And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
Parallel translations
- WEB The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
- BSB And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
- 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 shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
- Ps 144:12–15That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
- Jer 31:27Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
- Ps 128:3–4Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
- Jer 30:19–20And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
- Matt 11:16–17But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
- Lam 2:19Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
- Zech 2:4And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
- Jer 33:11The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.
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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
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