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Zechariah 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.

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 ().

Unto whom the former prophets have cried - those who lived before the captivity. It aggravated their guilt that, not only had they the law, but had been often called to repent by God's prophets.

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See also Zechariah 1:4 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    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 h...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS 1. THE NIGHT VISIONS CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Zechariah 1:1) _ 2. The first night vision (Zechariah 1:7) 3. The second night vision (Zechariah 1:18)...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    This rebuke (see above, p. 575) seems inconsistent with a date five weeks or more after work had been begun at the Temple and at least ten days after the prophecy in Haggai 2:1. The clumsy handiwork o...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THE FORMER PROPHETS: i.e. Joshua to. Kings. See App-1 and App-78. EVIL. wicked. Hebrew. _raa_ `. App-44. SAITH. hath said. SAITH THE LORD. [is] Jehovah's oracle....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _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...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The call to Repentance. Zechariah's first message is one of warning, by the example of their fathers and the earlier prophets. On their fathers, as they well knew, the displeasure of Almighty God had...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1237 AN EXHORTATION TO TURN TO GOD Zechariah 1:3. Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hos...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    CHAPTER XXVI INTRODUCTION TO SECTION I Zechariah 1:1-6 RV. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the proph...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    LESSONS FROM THE PAST. THE FIRST AND SECOND VISIONS 1-6. The Prophet's message. He calls the people to repentance. 8-17. The First Vision: The Divine Messengers ever watching over the affairs of the...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD REMEMBERS HIS PROMISES ZECHARIAH _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ ‘The *prophet (Zechariah) said that these events would happen. And these events did happen.’ (Matthew 21:4) (A *prophet tells people what G...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE FORMER PROPHETS — viz., those who prophesied when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (Zechariah 7:7), before the captivity. LXX., οἱ πατέρες ἔμπροσθεν [to whom] the prophets before [enjoine...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (1-6) On the four-and-twentieth day of the sixth mouth of the second year (B.C. 520) of Darius Hystaspis, the re-building of the Temple had been resumed (Haggai 1:15); and in the seventh month, on the...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אַל ־תִּהְי֣וּ כַ אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֡ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר קָרְאֽוּ...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET Zechariah 1:1; Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14 ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    A VISION OF PARDON AND RESTORATION Zechariah 1:1-17 Zechariah does not slur over the sins of the past, but lays stress on the divine forgiveness. His only fear is lest God should call in vain, and th...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    About a month after Haggai's second message, in which he had encouraged the people who were in danger of being disheartened by the memory of the past, Zechariah uttered his first prophetic word. He ga...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    "The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. (3) Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LOR...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Lectures on the Minor Prophets. W. Kelly. Zechariah was plainly a contemporary of Haggai. Like him he dates his prophecies from the second imperial power of the Gentiles; but he goes a great deal far...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    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 kn...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The Spirit of God begins with an exhortation, founded on the proofs that the history of the people supplied of the manner in which the word of the prophets had taken hold of them. Jehovah's displeasur...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    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 an...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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 hear...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Therefore say_ Rather, _but say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Turn ye unto me_ The word _turn_, as it related to the people, signified that they should change their corrupt manners and turn to...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Be ye not as your fathers, those before the exile, 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, this being...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    A CALL TO REPENTANCE...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    GOD'S CALL TO RETURN TO HIM (vv. 1-6) Zechariah's name means "Jehovah remembers." He was the son of Berechiah ("Jehovah blesses") who was the son of Iddo ("the appointed time"). Israel had long been...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-6 God's almighty power and sovereign dominion, should engage and encourage sinners to repent and turn to Him. It is very desirable to have the Lord of hosts for our friend, and very dreadful to hav...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    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, 2 CHRONICLES 36:...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Zechariah 1:4 fathers H1 former H7223 prophets H5030 preached H7121 (H8804) saying H559 (H8800) says H559 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    GOD'S CALL TO THE PEOPLE TO RETURN TO HIM AND LIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO HIS DEMANDS - THE OFFER OF A NEW BEGINNING (ZECHARIAH 1:1). Zechariah is the prophet of the new beginning, but as is always so with...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Zechariah's symbolic visions, warning of Jehovah's dispreasure with the nations. CHARACTERS: God, Darius, Zechariah. CONCLUSION: The judgments of God which those who went before us were un...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Zechariah 1:1. _Zechariah;_ that is, the memory of God; a name which might seem prophetic, for the Lord remembered his people while yet in Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and acted in concer...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Turn ye unto Me. .. and I will turn unto you._ THE DIVINE ORDER OF ALL TRUE PROGRESS The first step is at all times to turn to the Lord; the second follows, “turn you now from your evil ways, and fr...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ZECHARIAH—NOTE ON ZECHARIAH 1:1 Oracles and Visions. Zechariah’s sequence of visions in Zechariah 1:7 is interrupted by an oracle of restoration ...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.] ZECHARIAH 1:2. SORE] Lit. displeased with displeasure, wrath not common, whose greatness is given as a ground for their return. ZECHARIAH 1:3. THEREFORE] Lit. and thou sayest, or mus...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION VERSE 1-6:15 Part I. A SERIES OF EIGHT VISIONS, AND A SYMBOLICAL ACTION. ZECHARIAH 1:1 § 1. _Title of the book, and author. _THE EIGHTH MONTH. This was called Bul before the Captivit

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we tonight now get into our study in the book of Zechariah beginning with chapter 1. Now if you remember when we studied the book of Haggai last week, Haggai was dating his prophesies in the sec...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Peter 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; 2 Chronicles 24:19;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE MAN AMONG THE MYRTLE TREES Zechariah 1:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The visions have to do primarily with God's dealings with His chosen people Israel. They will, however, be full of lessons for the sai...

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