I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
I will hiss for them, and gather them. Keepers of bees by a whistle call them together. So Yahweh, by the mere word of His call, shall gather back to Palestine His scattered people (Zechariah 10:10; Isaiah 5:26; Ezekiel 36:11). The multitudes mentioned by Josephus (B. 3, Zechariah 3:2), as peopling Galilee two hundred years after this time, were a pledge of the future more perfect fulfillment of the prophecy.
For I have redeemed them - namely, in my covenant-purpose "I have redeemed them," both temporally and spiritually.
As they have increased - in former times.