Zechariahchapter 8
23 verses · Zechariah · 520 to 518 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.
It stands in Let your hands be strong; you shall be a blessing, verses 9 to 13.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Ten oracles, each headed 'Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,' and the sunniest chapter in the book. 'I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth.' The picture of that peace is deliberately ordinary: old men and old women in the streets, each with a staff for very age, 'and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof' (8:5). He gathers them from east and west; the fasts become cheerful feasts. 'Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor' (Paul quotes it, Ephesians 4:25). And ten men from all languages take hold of a Jew's skirt: 'We will go with you.'
Context
Prophecy · Zechariah · Zechariah overview
The world behind this chapter
Zechariah 8The history
This chapter answers the fasting question at last, and it answers it with a picture rather than a rule.
The picture is astonishingly ordinary: old men and old women sitting in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age, and the streets full of boys and girls playing.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Every detail of that is a demographic claim. In a town that had been through siege, famine, and deportation, almost nobody grew old and children were scarce. Old people sitting outside without fear means no war. Children in the street means a birth rate and safety. It is peace described in the only way peace is ever actually experienced.
God anticipates the objection: if it is marvellous in the eyes of the remnant, should it also be marvellous in mine? Then practical instructions follow, aimed at the building site, let your hands be strong; before this work started there was no wage for man or beast and no safety in coming or going.
Then the fasts are answered directly: the fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall become joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. All four commemorated stages of the disaster, the breaching of the wall, the burning of the temple, the murder of Gedaliah, and the start of the siege. All four are converted, not cancelled.
The chapter ends with ten men out of all languages taking hold of the skirt of one Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
What it meant to them
For a community whose whole religious calendar was built around grief, this said the grief days themselves would become feasts. Nothing would be forgotten; everything would be reversed.
And the condition attached is the same as chapter 7's complaint: speak truth to your neighbor, judge honestly in your gates, love no false oath. The city full of playing children is built out of ordinary honesty between neighbors.
Sources cited
- Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament
- Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (public domain)
Where the chapter sits
Zechariah 8 falls in Fasts and future (chapters 7–8). Should the fasts continue? The ten promises of Zion's restoration.
Before it: Eight night visions and the crown, chapters 1–6. After it: Two burdens, chapters 9–14.
The whole shape of Zechariah→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Old men with staffs and children playing in the streets
1. (vv. 1-3)
Zechariah 8:1
“Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying. The phrase, "to me", is wanting in the Hebrew text; and is the only place it is wanting in, as the Masora observes; though undoubtedly it is to be understood; and therefore is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, "with me". Mention being made in the latter part of the preceding chapter Zec 7:8 of the desolations of the earth, comfort is here administered, as Aben Ezra notes.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Zechariah 8:1
“Dionysius: “After the Lord had, in the preceding chapter, manifoldly rebuked the Jewish people, He now comforts it with renewed promises, as a good physician, who after a bitter draught employs sweet and soothing remedies; as that most loving Samaritan poured in wine and oil.” The chapter falls into two portions, each marked by the words, The Word of the Lord of hosts came or came unto me, the first Zech. 8:1-17 declaring the reversal of the former judgments, and the complete, though conditional, restoration of God’s favor; the 2nd Zec 8:18-23 containing the answer to the original question as to those fasts, in the declaration of the joy and the spread of the Gospel.”
Zechariah 8:2
“I was jealous - Some refer this to the Jews themselves. They were as the spouse of Jehovah: but they were unfaithful, and God punished them as an injured husband might be expected to punish an unfaithful wife. Others apply it to the enemies of the Jews. Though I gave them a commission to afflict you, yet they exceeded their commission: I will therefore deal with them in fury - in vindictive justice.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 8:3
“Thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Zion,.... The temple being now building, and almost finished, and the worship of God restored in it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:3
“I am returned - Dionysius: “Without change in Myself, I am turned to that people from the effect of justice to the sweetness of mercy, “and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem,” in the temple and the people, indwelling the hearts of the good by charity and grace. Christ also, Very God and Very Man, visibly conversed and was seen in Zion.” Osorius: “When He says, ‘I am turned,’ He shows that she was turned too.”
Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: The chapter answers chapter 7's question about fasting with ten fresh oracles, and it opens on jealousy, the Lord's own word for his zeal for Zion, doubled for emphasis as jealousy and fury. Keil reads the doubling as covenant language, the same word used of a husband's zeal for a wife rather than mere anger, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. The Lord's own return to dwell in Jerusalem's midst gives the city new names, a city of truth and a holy mountain, in place of the desolation just described in chapter 7.
2. (vv. 4-5)
Zechariah 8:4
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts,....”
3 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 8:4
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 8:4
“Old age needs a support, and should not be ashamed to use it, but should furnish itself with divine graces, which will be the strength of the heart and a better support than a staff in the hand. Note, The hoary head, as it is a crown of glory to those that wear it, so it is to the places where they live.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 8:4
The promise of long life was esteemed one of the greatest blessings in the Jewish theocracy with its temporal rewards of obedience (Ex 20:12; Hence this is a leading feature in millennial blessedness (Isa 65:20, 22). for very age--literally, "for multitude of days."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 8:5
“And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,.... Denoting a large increase of inhabitants, in a literal sense; and may spiritually signify the large numbers of converts, of new born babes, who are regenerated by the grace and Spirit of God, and are accounted of by the Lord for a generation: playing the streets thereof; being in health and rigour, and in great security.”
old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: Two pictures of ordinary peace follow the promise of the Lord's presence: old men and old women sitting in the streets, each leaning on a staff for very age, and the same streets full of boys and girls at play. Gill notes that both images describe a city that has stopped being a battlefield, since neither the aged nor the young survive long in a city under siege or recently sacked. The contrast with the whirlwind and desolation that closed chapter 7 is deliberate, ordinary long life and children's play standing in for the peace the exile had taken away.
3. (v. 6)
Zechariah 8:6
“A great source of unbelief is, men "limit" God's power by their own (Ps 78:19, 20, 41). these days--"of small things" (Zec 4:10), when such great things promised seemed incredible. MAURER, after JEROME, translates, "in those days"; that is, if the thing which I promised to do in those days, seems "marvellous," &c.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:6
GOD sent His servant Zechariah with a promise that Jerusalem should be rebuilt and that it should enjoy a time of great peace and prosperity. Instead of men being slain in battle in the prime of their days, old men and old women were to dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, "every man with his staff in his hand for very age." And whereas war had often cut off the women and the children, the promise further added, "the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets."
If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant: The Lord asks whether the promise seems too wonderful to the returned remnant's eyes, and if so, whether it should seem too wonderful to his own. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear an echo of the question put to Sarah at Genesis 18:14, is anything too hard for the Lord, the same rhetorical form used to answer unbelief with a reminder of who is speaking. The remnant's small numbers and modest resources made the promised restoration look impossible by ordinary measure, and the verse answers that measure directly.
4. (vv. 7-8)
Zechariah 8:7
“I will save My people from the East country and from the West country - Dionysius: “that is, the whole world; for Israel had been scattered in every part of the world.” God had said to Israel, “I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back” Isa 43:5-6. The two tribes had been carried to Babylon and had been dispersed, or had been allowed to migrate to the various provinces of the Babylonian or Persian empire.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:7
“These promises were fulfilled in the flourishing state of the Jewish church, for some ages, between the captivity and Christ's time; they were to have a further and a fuller accomplishment in the gospel-church, that heavenly Jerusalem, which is from above, is free, and is the mother of us all; but the fullest accomplishment of all will be in the future state.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 8:8
“They shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem - Not the literal Jerusalem; for this would not contain the Jews from all quarters of the world, whom, as they multiplied, the whole land could not contain; but the promised Jerusalem, the Jerusalem, which “should be inhabited as towns without walls,” to which the Lord should be a wall of fire round about.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:8
“In truth and in righteousness - This signifies both God's part, and their part; on God's part truth, on their's righteousness, obedience to God's righteous law.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
I will save my people from the east country: The gathering promise widens from Jerusalem's own streets to the exiles scattered east and west, brought back to dwell in the city and to be the Lord's people in truth and righteousness. Calvin reads the covenant formula, they shall be my people and I will be their God, as the same words given at the exodus and renewed here after a second deliverance, the return from Babylon read as a smaller second exodus. Truth and righteousness qualify the relationship rather than merely the geography, the promise reaching further than a change of address.
