Zechariah 1:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 1:11
And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
angel
מַלְאַ֣ךְmal.'Akh
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
stood
הָֽעֹמֵד֙ha.'o.Med
H5975
to stand · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
trees
הַהֲדַסִּ֔יםha.ha.da.Sim
H1918
the myrtle · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
said
וַיֹּאמְר֖וּvai.yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
fro
הִתְהַלַּ֣כְנוּhit.ha.Lakh.nu
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, hithpael perfect, 1st person common plural
earth
בָאָ֑רֶץva.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
earth
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
still
יֹשֶׁ֥בֶתyo.She.vet
H3427
properly · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
rest
וְשֹׁקָֽטֶתve.sho.Ka.tet
H8252
to repose (usually figurative) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Zechariah 1:10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth…
Psalms 103:20-21 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Zechariah 1:8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were t…
Zechariah 1:15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
Matthew 24:30-31 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of…
Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Isaiah 14:7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Daniel 10:20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, l…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 1:7-17
We not come to visions and revelations of the Lord; for in that way God chose to speak by Zechariah, to awaken the people's attention, and to engage their humble reverence of the word and their humble enquiries into it, and to fix it the more in their minds and memories. Most of the following visions seem designed for the comfort of the Jews, now newly returned out of captivity, and their encouragement to go on with the building of the temple. The scope of this vision (which is as an introduction to the rest) is to assure the Jews of the care God took of them, and the eye of his providence that was upon them for good, now in their present state, when they seem to be deserted, and their case…
The attendant angels report to the Lord of angels, "the earth . . . is at rest." The flourishing state of the heathen "earth," while Judah was desolate and its temple not yet restored, is the powerful plea in the Divine Angel's intercession with God the Father in Zac 1:12. When Judah was depressed to the lowest point, and the heathen elated to the highest, it was time for Jehovah to work for His people.
sitteth still--dwells surely.
Adam Clarke on Zechariah 1:11
All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest - There is general peace through the Persian empire, and other states connected with Judea; but the Jews are still in affliction; their city is not yet restored, nor their temple built.
John Gill on Zechariah 1:11
And they answered the Angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said,.... That is, the ministering angels, signified by the red horses, speckled, and white, replied to what the Angel of the Lord had said concerning them; or rather agreed to and confirmed his account of them; or else gave up the account of their tour through the earth, with their observations upon the state of it:
We have walked to and fro through the earth; according to their mission and commission:
and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest; was free from wars, as it was in the reign of Darius; though the people of the Jews were infested with enemies, who gave them trouble, and hindered all t…
The Church Fathers
"And the devil came with them." What are you saying? "With the angels?" He who rebelled, who dishonored himself? Do not worry, my dear; this is an image, a figure. It is like another passage in the [First] Book of Kings, where it is said, "And there came forth an evil spirit, and the Lord said, 'Who will deceive Ahab?' " And the spirit responded: "I will deceive him," and he indicates it in such a way. The Scripture often takes on an anthropomorphic character.… The angels came, according to the text, and the devil came with them having compassed the earth and walked around in the subcelestial regions. What do we understand by that? That the earth is filled with demons and angels, and that both are under the power of God; and that the angels present themselves before God, from whom they receive orders; and that the devil can do nothing to please himself, if he has not received permission for it from above. For if he has totally rejected the bridle and is no longer in service to God, he is not in the least held back by fear as by a bit which restrains him from using his own power. But note this: whereas the angels present themselves as servants who render an account to him of their doings, as one can see in Zechariah, the devil has nothing to say to him. Consequently the expression "he came with them" means nothing else but that he too is dependent on God.… What does the expression therefore signify? It signifies that he is with them in the world. In the same way as deceitful people and good people are mixed, so are the angels and the demons.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Myrtle — (Isa. 41:19; Neh. 8:15; Zech. 1:8), Hebrew hadas, known in the East by the name as, the Myrtus communis of the botanist. “Although no myrtles are now found on the mount (of Olives), excepting in the…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Zechariah 1:7-11
7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
7. Die vicesima quarta undecimi mensis, hic est mensis Sebath, anno secundo Darii, fuit sermo Iehovae ad Zachariam, filium Berechiae, filii Addo (vel, Iddo,) Prophetae, (vel, Prophetam; sed melius quadrat accusativus,) dicendo,
8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
8. Vidi nocte, et ecce vir equitans super equum rufum,…
Zac 1:8. "I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtles which were in the hollow; and behind him red, speckled, and white horses. Zac 1:9. And I said, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me said to me, I will show thee what these are. Zac 1:10. And the man who stood among the myrtles answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to go through the earth. Zac 1:11. And they answered the angel of Jehovah who stood among the myrtles, and said, We have gone through the earth, and, behold, the whole earth sits still, and at rest. Zac 1:12. Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt Thou not…
