Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.
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Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
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Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; but they did not hear, nor attend unto Me, saith the LORD.
Cross-references (45)
Passages linked to Zechariah 1:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Psalms 106:6-7 We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
- Jeremiah 35:15 I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Every one of you must return now from his evil way, amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers:’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.
- Ezekiel 33:11 Tell them, ‘ “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?” ’
- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
- Isaiah 1:16-19 Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;
- Jeremiah 11:6-8 Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.” Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’ ”
- Zechariah 1:3 Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.
- Matthew 3:8-10 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- 2 Chronicles 24:19-22 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh, and they testified against them; but they would not listen. The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’ ” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”
- 2 Chronicles 29:6-10 For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in Yahweh our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes. For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
- 2 Chronicles 30:7 Don’t be like your fathers and like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
- 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept Yahweh’s word, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
- Ezra 9:7 Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
- Nehemiah 9:16 “But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,
- Nehemiah 9:26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.
- Nehemiah 9:30 Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not listen. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
- Isaiah 30:9-11 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law; who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
- Isaiah 31:6 Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel.
- Jeremiah 3:12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.
- Jeremiah 6:16-17 Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’
- Jeremiah 7:3-7 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’ For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more.
- Jeremiah 13:9-10 “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I, will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
- Jeremiah 13:16-18 Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it deep darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive. Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory.
- Jeremiah 17:19-23 Yahweh said this to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. Don’t carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work, but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
- Jeremiah 18:11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.” ’
- Jeremiah 25:3-7 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.” “Yet you have not listened to me,” says Yahweh; “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
- Jeremiah 26:5 to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;
- Jeremiah 36:2-10 “Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them; that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book. Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into Yahweh’s house. Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.” Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book Yahweh’s words in Yahweh’s house. Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh. Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in Yahweh’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people.
- Jeremiah 36:23-24 When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and didn’t tear their garments.
- Jeremiah 44:4-5 However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.” But they didn’t listen and didn’t incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods.
- Jeremiah 44:16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
- Ezekiel 3:7-9 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
- Ezekiel 18:14-17 “Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like; who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.
- Ezekiel 18:30-32 “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!
- Hosea 14:1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.
- Amos 5:13-15 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
- Amos 5:24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
- Micah 2:6 “Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
- Zechariah 7:11-13 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;
- Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Acts 7:51-52 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.
- Acts 26:20 but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- 1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In order to correct and to subdue the obstinacy…
In order to correct and to subdue the obstinacy of the people, he here upbraids them with having descended from wicked and perverse parents. The Jews, we know, too much flattered themselves; and we know that they were especially inflated with the vain boasting that they derived their origin from the holy fathers. But the Prophets had something else in view. We indeed know that when anything becomes customary, almost all become hardened and flatter themselves in their vice; for immorality is then counted almost as the law, and what is sanctioned by public consent seems lawful. Since then they had not ceased for many years to provoke the wrath of God, it was necessary to add this reproof, Be not like your fathers: for they no doubt imagined that God approved of them, as they were not worse than their fathers. But God shows that their fathers had been very wicked and perverse.
Let us learn from this passage, that the examples which are wont to be set up as a shield are so far from being of any weight before God, that they enhance our guilt: and yet we see that this folly infatuates many; for at this day the religion of the Papists seems to them holy and irreprehensible, because it has been handed down to them by their fathers. Hence, whenever they bring forward the fathers, they think it a sufficient defense against the charge of any errors. But nothing occurs more frequently in the Prophets than the truth, that examples tend more to kindle the wrath of God, when some men become the occasion of sin to others, and when posterity think that whatever has proceeded from their fathers is lawful.
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But we must at the same time bear in mind the design of the Prophet, for he did not intend simply to show, that the Jews in vain alleged the examples of the ancient; but, as I have said, he intended to shake off their self-flatteries by which they lulled themselves asleep; and he intended especially to put down those evil practices, which by long use had prevailed among them. This then is the reason why he says, Be not like your fathers. The Spirit employs the same sentiment in many other places, especially in the ninety- fifth Psalm (Psalm 95:1), and also in other Psalms.