B. Let your hands be strong; you shall be a blessing
1. (vv. 9-10)
Zechariah 8:9
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong,....”
3 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 8:9
“By the mouth of the prophets - The day or time of the foundation was about two years before, as this discourse of the prophet was in the fourth year of Darius. After this God raised up prophets among them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 8:9
“The same prophets who promised prosperity at the foundation of the temple, now promised still greater blessings hereafter.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 8:9
“Let your hands be strong - The fulfillment of God’s former promises are the earnest of the future; His former providences, of those to come. Having then those great promises for the time to come, they were to be earnest in whatever meantime God gave them to do.”
Zechariah 8:10
“There was no hire for man - Literally, “hire for man came not to pass.” It was longed for, waited for and came not. So little was the produce, that neither laborer nor beast of burden were employed to gather it in. Neither was there peace to him who went out or came in because of the affliction, better, of the adversary - In such an empire as the Persian, there was large scope for actual hostility among the petty nations subject to it, so that they did not threaten revolt against itself, or interfere with the payment of tribute, as in the Turkish Empire now, or in the weak government of Greece. At the rebuilding of the walls, after this time, the Samaritans, “Arabians, Ammonites, Ashdodites conspired to fight against Jerusalem,” and to “slay them” Neh 4:7-11. They are summed up here in the general title used here, “our adversaries”. For I set - Literally, “and I set.” Domestic confusions and strife were added to hostility from without. Nehemiah’s reformation was, in part, to stop the grinding usury in time of dearth or to lear the king’s taxes, through which men sold lands, vineyards, even their children Neh 5:1-12. (literally) let them loose, each against his neighbor - in that He left them to their own ways and did not withhold them.”
3 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 8:10
“For before these days,....”
Zechariah 8:10
“For before these days there was no hire for man - Previously to this, ye had no prosperity; ye had nothing but civil divisions and domestic broils. I abandoned you to your own spirits, and to your own ways.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 8:10
“These are mentioned as a foil to the blessings God was now about to bestow upon them, to make them appear the more strange, to the glory of God, and the more sweet, to their comfort. The truth was the times had long been very bad, and the calamities and difficulties of them were many and great.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days: The command to strengthen their hands is addressed to those present at the temple's refounding, the same builders urged two years earlier, and it looks back at the hardship the unfinished work had cost. Barnes describes the former days named in verse 10 as the years between the foundation laid under Cyrus and the resumed building under Darius, when no wage covered the labor of man or beast and the land offered no peace to anyone going out or coming in. The command to be strong is addressed to men who have already lived through the years it names, not to strangers to the difficulty.
2. (vv. 11-13)
Zechariah 8:11
“But now I will not be unto the residue of this people,.... The remnant brought out of captivity, settled in the land, and now rebuilding the temple: as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts; when they neglected the house of the Lord, caring only for their own cieled houses, Hag 1:2.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:11
“And now - The words imply a contrast of God’s dealings, rather than a contrast of time. “I am not to the remnant of this people.” He had said, “I will be to them God;” so now He does not say that He will not do to them, “as in former days,” but “I am not to the remnant” of this people as heretofore. He would be, as tie was in Jesus, in a new relation to them.”
