Bible Strands
Zechariah 8:5
And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD of Hosts addresses the post-exilic remnant immediately after describing elderly citizens safely occupying Jerusalem's streets. He announces a future reversal of demographic decline through renewed youth and activity.
The words — יִמָּ֣לְא֔וּ (yi.Mal.'U) means "they will be filled," and מְשַׂחֲקִ֖ים (me.sa.cha.Kim) translates literally to "playing." These terms describe the physical state of the city's open places rather than a metaphorical condition.
The thread — This pattern of restored youth and public joy appears in Jeremiah 31:13 and Jeremiah 30:19. It aligns with Zechariah 2:4, which links population increase to the city's loss of traditional defensive walls.
Why it lands — The text reports a concrete demographic shift before implying divine intervention. It requires the reader to accept that community vitality depends on God's action, not human strategy.
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
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 31:13 Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.
- Jeremiah 30:19 Thanksgiving will proceed from them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not be decreased; I will honor them, and they will not be belittled.
- Zechariah 2:4 and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.
- Psalms 128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
- Psalms 144:12 Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.
- Jeremiah 31:27 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.
- Jeremiah 33:11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.
- Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
- Matthew 11:16 To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: