Zechariah 10:6-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah,(A)
the house of Joseph[a] I will save;
I will bring them back, because I have mercy on them;
they will be as if I had never cast them off,
for I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.(B)
7 Then Ephraim will be like a hero,
and their hearts will be cheered as by wine.(C)
Their children will see and rejoice—
their hearts will exult in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them and gather them in;
for I will redeem them
and they will be as numerous as before.[b]
Footnotes
- 10:6 The house of Joseph: represents the Northern Kingdom (Israel), as does Ephraim in v. 7 below.
- 10:8 Gather them in…be as numerous as before: God’s intention is to bring back the exiles and redeem them as at the time of the exodus. This image, resumed in vv. 10–11, anticipates an expanded population, echoes the ancestral promise (Gn 1:22, 28; 9:1, 7; 35:11), and also suggests an awareness of the acute demographic decline of Jews in Palestine in the Persian period.
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