Zechariah 8:12
“This confirms what the prophet's colleague had said, a little before ( Hag. ii. 16, 19 ), From this day will I bless you. Note, God's people, that serve him faithfully, have great possessions. " All is yours, for you are Christ's." 3.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 8:13
“AS these words came from the lips of Zechariah, doubtless they referred to the seed of Abraham, including the two tribes of Judah and the ten tribes of Israel. They have already received a minor fulfillment. But their most glorious accomplishment is yet to come. The Jews have for many a generation been cursed by all people. For ages no one had a good word or a kind look for the Jew. In every nation they have been persecuted and hunted like beasts of prey.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:13
“This is here promised to the house both of Israel and Judah; for many of the ten tribes returned out of captivity with the two tribes, and shared with them in those blessings; and, it is probable, besides what came at first, many, very many, flocked to them afterwards, when they saw their affairs take this turn.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days: The Lord turns the former days into a named contrast, promising instead a prosperous seed, fruitful vine, generous ground, and dew from heaven, so the remnant now possesses what the earlier years withheld. Verse 13 reverses the very language of the covenant curse, as you were a curse among the nations, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing, deliberately answering the older warnings with their opposite. Wesley reads the double command, fear not and let your hands be strong, as bracketing the whole promise, courage grounded in a stated reversal rather than in wishful hope.
C. Speak truth and judge for peace in your gates
1. (vv. 14-15)
Zechariah 8:14
“As I thought to punish you - (Literally, to do evil to you) “and repented not.” In like way God says in Jeremiah, “I have purposed and will not repent.” Jer 4:28.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:14
“The promised blessings are connected with obedience. God's covenanted grace will lead those truly blessed by it to holiness, not licentiousness. truth to . . . neighbour--not that the truth should not be spoken to foreigners too; but He makes it an aggravation of their sin, that they spared not even their brethren.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath: The Lord states his own change of intention as plainly as the fasting question was answered earlier, the same resolve that once purposed punishment without relenting now purposed good toward Jerusalem and Judah without relenting either. Clarke reads the parallel construction, I thought to punish and I repented not against so again have I thought to do well, as making the coming blessing as fixed and certain as the judgment had been. The double command, fear ye not, closes the pair of oracles on assurance rather than warning.
2. (vv. 16-17)
Zechariah 8:16
“These are the things that ye shall do - He exhorts them to the same duties, to which the former prophets had exhorted their fathers, Zec 7:9-10, and, as before, first positively to truth and peace; then to avoid everything contrary to it. “Judgment of peace” must be judgment which issues in peace, as all righteous judgment righteously received, in which case each party acquiesces, must. Kimchi: “If ye judge righteousness, there will be peace between the litigants, according to that proverb, Sanhedr. f. 7. a. quoted by Me.”
Zechariah 8:16
- Quoted inEphesians 4:25“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.”
'Speak every man truth with his neighbour'
Zechariah 8:17
“For all these things do I hate - Literally, emphatic, “For they are all these things which I hate.” This is the sum of what I hate; for they comprise in brief the breaches of the two tables, the love of God and of man.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:17
“The prophet answers the query (Zec 7:3) as to the fast in the fifth month, by a reply applying to all their fasts: these are to be turned into days of rejoicing. So Jesus replied to His disciples when similarly consulting Him as to why fasting was not imposed by Him, as it was by John the Baptist. When the Sun of righteousness shines, tears are dried up (Mt 9:15).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
These are the things that ye shall do: Restoration is tied at once to conduct: speak truth to your neighbor, judge with truth and peace in your gates, do not plot evil against one another, and love no false oath. Henry notes that this list answers chapter 7's earlier indictment almost point for point, the very sins that brought the exile named again as the things now to be put away. The Lord's own closing line, these are things I hate, keeps the demand from reading as mere civic advice, since it is stated as his own settled aversion.
D. Ten men grab a Jew's skirt: we have heard God is with you
1. (vv. 18-19)
Zechariah 8:18
“And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying. The word of prophecy, as the Targum paraphrases it: here begins a new prophecy, respecting the abrogation of Jewish fasts, and the calling of the Gentiles.”
