Zechariah 8:9 - Exposition

Let your hands be strong (comp. Haggai 2:15-19 ). Be of good courage for the work before you ( 7:11 ; Isaiah 35:3 ; Ezekiel 22:14 ). By ( from ) the mouth of the prophets, which were . Who came forward as prophets. These prophets, who prophesied after the foundations of the temple were laid, were Haggai and Zechariah; they are thus distinguished from the pre-exilian seers mentioned in Zechariah 7:7 . The same prophets who encouraged you in your work at first are they who have spoken to you words of promise in those days. That the temple might be built; Revised Version, even the temple that it might be built. This could not be predicated of the first foundation, which was followed by a long period of inaction ( Ezra 4:24 ), only terminated by the vigorous exhortations of the prophets, which led to a resumption of the work that might be called a second foundation of the temple.