Zechariah 8:9

“The Lord who rules over all also says, ‘Gather strength, you who are listening to these words today from the mouths of the prophets who were there at the founding of the house of the Lord who rules over all, ¹  so that the temple might be built.

Jos 1:6,8; 1Ch 22:13; 1Ch 28:20; Ezr 5:1,2; Isa 35:4; Hag 1:1,12; Hag 2:4-9; Hag 2:21; Zec 8:13,18; Eph 6:10; 2Ti 2:1

¹ sn These prophets who were there at the founding of the house of the Lord who rules over all included at least Haggai and Zechariah, and perhaps others. The founding referred to here is not the initial laying of the temple’s foundations in 536 b.c. (Ezra 3:8) but the resumption of work two years before the time of the present narrative (i.e., in 520 b.c.), as vv. 10-12 make clear.