Zechariah 8:19
“The fast of the fourth month - On the ninth day “of the fourth month” of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, Jerusalem, in the extremity of famine, opened to Nebuchadnezzar, and his princes sat in her gate; in the “tenth month” of his ninth year Nebuchadnezzar began the siege. Ezekiel was bidden “on its tenth day; write thee the name of the day, of this same day,” Eze 24:1-2, as the beginning of God’s uttermost judgments against “the bloody city” .”
the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me: The question that opened chapter 7 finally receives its direct answer: the fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months, each marking a stage of Jerusalem's fall, shall become for Judah joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts. Pusey counts the four fasts as covering the whole span of the city's destruction, from the siege's start to the governor's murder afterward, so the answer touches every stage of the grief being asked about. The closing charge, therefore love the truth and peace, ties the changed calendar to the same ethic just commanded in verse 16.
2. (vv. 20-23)
Zechariah 8:20
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass,.... This is another thing that shall certainly be accomplished: that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities; in the Gentile world; they shall come and hear the word, believe in Christ, and join together in a Gospel church state; as they did at Antioch, Thessalonica, Corinth, and many other places: Ben Melech says this shall be in the days of the Messiah; and so it has been in the days of the true Messiah Jesus, and will be again in the latter day.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 8:20
“There shall come people - Similar promises to those in Isa 2:3 and in Mic 4:1, Mic 4:2. Many Gentiles, as well as Jews, will then be found devoting themselves to the Lord.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 8:20
“But the full accomplishment of the conversion of the Gentiles foretold here is reserved till "Jerusalem" (Zec 8:22) becomes the center of Christianized Jewry (Ro 11:12, 15).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 8:21
“The inhabitants of one city shall go to another - It is one unresting extension of the fairly, the restlessness of faith and love. Osorius: “They shall not be satisfied with their own salvation, careless about the salvation of others; they shall employ all labor and industry, with wondrous love, to provide for the salvation of others as if it were their own.” It is a marvelous stirring of minds. Missionary efforts, so familiar with us as to be a household word, were unknown then.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:21
“To exhortation in general ("Let us go"), they add individual example ("I will go"). Or, the change from plural to singular implies that the general consent in religious earnestness leads each individual to decide for God. go speedily--literally, "go, going"; implying intense earnestness. pray--Hebrew, "entreat the face" (Zec 7:2); entreat His favor and grace.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 8:22
“Yea, many people, and strong nations,.... Or, "mighty kingdoms", as the Targum renders it; even such have embraced the Gospel, and professed the Christian religion; of which there has been abundant proof since the downfall of Paganism under Constantine: shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem; that is, shall attend the public worship of God in the church: and to pray before the Lord; join in public prayer, and other ordinances of the Gospel.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 8:22
“In Jerusalem - Literally understood, you have the first fruits of them mentioned, Acts ii, 10-12. Mystically, Jerusalem is the church of Christ. To pray - To perform all gospel-worship.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 8:23
“The gospel was preached to the Jews first (for of that nation the apostles were) and by them it was carried to the Gentiles. St. Paul was a Jew whose skirt many took hold of when they welcomed him as an angel of God, and begged him to take them along with him to Christ; thus the Greeks took hold of Philip's skirt, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus, John xii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 8:23
“God is with you--the effect produced on unbelievers in entering the assemblies of the Church (1Co 14:25). But primarily, that produced on the nations in witnessing the deliverance of the Jews by Cyrus. Finally, that to be produced on the nations by the future grand interposition of Messiah in behalf of His people.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 8:23
“A Jew - To whom the gospel was first preached. We have heard - And now see, and are assured. That God - The true God, the only true God, whom to know is life eternal.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: The chapter widens from Judah's own fasts to a picture of nations streaming toward Jerusalem to seek the Lord, one city inviting another until many peoples and strong nations arrive. The closing image sharpens the point to ten men from every language taking hold of a single Jew's garment, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Keil and Calvin read the picture as pointing toward the nations being drawn to the God of Israel, and the church later saw its own ingathering foreshadowed here, though the verse itself names the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem rather than describing where they end.
This page carries no textual note on Zechariah 8. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.