Zechariah 8:13

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

And it will come about that just as you(both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!’

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְהָיָ֡ה כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ הֱיִיתֶ֨ם קְלָלָ֜ה בַּגּוֹיִ֗ם בֵּ֤ית יְהוּדָה֙ וּבֵ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל כֵּ֚ן אוֹשִׁ֣יעַ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וִהְיִיתֶ֖ם בְּרָכָ֑ה אַל־תִּירָ֖אוּ תֶּחֱזַ֥קְנָה יְדֵיכֶֽם׃ ס

Transliteration

And-hāyâ as hĕyîtem qəlālâ among-haggôyim bêt Yəhûḏâ and-bêt Yiśrāʾēl, thus ʾôšîaʿ you and-hĕyîtem bərāḵâ not-tîrāʾû teḥĕzaqnâ yəḏêḵem.

Grammar Details

• *hāyâ*: qal perfect, 3rd singular masculine with waw conjunction - and it will be
• *hĕyîtem*: qal perfect, 2nd plural masculine with waw conjunction - and you will be
• *qəlālâ*: feminine singular noun - curse
• *haggôyim*: definite article + masculine plural noun with preposition bet - among the nations
• *bêt*: masculine singular construct with waw conjunction - and house of
• *Yəhûḏâ*: proper name - Judah
• *Yiśrāʾēl*: proper name - Israel
• *ʾôšîaʿ*: hiphil imperfect, 1st singular - I will save
• *bərāḵâ*: feminine singular noun - blessing
• *tîrāʾû*: qal imperfect, 2nd plural masculine with negative particle - do not fear
• *teḥĕzaqnâ*: qal imperfect, 3rd feminine plural jussive - let them be strong
• *yəḏêḵem*: feminine dual noun with 2nd plural masculine suffix - your hands

Word Meanings

• *qəlālâ*: curse/cursing/execration
• *ʾôšîaʿ*: I will save/deliver/rescue
• *bərāḵâ*: blessing/benediction/prosperity
• *teḥĕzaqnâ*: let be strong/strengthened/courageous

