Zechariah 1:16

I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies - Before, he came to them in judgments; and the principal mercy is, the house of the Lord shall be rebuilt, and the ordinances of' the Lord re-established.

And a line shall be stretched forth - The circuit shall be determined, and the city built according to the line marked out.

Therefore - This being so, since God was so jealous for His people, so displeased with their persecutors, "thus saith the Lord," Dionysius, "I who "in wrath remember mercy, am returned" Habakkuk 3:2, not by change of place, who am uncircumscribed, not existing in place, to the people of Judah and Jerusalem in mercies, manifoldly benefiting them by various effects of My love." The single benefits, the rebuilding of His House, and so the restoration of His public worship, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, are but instances of that all-containing mercy, His restored presence in tender mercies. "I am returned," God says, although the effects of His return were yet to come.

A line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem - Before, when it stood, this had been done to destroy 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11; now, when destroyed, to rebuild .

Osorius: "The temple was built then, when the foundations of the walls were not yet laid. In man's sight it would have seemed more provident that the walls should be first builded, that then the temple might be builded more securely. To God, in whom alone is the most firm stay of our life and salvation, it seemed otherwise. For it cannot be that he, to whom nothing is dearer fhan zeal for the most holy religion, should be forsaken of His help."

1:16 A line - The builder's measuring line shall be stretched out, to mark out the walls, gates, streets, and houses in Jerusalem.