Then he says, that the Prophets, who had been sent by God, had cried to their fathers, but that they did not attend. As then contempt of the truth had for so many ages prevailed among the Jews, and as this impiety was not duly abhorred by them, since they thought themselves to be as it were in perpetual possession — these are the reasons why the Prophet expressly upbraids them with this, that God’s word had been formerly despised by their nation — cry then did the former Prophets. He also exaggerates again their crime and their sin, because God had often recalled them to himself but without success. Had the Prophets been silent, and had God applied no remedy for their defection, their ingratitude would not indeed have been excusable; but since Prophets had often been sent to them, in succession, one after the other, and each had endeavored to restore the wretched men to a state of safety, not to attend to their holy and serious admonitions, by which God manifested his care for their well-being, was a much more atrocious crime.
We hence learn, that when we find any people prone to this or that vice, it ought to be resisted with greater diligence; for Satan almost always employs this artifice — that when he finds us prone to this or that vice, he directs all his efforts to drive us headlong into it.
As then the Prophets had been for a long time despised by the Jews, Zechariah designedly brings before them that perverseness which had been too long known. cry then did the former Prophets, saying Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, return ye, I pray, from your evil ways, and from your evil works; but they heard not nor attended. After having spoken of God’s kind invitation, which was a singular pledge of his love, since he thus manifested his concern for their safety, he shows on the other hand how unworthily the Jews had conducted themselves, for they obstinately rejected this favor of God. They were indeed more than sufficiently proved guilty; for by saying, Return ye, I pray, from your evil ways and from your evil works, he assumes it as a fact that the reproofs given were just. And he farther says, that they refused to hear. Hence their perverseness was less endurable; for though they were self-condemned, they did not yet repent, nor deigned to hearken to God. And he subjoins the words, nor did they attend; for by this repetition is more fully expressed, not only their stupidity, but their strange madness, inasmuch as they had so rejected God, and closed up the door of his favor, as though they sought designedly to drive him far from them, lest he should come to them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto…
Zec 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and [from] your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
Ver. 4. Be ye not as your fathers] Man is a creature apt to imitate, to be led more by his eyes than by his ears; and children think they may lawfully be as their fathers. St Peter’s converts had received their vain conversation from their fathers, as it were, ex traduce, or by tradition, 1Pe 1:18. And St Stephen tells his perverse hearers that they were as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as their fathers had been before them, Act 7:51. They used to boast much of their ancestors, Joh 8:33, and to bind much upon their example and authority, Jer 44:17 Mat 5:21. They thought they were not much to be blamed, because they did but as their fathers had done before them. The prophet therefore dehorts or rather deters them from that folly; setting forth both the crime and doom of their forefathers, whom they so much admired, and so stiffly imitated, and this he often repeateth that they might once consider it, and be wrought upon by those domestic examples.
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Have cried] Loudly and lustily; according to that, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet," Isa 58:1 : sic clames ut stentora vineas, A minister should be a Simon Zelotes, a son of thunder; as Basil was said to thunder in his preaching, lightning in his life; as Jerome for his vehemence was called Fulmen Ecclesiasticum, the Church’s light bolt; as Harding, before his shameful apostasy, wished he could cry out against Popery as loud as the bells of Oseney; and as Farellus (that notable French preacher), whose voice when the envious monks sought to drown by ringing the bells as he was preaching at Metis, he lifted up his voice ad ravim usque; and would not suffer himself to be outroared. The saint’s bell (as they called it) Pierius useth for a hieroglyphic of a preacher, who must not speak the word only, but sound it out into all the earth, Rom 10:18, not preach it only, but cry it, as the apostle’s word signifieth, 2Ti 4:2, clangite, clamate, Jer 4:5. Boate, vociferate, Mat 3:3 (Bοωντος, boantis, vociferantis). Ministers have to do with deaf men, dead men, living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. Now therefore as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said, "Lazarus, come forth"; so must they stand over men and cry aloud, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, that Christ may give thee light," Eph 5:14.
