Zechariah 8:5

8:5 And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing. ¹ 

Zechariah 14:2

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem ²  to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. ³ 

Zechariah 8:20

8:20 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘It will someday come to pass that people – residents of many cities – will come.

Zechariah 7:7

7:7 Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem ⁴  was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah ⁵  were also populated?

Zechariah 8:3

8:3 The Lord says, ‘I have returned to Zion and will live within Jerusalem. ⁶  Now Jerusalem will be called “truthful city,” “mountain of the Lord who rules over all,” “holy mountain.”’

Zechariah 1:12

1:12 The angel of the Lord then asked, “Lord who rules over all, ⁷  how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem ⁸  and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?” ⁹ 

Zechariah 1:17

1:17 Speak up again with the message of the Lord who rules over all: ‘My cities will once more overflow with prosperity, and once more the Lord will comfort Zion and validate his choice of Jerusalem.’”

¹ sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace are eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in a similar manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ sn The Shephelah is the geographical region between the Mediterranean coastal plain and the Judean hill country. The Hebrew term can be translated “lowlands” (cf. ASV), “foothills” (NAB, NASB, NLT), or “steppes.”

⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵ sn Note that here the angel of the Lord is clearly distinct from the Lord who rules over all himself.

⁶ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁷ sn The seventy years refers to the predicted period of Babylonian exile, a period with flexible beginning and ending points depending on the particular circumstances in view (cf. Jer 25:1; 28:1; 29:10; Dan 9:2). Here the end of the seventy years appears to be marked by the completion of the temple in 516 b.c., exactly seventy years after its destruction in 586.