Referenced Verses

• Zech 8:9 : 9 “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies also says,‘Gather strength, you who are listening to these words today from the mouths of the prophets who were there at the founding of the house of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, so that the temple might be built.
• Ezek 5:15 : 15 You will be an object of scorn and taunting, a prime example of destruction among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken!
• Jer 42:18 : 18 For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says,‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem. You will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. You will never see this place again.’
• Dan 9:11 : 11 “All Israel has broken your law and turned away by not obeying you. Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you.
• Gen 12:2-3 : 2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”
• Isa 19:24-25 : 24 At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing in the earth. 25 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying,“Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!”
• Ps 72:17 : 17 May his fame endure! May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! May all nations consider him to be favored by God!
• Jer 29:18 : 18 I will chase after them with war, starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.
• Jer 32:30-32 : 30 This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me from their earliest history until now and because they have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done. I, the LORD, affirm it! 31 This will happen because the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove it from my sight. 32 I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness– they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have done this wickedness.
• Jer 33:24 : 24 “You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven’t you? They are saying,‘The LORD has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah that he chose.’ So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation.
• Ps 79:4 : 4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors; those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.
• Isa 9:20-21 : 20 They devoured on the right, but were still hungry, they ate on the left, but were not satisfied. People even ate the flesh of their own arm! 21 Manasseh fought against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh; together they fought against Judah. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.
• Isa 35:3-4 : 3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp, steady the knees that shake! 4 Tell those who panic,“Be strong! Do not fear! Look, your God comes to avenge! With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”
• Isa 41:10-16 : 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you– yes, I help you– yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! 11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated; your adversaries will be reduced to nothing and perish. 12 When you will look for your opponents, you will not find them; your enemies will be reduced to absolutely nothing. 13 For I am the LORD your God, the one who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you,‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’ 14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, men of Israel. I am helping you,” says the LORD, your protector, the Holy One of Israel. 15 “Look, I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge, new and double-edged. You will thresh the mountains and crush them; you will make the hills like straw. 16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
• Isa 65:15-16 : 15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The Sovereign LORD will kill you, but he will give his servants another name. 16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them.
• Jer 24:9 : 9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.
• Jer 25:18 : 18 I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. Such is already becoming the case!
• Jer 26:6 : 6 If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”
• Gen 26:4 : 4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.
• Deut 28:37 : 37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the LORD will drive you.
• Deut 29:23-28 : 23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his intense anger. 24 Then all the nations will ask,“Why has the LORD done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?” 25 Then people will say,“Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. 27 That is why the LORD’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses written in this scroll. 28 So the LORD has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”
• Ruth 4:11-12 : 11 All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied,“We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. 12 May your family become like the family of Perez– whom Tamar bore to Judah– through the descendants the LORD gives you by this young woman.”
• 1 Kgs 9:7-8 : 7 then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. 8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying,‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?’
• 2 Kgs 17:18-20 : 18 So the LORD was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left. 19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the LORD their God; they followed Israel’s example. 20 So the LORD rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence.
• 2 Chr 7:20-22 : 20 then I will remove you from my land I have given you, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and I will make you an object of mockery and ridicule among all the nations. 21 As for this temple, which was once majestic, everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say,‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?’ 22 Others will then answer,‘Because they abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who led them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why he brought all this disaster down on them.’”
• Ps 44:13-14 : 13 You made us an object of disdain to our neighbors; those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 14 You made us an object of ridicule among the nations; foreigners treat us with contempt.
• Ps 44:16 : 16 before the vindictive enemy who ridicules and insults me.
• Mic 5:7 : 7 Those survivors from Jacob will live in the midst of many nations. They will be like the dew the LORD sends, like the rain on the grass, that does not hope for men to come or wait around for humans to arrive.
• Zeph 3:20 : 20 At that time I will lead you– at the time I gather you together. Be sure of this! I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you when you see me restore you,” says the LORD.
• Hag 2:19 : 19 The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced. Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’”
• Zech 1:19 : 19 So I asked the angelic messenger who spoke with me,“What are these?” He replied,“These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
• Jer 44:12 : 12 I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle or perish from starvation. People of every class will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse.
• Jer 44:22 : 22 Finally the LORD could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses.
• Lam 2:15-16 : 15 ס(Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem.“Ha! Is this the city they called‘The perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” 16 פ(Pe) All your enemies gloated over you. They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said,“We have destroyed her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!”
• Lam 4:15 : 15 ס(Samek) People cry to them,“Turn away! You are unclean! Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!” So they have fled and wander about; but the nations say,“They may not stay here any longer.”
• Ezek 37:11 : 11 Then he said to me,“Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying,‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
• Ezek 37:16-19 : 16 “As for you, son of man, take one branch, and write on it,‘For Judah, and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it,‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 Join them as one stick; they will be as one in your hand. 18 When your people say to you,‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’ 19 tell them,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, and make them into one stick– they will be one in my hand.’
• Zech 8:20-23 : 20 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,‘It will someday come to pass that people– residents of many cities– will come. 21 The inhabitants of one will go to another and say,“Let’s go up at once to ask the favor of the LORD, to seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Indeed, I’ll go with you.”’ 22 Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies and to ask his favor. 23 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will grasp hold of– indeed, grab– the robe of one Jew and say,“Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”
• Zech 9:13 : 13 I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior’s sword.
• Zech 10:6-9 : 6 “I(says the LORD) will strengthen the kingdom of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph and will bring them back because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and therefore I will hear them. 7 The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the LORD. 8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before. 9 Though I scatter them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places– they and their children will survive and return.
• 1 Cor 16:13 : 13 Final Challenge and Blessing Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong.
• Gal 3:14 : 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.
• Gal 3:28-29 : 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female– for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.