Turn you now from your evil ways, &c.] This was the constant cry of the prophets, as here, and apostles, as Act 26:18, to open men’s eyes (naturally closed up that they cannot see the evil of their ways, Jer 2:35 Rev 3:15), to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.
And from your evil doings] Heb. Designs, gests, or exercises, enterprised advisedly, and prosecuted studiously, of natural disposition and inclination, as Pro 20:11 1Sa 25:3. This St John usually calleth committing of sin, 1Jn 3:4; 1Jn 3:8-9 Joh 8:34; this is to add rebellion to sin, Job 34:37, impudence to impotence, brows of brass to iron sinews, Isa 48:4. This is wickedness with a witness, which if men could but see in its native colours and cursed consequents, they would soon be persuaded to turn from it. As the eye cannot but be offended with a loathsome object, so neither can the understanding. Take rat poison, it looketh not evil; but when a man feels it boil, burn, torture him, &c., he hates it extremely. So he should do sin; he will do else at length, when it is too late. For prevention: take the counsel of a martyr, get thee God’s law, as a glass to look in. So shall you see your faces foul arrayed, and so shameful, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof, and seek out for cure; especially if you look to the tag tied to God’s law, the malediction; which is such, as cannot but make us to cast our currish tails between our legs, if we believe it. But O faithless hard hearts! O Jezebel’s guests, rocked and laid asleep in her bed! O wicked wretches! &c.
But they did not hear] Though the prophets cried, and spake loud enough to be heard and heeded. A heavy ear is a singular judgment, Isa 6:10; a hearing ear, a precious mercy, Pro 20:12. God must be entreated to bore our ear, Psa 40:6, and to make the bore so big that the word may enter; to say as Isa 42:18, Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Be ye; you who have seen the sorrows of…
Be ye; you who have seen the sorrows of a long captivity, who are wonderfully brought back, who are under the teachings of rod and staff.
The former prophets; all the former prophets, 2Ch 36:15,16.
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Cried; preached earnestly, frequently, and compassionately.
Turn ye now from your evil ways; now, to-day, yet before it is too late, O turn from vicious, sinful courses and ways; from your atheism, idolatry, murders, oppressions, and adulteries.
And from your evil doings: it is repeated that it might be more impressive upon them. The prophets importunately entreated them to cease from evil, Isa 1:16; 31:6 Jer 3:12; Eze 18:30; Hos 14:1.
They did not hear; they did not because they would not, they regarded not what I said by my prophets, neither could they be persuaded to it.
Nor hearken unto me: this obstinate disobedience is twice together charged on them, to make their sin appear in its greatness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Be ye not as your fathers,.... Who lived before…
Be ye not as your fathers,.... Who lived before the captivity, and misused the prophets and messengers of the Lord, and despised his word, and fell into gross idolatry; the evil examples of parents and ancestors are not to be followed:
unto whom the former prophets have cried: such as Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others:
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saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; by their "evil ways" may be meant their idolatrous worship; and by their "evil doings" their immoralities; or, by both, their wicked lives and conversations, both before God and men; from whence they were exhorted by the former prophets to turn, and to reform; even "now", at that present time they prophesied to them, immediately, lest destruction come upon them:
but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord; speaking by his prophets, who were sent by him, and came and spoke in his name; so that not hearing them was not hearing him who sent them, and whom they represented.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Be ye not like your fathers - Strangely infectious…
Be ye not like your fathers - Strangely infectious is the precedent of ill. Tradition of good, of truth, of faith, is decried; only tradition of ill and error are adhered to. The sin of Jeroboam was held sacred by every king of Israel: “The statutes of Omri were diligently kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab” Mic 6:16. “They turned back and were treacherous like their forefathers; they turned themselves like a deceitful bow” Psa 78:57, is God’s summary of the history of Israel. Cyril: “Absurd are they who follow the ignorances of their fathers, and ever plead inherited custom as an irrefragable defense, though blamed for extremest ills. So idolaters especially, being called to the knowledge of the truth, ever bear in mind the error of their fathers and, embracing their ignorance as an hereditary lot, remain blind.”
