Bible Strands
Zechariah 9:12
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to exiled Israel, positioned between the release of v.11 and the military commission of v.13. The declaration is issued "even today," anchoring the promise in the present moment.
The words — תִּקְוָה (tikvah), "hope," modifies the prisoners directly, making hope their defining characteristic rather than a feeling they possess. מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh), "double," is the concrete measure of what is being restored.
The thread — The "double" restoration echoes Job 42:10 and Isaiah 61:7, where doubled provision marks divine reversal of loss. The word tikvah for hope connects to Lamentations 3:21, where hope is the ground for continued trust.
Why it lands — The verse opens with an imperative: "Return." It does not describe a state of hope but demands a movement toward the stronghold, making hope the basis for action rather than a comfort to linger in.
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
Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Cross-references
- Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.
- Isaiah 61:7 Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
- Lamentations 3:21 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
- Hebrews 6:18 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
- Isaiah 40:2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”
- Jeremiah 31:17 So there is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children will return to their own land.
- Jeremiah 51:10 “The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.”
- Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.
- Hosea 2:15 There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
- Joel 3:16 The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.