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XLVII.

ZECH. viii. 7. Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, Behold I will fave my people from the east and from 8 the weft country. And I will bring them, and they fhall dwell in the midft of Jerufalem; and I will be their God, in truth and in righteoufnefs. Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, Let your hands be ftrong,

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ye that hear in these days* these words by the mouth of the Prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the houfe of the Lord of Hofts was laid, 10 that the Temple might be built. For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beafts, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the affliction: for I fet 11 all men, every one against his neighbour. But now

I will not be unto the refidue of this people, as in 12 the former days, faith the Lord of Hofts. For the feed fhall be profperous, the vine fhall give her fruit, and the ground fhall give her increase, and the heavens fhall give their dew, and I will caufe the rem13 nant of this people to poffefs all these things. And

it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curfe among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Ifrael; fo will I fave you, and ye fhall be a bleffing: fear 14 not, but let your hands be ftrong. For thus faith

* These days do not mean the days when this Prophecy was delivered; but the days when the Lord fhall fave his people from the eaft and weft countries, &c. and it is those who fhall then hear the words of this Prophecy which was delivered in the day that the foundation of the Temple was laid, who are called upon here, to let their hands be ftrong. For which reafon it would have been better translated those days, both here and in the 10th and 15th verfes, as it is in the 23d.

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the Lord of Hofts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, faith the 15 Lord of Hofts, and I repented not: So again have I thought in these days, to do well unto Jerufalem, 20 and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, It fhall yet come to pafs, that there fhall come people, and the inhabitants of 21 many cities. And the inhabitants of one city fhall

go to another, faying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to feek the Lord of Hofts: I will 22 go also. Yea, many people and ftrong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hofts in Jerufalem, and to 23 pray before the Lord. Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, In those days it fhall come to pass, that ten men fhall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even fhall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, faying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.

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That this Prophecy is not yet fulfilled is plain from the two last verses.

For when did many people, and ftrong nations, come to seek the Lotd of Hofts in Jerufalem, and to pray before the Lord? Or when have the Jews been fo regarded, that men, out of all languages of the nations, fhould be glad to take hold of the skirt of their garment? or acknowledge that God is with them?

XLVIII.

ZECH. ix. 12. Turn ye to the ftrong hold, ye prifoners of hope, even to day do I declare that I

13 will render double unto you. Judah for me, filled the bow

When I have bent with Ephraim, and

raifed up thy fons, O Zion, against thy fons, O Greece, and made thee as a fword of a mighty man. 14 And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrows fhall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God fhall blow the trumpet, and fhall go with whirlwinds of 15 the fouth. The Lord of Hofts fhall defend them, and they shall devour, and fubdue with fling ftones, and they shall drink, and make a noife as through wine, and they fhall be filled like bowls, and as the 16 corners of the altar. And the Lord their God fhall fave them in that day, as the flock of his people; for they fhall be as the ftones of a crown, lifted up as an enfign upon his land.

XLIX.

ZECH. X. 6. And I will ftrengthen the house of Judah, and I will fave the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they fhall be as though I had not caft them off: for I am the Lord their God, 7 and will hear them. And they of Ephraim fhall be like a mighty man, and their heart fhall rejoice, as through wine: yea, their children fhall fee it, and 8 be glad, their heart fhall rejoice in the Lord. I will hiss for them, and gather them, for I have redeemed them and they fhall increafe as they have in9 creased. And I will fow them among the people, and they fhall remember me in far countries, and they 10 fhall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again alfo out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Affyria, and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and place fhall not be found for them †.

*I will redeem them.

TINDALE.

And they fhall want nothing. TINDALE.

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L. ZECH.

L.

ZECH. xii. 2. Behold I will make Jerufalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the fiege both against Judah, 3 and against Jerufalem. And in that day will I make Jerufalem a burthenfome ftone for all people: all that burden themselves with it, fhall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered toge4 ther against it. In that day, faith the Lord, I will fmite every horse with aftonishment, and his rider with madness, and I will open mine eyes upon the houfe of Judah, and will fmite every horfe of the 5 people with blindness. And the governors of Judah fhall fay in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerufalem shall be my ftrength in the Lord of Hofts their 6 God. In that day will I make the governors of Ju

dah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a fheaf; and they fhall devour all the people round about, on the right hand, and on the left: and Jerufalem fhall be inhabited again, in 7 her own place, even in Jerufalem. The Lord alfo fhall fave the tents of Judah firft, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerufalem do not magnify themselves against 8 Judah. In that day fhall the Lord defend the inha

bitants of Jerufalem, and he that is feeble amongst them at that day fhall be as David; and the houfe of David fhall be as God, as the angel of the Lord be

* This obfcure verfe is rendered more intelligible in Tindale's verfion.

7 The Lorde fhall preferve the tentes of Juda like as afore time fo that the glorye of the house of David, and the glory of the citizens of Jerufalem fhall be but little regarded in comparison with the glory of Juda. G

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9 fore them. And it fhall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to deftroy all the nations that come 10 against Jerufalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerufalem, the spirit of grace and of fupplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only fon, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitternefs for his first born.

In the 2d verse of this chapter it is faid, I will make Jerufalem a cup of trembling; by which it is not meant that Jerufalem fhould be a cup of trembling to berfelf, as it is fuppofed in the contents prefixt to the chapter; but as it is expreffed in the words following, a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the fiege both against Judab and Jerufalem. That this is the true fenfe is evident from the next verfe, where it is faid, Jerufalem shall be a burthenfom stone for all people and that all that burden themselves with it fhall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it: which laft fentence would have no fenfe if the deftruction of Jerufalem was here intended. And this is farther confirmed by the 6th verfe: In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and THEY fhall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Ferufalem Shall be INHABITED again, in her own place, even in Jerufalem. Now the governors of Judah are not here reprefented as the wood or the fheaf, but as

the

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