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Selected Verse: Zechariah 8:4 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Zec 8:4	Strong Concordance	Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635]; There shall yet old men [02205] and old women [02205] dwell [03427] in the streets [07339] of Jerusalem [03389], and every man [0376] with his staff [04938] in his hand [03027] for very [07230] age [03117].
	King James	Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
So tranquil and prosperous shall the nation be that wars shall no longer prematurely cut off the people: men and women shall reach advanced ages. The promise of long life was esteemed one of the greatest blessings in the Jewish theocracy with its temporal rewards of obedience (Exo 20:12; Deu 4:40). Hence this is a leading feature in millennial blessedness (Isa 65:20, Isa 65:22). for very age--literally, "for multitude of days."

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

So tranquil and prosperous shall the nation be that wars shall no longer prematurely cut off the people: men and women shall reach advanced ages. The promise of long life was esteemed one of the greatest blessings in the Jewish theocracy with its temporal rewards of obedience (Exo 20:12; Deu 4:40). Hence this is a leading feature in millennial blessedness (Isa 65:20, Isa 65:22).

for very age--literally, "for multitude of days."

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
There shall yet dwell old men and old women - Dionysius: "Men and women shall not be slain now, as before in the time of the Babylonish destruction, but shall fulfill their natural course." It shall not be, as when "He gave His people over unto the sword; the fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage; the priests were slain by the sword and their widows made no lamentation" Psa 78:63-64; apart from the horrible atrocities of pagan war, when the unborn children were destroyed in their mothers' womb Kg2 15:16; Hos 13:16; Amo 1:13, with their mothers. Yet (as in Zac 1:17), once more as in the days of old, and as conditionally promised in the law Deu 4:10; Deu 5:16, Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:9; Deu 17:20; Deu 22:7; Deu 32:47; Eze 20:17. As death is the punishment of sin, so prolongation of life to the time which God has now made its natural term, seems the more a token of His goodness. This promise Isaiah had renewed, "There shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days" Isa 65:20. In those fierce wars neither young nor very old were spared. It implied then a long peace, that people should live to that utmost verge of human life. The man, whose staff is in his hand for the multitude of days - The two opposite pictures, the old men, Dionysius), "so aged that they support with a staff their failing and trembling limbs," and the young in the glad buoyancy of recent life, fresh from their Creator's hands, attest alike the goodness of the Creator, who protecteth both, the children in their yet undeveloped strength, the very old whom He hath brought through "all the changes and chances of this mortal life," in their yet sustained weakness. The tottering limbs of the very old, and the elastic perpetual motion of childhood are like far distant chords of the diapason of the Creator's love. It must have been one of the most piteous sights in that first imminent destruction of Jerusalem Jer 6:11; Jer 9:21, how "the children and the sucklings swooned in the streets of the city; how the young children fainted for hunger in the top of every street" Lam 2:11, Lam 2:19. We have but to picture to ourselves any city in which one lives, the ground strewn with these little all-but corpses, alive only to suffer. We know not, how great the relief of the yet innocent, almost indomitable joyousness of children is, until we miss them. In the dreadful Irish famine of 1847 the absence of the children from the streets of Galway was told me by Religious as one of its dreariest features . In the dreary back-streets and alleys of London, the irrepressible joyousness of children is one of the bright sun-beams of that great Babylon, amid the oppressiveness of the anxious, hard, luxurious; thoughtless, careworn, eager, sensual, worldly, frivolous, vain, stolid, sottish, cunning, faces, which traverse it. God sanctions by His word here our joy in the joyousness of children, that He too taketh pleasure in it, He the Father of all. It is precisely their laughing, the fullness of her streets of these merry creations of His hands, that He speaks of with complacency.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

There shall yet dwell old men and old women - Dionysius: "Men and women shall not be slain now, as before in the time of the Babylonish destruction, but shall fulfill their natural course." It shall not be, as when "He gave His people over unto the sword; the fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage; the priests were slain by the sword and their widows made no lamentation" Psa 78:63-64; apart from the horrible atrocities of pagan war, when the unborn children were destroyed in their mothers' womb Kg2 15:16; Hos 13:16; Amo 1:13, with their mothers. Yet (as in Zac 1:17), once more as in the days of old, and as conditionally promised in the law Deu 4:10; Deu 5:16, Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:9; Deu 17:20; Deu 22:7; Deu 32:47; Eze 20:17. As death is the punishment of sin, so prolongation of life to the time which God has now made its natural term, seems the more a token of His goodness. This promise Isaiah had renewed, "There shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days" Isa 65:20. In those fierce wars neither young nor very old were spared. It implied then a long peace, that people should live to that utmost verge of human life.

