Zechariah 1:4
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Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
In this chapter, after the introduction (Zac 1:1), we have, I. An awakening call to a sinful people to repent of their sins and return to God (Zac 1:2-6). II. Great encouragement given to hope for mercy. 1. By the vision of the horses (Zac 1:7-11). 2. By the prayer of the angel for Jerusalem, and the answer to that prayer (Zac 1:12-17). 3. By the vision of the four carpenters that were employed to cut off the four horns with which Judah and Jerusalem were scattered (Zac 1:18-21).
Open source ↗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).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Again and again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: ‘Turn now, each of you, from your wicked ways, and correct your actions. Do not go after other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I have given to you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.
Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,
“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”
From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.
But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.