I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased.
- KJV I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
- BSB I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were.
- NASB “I will whistle for them and gather them together, For I have redeemed them; And they will be as numerous as they were before.
- NLT When I whistle to them, they will come running, for I have redeemed them. From the few who are left, they will grow as numerous as they were before.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will whistle or signal to gather His redeemed people, and they will multiply as before. It matters because God Himself initiates the ingathering of those He has bought back.
Overview
The image of God 'signaling' (as a shepherd calls his flock) underscores that restoration begins with His summons, not human effort. The basis is redemption—'for I have redeemed them'—and the promise of increase recalls the fruitfulness pledged to the patriarchs. This gathering of the redeemed foreshadows Christ gathering His people from every nation by His voice (John 10:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Isa 5:26He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
- Isa 7:18It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
- Jer 33:22As the army of the sky can’t be counted, neither the sand of the sea measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.’”
- Matt 11:28“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Ezek 36:10–11and I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built;
- Hos 1:10Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Isa 55:1–3“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
- Rev 22:17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- Jer 31:10–11“Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
- Isa 27:12–13It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.
- Isa 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isa 11:11–12It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- 1 Kgs 4:20Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.
- Zech 9:11As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.
- Isa 52:1–3Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
- Jer 30:19–20Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.
- Isa 51:11Those ransomed by Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
- Exod 1:7The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
- Ezek 36:37–38Thus says the Lord Yahweh: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.
- Isa 49:19–22“For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
- 1 Tim 2:4–6who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 10:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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