Zechariah 8:9-10

Zechariah 8:9-10. Let your hands be strong Be of good courage, and go on with resolution and perseverance in the work you have begun, the rebuilding of the temple, since you have received such assurances from God’s prophets, even from the very first of your entering upon it, that he would prosper you in it, enable you to finish it, and bless you on account of your labour bestowed on it. Ye that hear these words of the prophets He refers to the prophecies of Haggai, as well as those of Zechariah; which were in the day, or, who spake in the day, that the foundation of the house was laid The prophet speaks of the carrying on of the building as if it were the laying a new foundation: see Haggai 2:18. For before these days there was no hire for man, &c. Or rather, There was no reward for man, nor any reward for beast: so the word שׂכר , here used, often signifies; that is, the fruits of the earth would not pay for the labour of those who cultivated it: see the margin. For I set all men everyone against his neighbour I suffered many molestations to be given you. The enemies of the Jews ceased not to molest them from without, Ezra 4:1, &c.; and civil dissensions, it seems, prevailed within.