The man, whose staff is in his hand for the multitude of days - The two opposite pictures, the old men, Dionysius), "so aged that they support with a staff their failing and trembling limbs," and the young in the glad buoyancy of recent life, fresh from their Creator's hands, attest alike the goodness of the Creator, who protecteth both, the children in their yet undeveloped strength, the very old whom He hath brought through "all the changes and chances of this mortal life," in their yet sustained weakness. The tottering limbs of the very old, and the elastic perpetual motion of childhood are like far distant chords of the diapason of the Creator's love. It must have been one of the most piteous sights in that first imminent destruction of Jerusalem Jer 6:11; Jer 9:21, how "the children and the sucklings swooned in the streets of the city; how the young children fainted for hunger in the top of every street" Lam 2:11, Lam 2:19.

We have but to picture to ourselves any city in which one lives, the ground strewn with these little all-but corpses, alive only to suffer. We know not, how great the relief of the yet innocent, almost indomitable joyousness of children is, until we miss them. In the dreadful Irish famine of 1847 the absence of the children from the streets of Galway was told me by Religious as one of its dreariest features . In the dreary back-streets and alleys of London, the irrepressible joyousness of children is one of the bright sun-beams of that great Babylon, amid the oppressiveness of the anxious, hard, luxurious; thoughtless, careworn, eager, sensual, worldly, frivolous, vain, stolid, sottish, cunning, faces, which traverse it. God sanctions by His word here our joy in the joyousness of children, that He too taketh pleasure in it, He the Father of all. It is precisely their laughing, the fullness of her streets of these merry creations of His hands, that He speaks of with complacency.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Zac 8:4. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Yet will there sit old men and women in the streets of Jerusalem, every one with his staff in his hand, for the multitude of the days of his life. Zac 8:5. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in their streets." Long life, to an extreme old age, and a plentiful number of blooming children, were theocratic blessings, which the Lord had already promised in the law to His people, so far as they were faithful to the covenant. Consequently there does not appear to be any Messianic element in this promise. But if we compare this fourth verse with Isa 65:20, we shall see that extreme old age also belonged to the blessings of the Messianic times. And as Israel had almost always to suffer most grievously from wars and other calamities, which swept off the people at an untimely age, during the time which extended from Zerubbabel to Christ; it must be admitted, notwithstanding the description of the prosperous times which Israel enjoyed under the government of Simon (1 Maccabees 14:4-15), that this promise also was only fulfilled in a very meagre measure, so far as Jerusalem was concerned, before the coming of Christ.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Old men - Formerly war, or famine or pestilence, and wasting diseases, cut off men and women before they came to old age.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
There shall yet old men and old women - In those happy times the followers of God shall live out all their days, and the hoary head be always found in the way of righteousness.

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²² They shall not build [01129], and another [0312] inhabit [03427]; they shall not plant [05193], and another [0312] eat [0398]: for as the days [03117] of a tree [06086] are the days [03117] of my people [05971], and mine elect [0972] shall long enjoy [01086] the work [04639] of their hands [03027].

²⁰ There shall be no more thence an infant [05764] of days [03117], nor an old man [02205] that hath not filled [04390] his days [03117]: for the child [05288] shall die [04191] an hundred [03967] years [08141] old [01121]; but the sinner [02398] being an hundred [03967] years [08141] old [01121] shall be accursed [07043].

⁴⁰ Thou shalt keep [08104] therefore his statutes [02706], and his commandments [04687], which I command [06680] thee this day [03117], that it may go well [03190] with thee, and with thy children [01121] after [0310] thee, and that thou mayest prolong [0748] thy days [03117] upon the earth [0127], which the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] giveth [05414] thee, for ever.

¹² Honour [03513] thy father [01] and thy mother [0517]: that thy days [03117] may be long [0748] upon the land [0127] which the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] giveth [05414] thee.

¹⁹ Arise [06965], cry out [07442] in the night [03915]: in the beginning [07218] of the watches [0821] pour out [08210] thine heart [03820] like water [04325] before [05227] the face [06440] of the Lord [0136]: lift up [05375] thy hands [03709] toward him for the life [05315] of thy young children [05768], that faint [05848] for hunger [07458] in the top [07218] of every street [02351].

¹¹ Mine eyes [05869] do fail [03615] with tears [01832], my bowels [04578] are troubled [02560], my liver [03516] is poured [08210] upon the earth [0776], for the destruction [07667] of the daughter [01323] of my people [05971]; because the children [05768] and the sucklings [03243] swoon [05848] in the streets [07339] of the city [07151].

