Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by
the house of Israel
Besought and prayed unto for the accomplishment of the above promises, as well as what follows: for though God has promised and will perform, yet he expects that his people will apply to him for it; it is our duty to put the Lord in mind of his promises, to plead them with him, and pray unto him for the fulfilment of them. The Syriac version is, "even for this I seek Israel"; and so the Arabic version; as if the sense was, that the Lord will seek the people of Israel wherever they are, and find them out, and call them by his grace, and gather them out of all countries, and bring them into their own land: "to do it for them"; everything before promised, and what next follows: I will increase them with men like a flock;
as a flock of sheep is increased, which is a very increasing creature: or, "as a flock of men" {p}; it signifies that the people of the Jews will be very numerous at their conversion; see ( Hosea 1:10 ) .