And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
- KJV And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
- NKJV The streets of the city Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets.’
- NASB And the public squares of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its squares.’
- NLT And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.
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
The city's streets will be full of children at play. Safety, joy, and renewed life will fill the once-desolate Jerusalem.
Overview
Children playing freely in the streets is a vivid emblem of peace and security, the opposite of a city under siege or in ruins. It completes the picture of a thriving community spanning old and young. The promise pledges that God will replace desolation with abundant, joyful life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 31:13Then 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.
- Ps 144:12–15Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.
- Jer 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.
- Ps 128:3–4Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
- Jer 30:19–20Thanksgiving 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.
- Matt 11:16–17To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
- Lam 2:19Arise, 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.
- Zech 2:4and 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.
- Jer 33:11the 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 8:5 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.