²¹ For death [04194] is come up [05927] into our windows [02474], and is entered [0935] into our palaces [0759], to cut off [03772] the children [05768] from without [02351], and the young men [0970] from the streets [07339].

¹¹ Therefore I am full [04392] of the fury [02534] of the LORD [03068]; I am weary [03811] with holding in [03557]: I will pour it out [08210] upon the children [05768] abroad [02351], and upon the assembly [05475] of young men [0970] together [03162]: for even the husband [0376] with the wife [0802] shall be taken [03920], the aged [02205] with him that is full [04390] of days [03117].

¹⁷ Nevertheless mine eye [05869] spared [02347] them from destroying [07843] them, neither did I make [06213] an end [03617] of them in the wilderness [04057].

⁴⁷ For it is not a vain [07386] thing [01697] for you; because it is your life [02416]: and through this thing [01697] ye shall prolong [0748] your days [03117] in the land [0127], whither ye go over [05674] Jordan [03383] to possess [03423] it.

⁷ But thou shalt in any wise [07971] let the dam [0517] go [07971], and take [03947] the young [01121] to thee; that it may be well [03190] with thee, and that thou mayest prolong [0748] thy days [03117].

²⁰ That his heart [03824] be not lifted up [07311] above his brethren [0251], and that he turn not aside [05493] from the commandment [04687], to the right hand [03225], or to the left [08040]: to the end that he may prolong [0748] his days [03117] in his kingdom [04467], he, and his children [01121], in the midst [07130] of Israel [03478].

⁹ And that ye may prolong [0748] your days [03117] in the land [0127], which the LORD [03068] sware [07650] unto your fathers [01] to give [05414] unto them and to their seed [02233], a land [0776] that floweth [02100] with milk [02461] and honey [01706].

² That thou mightest fear [03372] the LORD [03068] thy God [0430], to keep [08104] all his statutes [02708] and his commandments [04687], which I command [06680] thee, thou, and thy son [01121], and thy son's [01121] son [01121], all the days [03117] of thy life [02416]; and that thy days [03117] may be prolonged [0748].

³³ Ye shall walk [03212] in all the ways [01870] which the LORD [03068] your God [0430] hath commanded [06680] you, that ye may live [02421], and that it may be well [02895] with you, and that ye may prolong [0748] your days [03117] in the land [0776] which ye shall possess [03423].

¹⁶ Honour [03513] thy father [01] and thy mother [0517], as the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] hath commanded [06680] thee; that thy days [03117] may be prolonged [0748], and that it may go well [03190] with thee, in the land [0127] which the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] giveth [05414] thee.

¹⁰ Specially the day [03117] that thou stoodest [05975] before [06440] the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] in Horeb [02722], when the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto me, Gather [06950] me the people [05971] together [06950], and I will make them hear [08085] my words [01697], that they may learn [03925] to fear [03372] me all the days [03117] that they shall live [02416] upon the earth [0127], and that they may teach [03925] their children [01121].

¹⁷ Cry [07121] yet, saying [0559], Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635]; My cities [05892] through prosperity [02896] shall yet be spread abroad [06327]; and the LORD [03068] shall yet comfort [05162] Zion [06726], and shall yet choose [0977] Jerusalem [03389].

¹³ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068]; For three [07969] transgressions [06588] of the children [01121] of Ammon [05983], and for four [0702], I will not turn away [07725] the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up [01234] the women with child [02030] of Gilead [01568], that they might enlarge [07337] their border [01366]:

¹⁶ Samaria [08111] shall become desolate [0816]; for she hath rebelled [04784] against her God [0430]: they shall fall [05307] by the sword [02719]: their infants [05768] shall be dashed in pieces [07376], and their women with child [02030] shall be ripped up [01234].

¹⁶ Then Menahem [04505] smote [05221] Tiphsah [08607], and all that were therein, and the coasts [01366] thereof from Tirzah [08656]: because they opened [06605] not to him, therefore he smote [05221] it; and all the women therein that were with child [02030] he ripped up [01234].

⁶³ The fire [0784] consumed [0398] their young men [0970]; and their maidens [01330] were not given to marriage [01984].
⁶⁴ Their priests [03548] fell [05307] by the sword [02719]; and their widows [0490] made no lamentation [01058].

⁵ And the streets [07339] of the city [05892] shall be full [04390] of boys [03206] and girls [03207] playing [07832] in the streets [07339] thereof.

⁴ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635]; There shall yet old men [02205] and old women [02205] dwell [03427] in the streets [07339] of Jerusalem [03389], and every man [0376] with his staff [04938] in his hand [03027] for very [07230] age [03117].