Prophecies about Israel - worksheet 5
Jerusalem under Jewish control

Zechariah 8:7-8 says I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem.

When Zechariah spoke these words, he was addressing the Jewish people who had recently returned from the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE. This exile was a traumatic event, during which Jerusalem and the First Temple were destroyed, and many Jews were forcibly taken to Babylon. After the Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews to return, a remnant came back to rebuild Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Zechariah’s prophecy provided hope and reassurance to this small, struggling group of returnees. He reminded them that God had not abandoned His covenant with them and that He would continue to gather His people, even those still scattered in far-off lands.

In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel captured East Jerusalem, uniting the city under Jewish sovereignty for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. Since then, Jerusalem has been at the heart of Jewish identity and faith. The prophecy doesn’t stop there—God says Jerusalem will remain a source of contention, which leads us to…