The former prophets - The prophets spake God’s words, as well in their pastoral office as in predicting things to come, in enforcing God’s law and in exhorting to repentance, as in announcing the judgments on disobedience. The predictive as well as the pastoral office were united in Nathan 2Sa 7:4-16; 2Sa 12:1-14, Gad 1Sa 22:5; 1Sa 24:11, Shemaiah 2Ch 11:2-4; 2Ch 12:5-8, Azariah 2 Chr. 15, Hanani 2Ch 16:7-9, Elijah 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 17:14; 1Ki 18:1, 1Ki 18:41; 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 21:21, 1Ki 21:23, 1Ki 21:29; 2Ki 1:4, 2Ki 1:16, Elisha 2Ki 3:17-18; 2Ki 4:16; 2Ki 5:27; 2Ki 7:1-2; 2Ki 8:10-13; 2Ki 13:14-19, Micaiah the son of Imla, whose habitual predictions against Ahab induced Ahab to say 1Ki 22:8, “I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” The specific calls to conversion here named and their fruitlessness, are summed up by Jeremiah as words of all the prophets. For ten years he says, “The word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil ways and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever; and go not after other gods to serve and worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no hurt. But ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard My words ...” Jer 25:3-8. The prophetic author of the book of Kings sums up in like way, of “all the prophets and all the seers.” “The Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets, and they did not hear, and hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers” 2Ki 17:13.
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The characteristic word, “turn from your evil ways and the evil of your doings” occurring in Jeremiah, it is probable, that this summary was chiefly in the mind of Zechariah, and that he refers not to Isaiah, Joel, Amos etc., (as all the prophets were preachers of repentance), but to the whole body of teachers, whom God raised up, analogous to the Christian ministry, to recall people to Himself.
The title, “the former prophets,” contrasts the office of Haggai and Zechariah, not with definite prophets before the captivity, but with the whole company of those, whom God sent as He says, so unremittingly.
And they hearkened not unto Me - Jerome: “They heard not the Lord warning through the prophets, attended not - not to the prophets who spake to them but - not to Me, saith the Lord. For I was in them who spake and was despised. Whence also the Lord in the Gospel saith, “He that receiveth you, receiveth Me” Mat 10:40.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Be ye not as your fathers--The Jews boasted of…
Be ye not as your fathers--The Jews boasted of their fathers; but he shows that their fathers were refractory, and that ancient example and long usage will not justify disobedience (Ch2 36:15-16).
the former prophets--those who lived before the captivity. It aggravated their guilt that, not only had they the law, but they had been often called to repent by God's prophets.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4-6. Similar appeals were made to former generations, but…
4-6. Similar appeals were made to former generations, but they would not heed; therefore they were cut off.
The former prophets — All the predecessors of Zechariah. They all with one accord urged the people to hate the evil and love the good. It is not necessary to suppose that the prophet has in mind any particular prophet or any particular utterance (compare Hos_14:2; Eze_33:11; 2Ki_17:13; Amo_5:14). The fathers did not hearken, and judgment overtook them.
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Where are they?… do they live forever? — The fathers are dead and even the prophets have passed away, but the words which the latter spoke and the former neglected proved true, for the threatened destruction came.
Words — Especially of threatening (Jer_39:16; Eze_12:28).
Statutes — Not a legal term as in Mal_4:4, but practically identical with the preceding “word”; the judicial decrees of Jehovah proclaimed by the prophets.
