What Does Zechariah 10:7 Mean?
Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as with wine. Their children will see and be glad, and their heart will leap in the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.THE KEY
Ephraim’s fruitfulness appears as joy that children can see, with the heart’s final exultation resting in the LORD.
THE MEANING
Strength and gladness live together: the heart rejoices, children see that joy and share it, and the heart exults in the LORD. Ephraim’s name echoes fruitfulness, so the verse shows joy becoming visible across generations.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Strength means suppressing joy; here the mighty figure’s strength stands alongside a rejoicing heart.
THE ROOT
אֶפְרַיִם
Efrayim
GROWS FROM
פרה
parah
Bear fruit; become fruitful.
Ephraim’s name echoes becoming fruitful, a connection Genesis 41:52 makes explicit. Here that fruitfulness appears in joy that children can see and share.
ALSO GROWS
hifrani: Caused me to become fruitful.
הִפְרַנִי
This form of the root makes the name’s connection to fruitfulness explicit.
peri: Fruit or produce.
פְּרִי
The fruit image brings the name’s sense of increase alongside the joy that reaches the children.
וְשָׂמַח
vesamach
GROWS FROM
שׂמח
samach
Rejoice; be glad.
“rejoice, then be glad” in this verse is vesamach. This root first describes the heart rejoicing like wine and returns when the children are glad. The repeated word makes joy visible in both generations before the verse shifts to a different word for its closing exultation.
ALSO GROWS
simchah: Joy or gladness.
שִׂמְחָה
The noun names the gladness expressed here by both the heart and the children.
sameach: Glad or joyful.
שָׂמֵחַ
This related form describes the state of the children who see the joy.
יָגֵל
yagel
GROWS FROM
גיל
gil
Exult; rejoice.
“leap in the LORD” in this verse is yagel. English repeats “rejoice,” but Hebrew shifts from שׂמח (samach, rejoice) to גיל (gil, exult) at the close. That final word is attached directly to the LORD, marking the heart’s closing exultation as God-centered.
ALSO GROWS
gil: Exultation or rejoicing.
גִּיל
The noun form holds the same kind of exulting named by the verse’s final verb.
gilah: Joy or exultation.
גִּילָה
This related noun helps show the distinct word family behind the verse’s final “rejoice.”
THE PATTERN
Joy is felt in the heart, finds its center in the LORD, and can endure beyond sorrow.
And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.Yet I will leap in the LORD; I will dance in the God of my deliverance.So now you have pain, but again I will perceive you, and your heart will rejoice, and no one lifts your joy away from you.THE THREAD
Yet I will leap in the LORD; I will dance in the God of my deliverance.Zechariah’s closing יָגֵל (yagel, exults) and Habakkuk’s אָגִילָה (agilah, I will exult) share the root גיל (gil, exult). In both verses, that exultation is directed toward God.
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