"PRISONERS OF HOPE"

Scripture:  Zechariah 9:12

"......................... ye prisoners of hope."

This is one of those passages that modern translations have presented in a way that causes it to say what the original never intended.
 
The King James text reads "turn you to the strong hold, YE PRISONERS OF HOPE.
 
A more modern version reads "Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope." (NLT). Another one reads "return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope." (NASB)
 
Almost every older translation refers to the people as "Prisoners of Hope" which is not the same as prisoners who have hope. You may think it is merely a play on words but it's not.
 
The simple word "of" in the original writing is significant. "Of" is a preposition which indicates origin or source. When a person is a prisoner of hope, it means that hope has the person rather than the person having hope.
 
When God spoke to Zechariah, He referred to the people as Prisoners of Hope. It was at a time when they had actually become hopeless. They had given up on God and had ceased to work at advancing His Kingdom. But God does not depend on their hope to get them to where they needed to be. It is God's hope for them that has arrested them and chained them to Him and their destiny comparable to a prisoner in bonds.
 
As great as it may be, it is not your optimism that will get you through. It's His Omnipotence. You are a Prisoner of Hope.