14 And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!
The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labour, eat up doth a people whom thou hast not known; and thou hast been only oppressed and bruised all the days;
Lo, a whirlwind of Jehovah -- Fury hath gone out, even a piercing whirlwind, On the head of the wicked it stayeth.
and Jehovah hath scattered you among the peoples, and ye have been left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah leadeth you,
Ho, ho, and flee from the land of the north, An affirmation of Jehovah, For, as the four winds of the heavens, I have spread you abroad, An affirmation of Jehovah.
and poured out is My fury, and Mine anger, and it burneth in cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem, and they are for a waste, for a desolation, as `at' this day.
And Jehovah doth appear for them, And gone forth as lightning hath His arrow, And the Lord Jehovah with a trumpet bloweth, And He hath gone with whirlwinds of the south.
Jehovah `is' slow to anger, and great in power, And Jehovah doth not entirely acquit, In a hurricane and in a tempest `is' His way, And a cloud `is' the dust of His feet.
And I have kindled a fire against the wall of Rabbah, And it hath consumed her palaces, With a shout in a day of battle, With a whirlwind in a day of hurricane,
`O Lord, according to all Thy righteous acts, let turn back, I pray Thee, Thine anger and Thy fury from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mount, for by our sins, and by the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people `are' for a reproach to all our neighbours; and now, hearken, O our God, unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, and cause Thy face to shine on Thy sanctuary that `is' desolate, for the Lord's sake. `Incline, O my God, Thine ear, and hear, open Thine eyes and see our desolations, and the city on which Thy name is called; for not for our righteous acts are we causing our supplications to fall before Thee, but for Thy mercies that `are' many.
And from the one of them come forth hath a little horn, and it exerteth itself greatly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous `land';
in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar, hath Nebuzar-Adan chief of the guard removed of Jewish souls, seven hundred forty and five; all the souls `are' four thousand and six hundred.
Lo, a whirlwind of Jehovah -- Fury hath gone forth -- a cutting whirlwind, On the head of the wicked it stayeth.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, evil is going out from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind is stirred up from the sides of the earth. And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are.
At that time it is said of this people, And of Jerusalem: `A dry wind of high places in the wilderness,' The way of the daughter of My people, (Not for winnowing, nor for cleansing,) A full wind from these doth come for Me, Now, also, I speak judgments with them.
The burden of the wilderness of the sea. `Like hurricanes in the south for passing through, From the wilderness it hath come, From a fearful land.
Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
to fulfil the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, till the land hath enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it kept sabbath -- to the fulness of seventy years.
And you I scatter among nations, and have drawn out after you a sword, and your land hath been a desolation, and your cities are a waste.
and sent against you the beast of the field, and it hath bereaved you; and I have cut off your cattle, and have made you few, and your ways have been desolate.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zechariah 7
Commentary on Zechariah 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
We have done with the visions, but not with the revelations of this book; the prophet sees no more such signs as he had seen, but still "the word of the Lord came to him.' In this chapter we have,
And then in the next chapter, having searched the wound, he binds it up, and heals it, with gracious assurances of great mercy God had yet in store for them, by which he would turn their fasts into feasts.
Zec 7:1-7
This occasional sermon, which the prophet preached, and which is recorded in this and the next chapter, was above two years after the former, in which he gave them an account of his visions, as appears by comparing the date of this (v. 1), in the ninth month of the fourth year of Darius, with the date of that (ch. 1:1), in the eighth month of the second year of Darius; not that Zechariah was idle all that while (it is expressly said that he and Haggai continued prophesying till the temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius; Ezra 6:14, 15), but during that time he did not preach any sermon that was afterwards published, and left upon record, as this is. God may be honoured, his work done, and his interest served, by word of mouth as well as by writing; and by inculcating and pressing what has been taught, as well as by advancing something new. Now here we have,
Zec 7:8-14
What was said v. 7, that they should have heard the words of the former prophets, is here enlarged upon, for warning to these hypocritical enquirers, who continued their sins when they asked with great preciseness whether they should continue their fasts. This prophet had before put them in mind of their fathers' disobedience to the calls of the prophets, and what was the consequence of it (ch. 1:4-6), and now here again; for others' harms should be our warnings. God's judgments upon Israel of old for their sins were written for admonition to us Christians (1 Co. 10:11), and the same use we should make of similar providences in our own day.