Bible Strands
Zechariah 10:8
I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses the scattered tribes of Israel, specifically Ephraim, in a prophetic declaration of national restoration following exile.
The words — אֶשְׁרְקָה ('esh.re.Kah) means "I will whistle," and פְדִיתִי/ם (fe.di.Ti/m) means "I have redeemed them."
The thread — The divine whistle motif appears in Isaiah 5:26 and Isaiah 7:18 to signal a sovereign gathering, while Jeremiah 33:22 parallels the explicit promise of numerical multiplication.
Why it lands — The text states that gathering and increase are direct results of prior redemption, requiring the reader to acknowledge divine initiative as the sole basis for return and restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 5:26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
- Isaiah 7:18 On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.
- Jeremiah 33:22 As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”
- Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Jeremiah 31:10 Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.
- Ezekiel 36:10 I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
- Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.
- Exodus 1:7 but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.