Zechariah 8:4
in Zechariah 8This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Zechariah 8
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verses 4, 5.) This is what the Lord of hosts says. Yet old men and old women will dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets. LXX: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Yet old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.
This site's exposition
Old men and old women will again sit
on Zechariah 8:4-5
“Old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem”, and the streets “will be filled with boys and girls”. Gill notes that neither the aged nor the young survive long in a city under siege, so both pictures describe a city at peace.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,....
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.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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 2Ki 15:16; Hos 13:16; Amo 1:13, with their mothers. Yet (as in Zec 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. […]
The words behind it
15 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 |
| עֹ֤ד | ʾod | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ | yeshevu | they will sit | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| זְקֵנִ֣ים | zekenim | old [men] | H2205 → | |
| וּזְקֵנ֔וֹת | uzekenot | and old [women] | H2205 → | |
| בִּרְחֹב֖וֹת | birchovot | in [the] open places of | H7339 → | 43 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| וְאִ֧ישׁ | veish | and each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| מִשְׁעַנְתּ֛וֹ | mishanto | staff his | H4938 → | |
| בְּיָד֖וֹ | beyado | [will be] in hand his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| מֵרֹ֥ב | mero | from abundance of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| יָמִֽים׃ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
כֹּ֤הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַר֙he says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֔וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
עֹ֤דagain
ʾodH5750 →490 times
יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙they will sit
yeshevuH3427 →1079 times
זְקֵנִ֣יםold [men]
zekenimH2205 →
וּזְקֵנ֔וֹתand old [women]
uzekenotH2205 →
בִּרְחֹב֖וֹתin [the] open places of
birchovotH7339 →43 times
יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
וְאִ֧ישׁand each
veishH376 →1663 times
מִשְׁעַנְתּ֛וֹstaff his
mishantoH4938 →
בְּיָד֖וֹ[will be] in hand his
beyadoH3027 →1618 times
מֵרֹ֥בfrom abundance of
meroH7230 →149 times
יָמִֽים׃days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
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
Job 5:26You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
it leads to
- Psalms 91:16
With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 15:15
You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 9:11
For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
- Job 42:16–17
After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
- Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
- Psalms 91:16
Through
Hebrews 12:22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
it leads to
- Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Galatians 4:26
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
- Philippians 3:20
Through
Job 42:17And so Job died, old and full of years.
it leads to
- Genesis 25:8
And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.
- Genesis 25:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zechariah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.