My servants the prophets — The “former prophets” (Zec_1:4). The prophets are frequently called the servants of God or of Jehovah, because it was their office to execute the purpose of their divine Master. Take hold of [“overtake”] — “The judgments decreed by Jehovah resemble messengers sent out by Jehovah to pursue and destroy the sinners” (Deu_28:15; Deu_28:45). The climax was the exile.
They returned — Though the judgments did not produce a complete change of heart, they did open the eyes of the people so that they recognized that they were sent by Jehovah in punishment for their own sins (Lam_2:17; Ezr_9:5 ff.). The experience of the fathers should teach a lesson to the children.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. the former prophets have cried] Rather, cried, as…
4. the former prophets have cried] Rather, cried, as R.V. The reference is not to any one particular prophet or prophets, in whose writings words similar to these may be found; but to the whole body of prophets, who had preceded Zechariah and Haggai, and of whose message in the discharge of the didactic, as distinguished from the predictive function of their office, the substance is here given. Comp. Jer_7:25-26.
now] i.e. I pray.
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unto me] whose word, and not their own, the prophets spoke. Comp. Luk_10:16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) The former prophets—viz., those who prophesied when Jerusalem…
(4) The former prophets—viz., those who prophesied when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (Zec_7:7), before the captivity. LXX., οἱ πατέρες ἔμπροσθεν [to whom] the prophets before [enjoined], which is inaccurate. Οἱ προϕῆται οἱ ἔμπροσθεν, “the prophets of former times,” would have been correct.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The former prophets have cried. Omit "have." The prophets…
The former prophets have cried. Omit "have." The prophets referred to are those before the Captivity, both those whoso writings are extant, as Hosea, Joel, Amos, etc., and those whose names are mentioned in the historical books, e.g. Nathan, Gad, Shemaiah, Azariah, Hanaui, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah (Pusey). (See similar complaints in 2Ki_17:13 2Ch_36:15, etc.; Jer_25:3-8, which last passage seems to have been in Zechariah"s mind)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Turn from your evil ways and wicked practices
Turn from your evil ways and wicked practices
No longer doing certain actions is spoken of as if it were turning away from those actions. The phrases "evil ways" and "wicked practices" mean basically the same thing. AT: "Stop doing all of your wicked actions" (See: Metaphor and Doublet)
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But they would not hear and did not pay attention to me
Both of these phrases mean that the people of Israel would not obey the commands of Yahweh. AT: "But they would not listen to my commands" (See: Parallelism)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated a similar phrase in Zechariah 1:3. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
Your fathers, where are they? Where are the prophets, are they here forever?
These two rhetorical questions emphasize that both their ancestors and the prophets who proclaimed Yahweh's message to their ancestors have died. The questions can be translated as a statement. AT: "Neither your fathers nor the prophets are here because they have all died." (See: Rhetorical Question)
But my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers?
This rhetorical question emphasizes the positive answer that it anticipates. Yahweh speaks of the people's ancestors experiencing the consequences of not obeying Yahweh's commands as if his words and decrees were a person who had chased after and overtaken them. The question can be translated as a statement. AT: "But my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets have overtaken your fathers." or "But your fathers have suffered the consequences for disobeying my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets to tell them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
my words and my decrees
These phrases are both ways to refer to Yahweh's message that the prophets had declared to their ancestors. (See: Doublet)
our ways and actions
The words "ways" and "actions" mean basically the same thing. AT: "our behavior" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
ancestor
evil
declare
word
decree
command
servant
repent
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:4 Before the Exile, earlier prophets actively called Judah…
1:4 Before the Exile, earlier prophets actively called Judah and Israel to repentance. Zechariah especially reflects the prophetic influence of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. • ancestors who would not listen: The people of Israel (2 Kgs 17:13-14) and Judah (2 Chr 36:15-16) were taken into exile because they stubbornly refused to heed the word of the Lord (cp. 2 Chr 30:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.