, Behold I will save my people from the east and from 8 the weft country. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerufalem; and I will 9 be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Thus faith the Lord of Hosts, Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days * these words by the mouth of the Prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of Hosts was laid, 10 that the Temple might be built. For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beasts, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the affliction for I fet I all men, every one against his neighbour. But now I will not be unto the refidue of this people, as in 12 the former days, faith the Lord of Hosts. For the feed 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 rem13 nant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Ifrael; fo will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear 14 not, but let your hands be strong. For thus faith * These days do not mean the days when this Prophecy was delivered; but the days when the Lord shall save his people from the east and west countries, &c. and it is those who shall then hear the words of this Prophecy which was delivered in the day that the foundation of the Temple was laid, who are called upon here, to let their hands be strong. For which reason it would have been better translated those days, both here and in the 10th and 15th verses, as it is in the 23d. the the Lord of Hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, faith the 15 Lord of Hosts, and I repented not: So again have I thought in these days, to do well unto Jerufalem, 20 and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. Thus faith the Lord of Hosts, It shall yet come to pafs, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of 21 many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts: I will 22 go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerufalem, and to 23 pray before the Lord. Thus faith 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, faying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you. That this Prophecy is not yet fulfilled is plain from the two last verses. For when did many people, and strong nations, come to feek the Lord of Hosts in Jerufalem, and to pray before the Lord? Or when have the Jews been so regarded, that men, out of all languages of the nations, should be glad to take hold of the skirt of their garment? or acknowledge that God is with them? XLVIII. ZECH. ix. 12. Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, even to day do I declare that I 13 will render double unto you. When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised raised up thy fons, O Zion, against thy fons, Greece, and made thee as a fword of a mighty man. 14 And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrows shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of 15 the south. The Lord of Hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour, and subdue with fling stones, and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine, and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the 16 corners of the altar. And the Lord their God shall save them in that day, as the flock of his people; for they shall be as the ftones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. XLIX. ZECH. X. 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, 7 and will hear them. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice, as through wine: yea, their children shall fee it, and 8 be glad, their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. I will hiss for them, and gather them, for I have redeemed them*: and they shall increase as they have in9 creased. And I will fow them among the people, and they shall remember me in far countries, and they 10 shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Affyria, and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and place shall not be found for them †. * I will redeem them. TINDALE. 3 L. ZECH. L. ZECH. XII. 2. Behold I will make Jerufalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah, *3 and against Jerufalem. And in that day will I make Jerufalem a burthensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it, shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered toge4 ther against it. In that day, faith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will fmite every horfe of the 5 people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerufalem shall be my strength in the Lord of Hosts their 6 God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand, and ort the left: and Jerufalem shall be inhabited again, in 7 her own place, even in Jerufalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerufalem do not magnify themselves againft 8 Judah*. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerufalem, and he that is feeble amongit them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord be * This obscure verse is rendered more intelligible in Tindale's verfion. 7 The Lorde shall preserve the tentes of Juda like as afore time: so that the glorye of the house of David, and the glory of the citizens of Jerufalem shall be but little regarded in comparison with the glory of Juda. 9 fore them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will feek to destroy all the nations that come 10 against Jerufalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerufalem, the spirit of grace and of fupplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only fon, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born. In the 2d verse of this chapter it is faid, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling; by which it is not meant that Jerufalem should be a cup of trembling to berself, as it is supposed in the contents prefixt to the chapter; but as it is expressed in the words following, a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the fiege both against Judab and Jerusalem. That this is the true sense is evident from the next verse, where it is faid, Jerufalem shall be a burthensom stone for all people : and that all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it: which last sentence would have no sense if the deftruction of Jerufalem was here intended. And this is farther confirmed by the 6th verfe: In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and THEY shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be INHABITED again, in her own place, even in Jerufalem. Now the governors of Judah are not here reprefented as the wood or the sheaf, but as the |