New International Version
Zechariah 8:20
20This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come,
Zechariah 8:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, Inhabitants of many cities;
- New Living Translation (NLT)“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem.
Context of Zechariah 8:20
18The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. 19This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, 21and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ 22And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”
Read all of Zechariah 8Zechariah 8:20 word by word
כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת עֹ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָבֹ֣אוּ עַמִּ֔ים וְיֹשְׁבֵ֖י עָרִ֥ים רַבּֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Zechariah 8:20
- Zechariah 2:11“Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
- Zechariah 14:16Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
- 1 Kings 8:41“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—
- 2 Chronicles 6:32“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple,
- Psalms 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
- Psalms 67:1May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us—
- Psalms 72:17May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.
- Psalms 89:9You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.
- Psalms 117:1Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
- Psalms 138:4May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord, when they hear what you have decreed.
- Isaiah 2:2In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
- Isaiah 11:10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
- Isaiah 49:6he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
- Isaiah 60:3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- Isaiah 66:18“And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.
- Jeremiah 16:19Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
Commentaries on Zechariah 8:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20There shall come people - Similar promises to those in Isaiah 2:3; and in Micah 4:1, Micah 4:2. Many Gentiles, as well as Jews, will then be found devoting themselves to the Lord.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20It shall yet be that - The promises are those which God had already made by Isaiah (Isaiah 2:2 ff) and Micah (Micah 4:1 ff). Yet where was the show of their fulfillment? The Jews themselves, a handful: the temple unfinished; its completion depending, in human sight, upon the will of their pagan masters, the rival worship at Samaria standing and inviting to coalition. Appearances and experience were against it. God says virtually, that it was, in human…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-23Verses 18-23 When God comes towards us in ways of mercy, we must meet him with joy and thankfulness. Therefore be faithful and honest in all your dealings; and let it be a pleasure to you to be so, though thereby you come short of the gains others get dishonestly; and, as much as in you lies, live peaceably with all men. Let the truths of God rule in your heads, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Thus the ancient servants of God drew the notice…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-23This part of Zechariah’s sermons links to the previous section through fasting and the ethical demands of a covenant with the Lord (Zechariah 7:8–10; 8:16–17). Questions about fasting in 7:2–7 are answered in 8:18–19. The tone and message shift from warning and judgment to encouragement and renewal. Fasting will change to feasting (Zechariah 8:19).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. (Is 2:3; Mi 4:2). Thus saith the Lord of hosts--a preface needed to assure the Jews, now disheartened by the perils surrounding them, and by the humble aspect of the temple. "Unlikely as what follows may seem to you, Jehovah of hosts, boundless in resources, saith it, therefore it shall be so." Just before Christ's coming, a feeling grew up among the heathen of the unsatisfactoriness of their systems of religion and philosophy; this disposed them…Read the comment
Topics related to Zechariah 8:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Zechariah 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New International Version — © NIV® 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 Biblica
Commentaries