Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 8:10

"For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the adversary: for I set all men every one against his neighbor." — Zechariah 8:10 (ASV)

Before ... there was no hire for man, or cattle, because the land was so unproductive (Haggai 1:6, Haggai 1:9–11); but from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid ... from this day will I bless you (Haggai 2:18–19). Septuagint, ὁ μισθὸς ... οὺκ ἔσται εἰς ὄνησιν, “the hire ... would not be profitable,” reading the Hebrew verb, “was not,” as an Aramaic future, “will not be profitable.”

The affliction. —Better, the enemy. Not only were they oppressed by their neighboring adversaries, but also during the time before their energetic resumption of the work of rebuilding, the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt occurred, when the march of the Persian hosts southward through Palestine must have caused much distress to the Jews in their difficult circumstances.