Zechariah 8:7
in Zechariah 8This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
KJV
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
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This verse in Zechariah 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
I will save my people from the east country
on Zechariah 8:7-8
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 7, 8.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East, and from the land of the setting sun. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in justice. Likewise in the Septuagint.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
save my people from . . . east . . . west--that is, from every region (compare Ps 50:1; the "West" is literally, "the going down of the sun") to which they are scattered; they are now found especially in countries west of Jerusalem.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
I will save my people from the east country, and from the west - From every land in which any of them may be found. But these promises principally regard the Christian Church, or the bringing in the Jews with the fullness of the Gentiles.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֤ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַר֙ | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֔וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| הִנְנִ֥י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| מוֹשִׁ֛יעַ | moshia' | [am] about to save | H3467 → | 206 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַמִּ֖י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מֵאֶ֣רֶץ | meeretz | from [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִזְרָ֑ח | mizrach | [the] east | H4217 → | |
| וּמֵאֶ֖רֶץ | umeeretz | and from [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מְב֥וֹא | mevo' | [the] setting of | H3996 → | |
| הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ | hashamesh | the sun | H8121 → |
כֹּ֤הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַר֙he says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֔וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
הִנְנִ֥יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
מוֹשִׁ֛יעַ[am] about to save
moshia'H3467 →206 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עַמִּ֖יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
מֵאֶ֣רֶץfrom [the] land of
meeretzH776 →2504 times
מִזְרָ֑ח[the] east
mizrachH4217 →
וּמֵאֶ֖רֶץand from [the] land of
umeeretzH776 →2504 times
מְב֥וֹא[the] setting of
mevo'H3996 →
הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃the sun
hashameshH8121 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 31:8Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 34:16
I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- Jeremiah 23:8
Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands…
- Isaiah 42:16
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These…
- Micah 4:6
“On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted.
- Jeremiah 3:18
In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers…
- Ezekiel 34:16
Through
Isaiah 49:12Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:5–6
Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
- Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…
- Luke 13:29
People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.
- Isaiah 43:5–6
About Zechariah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.