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
Ecclesiastes 12:5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper…
2 Peter 3:2-4 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and…
Job 14:10-12 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
Psalms 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and s…
Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Ecclesiastes 1:4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: n…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 1:1-6
Here is, I. The foundation of Zechariah's ministry; it is laid in a divine authority: The word of the Lord came to him. He received a divine commission to be God's mouth to the people and with it instructions what to say. He received of the Lord that which also he delivered unto them. The word of the Lord was to him; it came in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, as a real thing, and not a fancy. For the ascertaining of this, we have here, 1. The time when the word of the Lord came first to him, or when the word that next follows came to him: it was in the second year of Darius. Before the captivity the prophets dated their writings by the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel; b…
Your fathers . . . and the prophets, do they live for ever?--In contrast to "My words" (Zac 1:6), which "endure for ever" (Pe1 1:25). "Your fathers have perished, as was foretold; and their fate ought to warn you. But you may say, The prophets too are dead. I grant it, but still My words do not die: though dead, their prophetical words from Me, fulfilled against your fathers, are not dead with them. Beware, then, lest ye share their fate."
Adam Clarke on Zechariah 1:5
Your fathers, where are they? - Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans.
The prophets, do they live for ever? - They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them.
John Gill on Zechariah 1:5
Your fathers, where are they?.... They are not in the land of the living; they perished by the sword of the Chaldeans, or died in captivity:
and the prophets, do they live for ever? meaning either the false prophets, as Hananiah and Shemaiah, Jeremiah 28:17 or the true prophets of the Lord; and the words may be considered as a prevention of an objection the people might make, taken from their prophets dying in common with their fathers; and so the Targum paraphrases them, "and if you should say, the prophets, do they live for ever?" which is followed by Jarchi, and embraced by many interpreters: the answer is, it is true they died; but then their words live, and have had their full accompli…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 5, 6.) Where are your fathers and the prophets? Will they live forever? However, my words and my ordinances that I commanded my servants the prophets, did not your fathers understand them? And they turned and said: Just as the Lord of hosts planned to do to us according to our ways and according to our inventions, He has done to us. LXX: Where are your fathers and the prophets? Will they live forever? However, listen to my words and accept my law, which I command in my spirit to my servants, the prophets who have understood your ancestors. And they answered and said, 'Just as the Lord Almighty was ready to do to us according to our ways and our inventions, so he did to us.' 'Where are,' he said, 'your ancestors who did not listen or pay attention to me?' Where are your prophets? In common it must be heard: Where are your fathers, and where are your prophets? That is, false prophets: for never would it be said of the holy prophets, 'Will they live forever?' And so, those who have sinned and refused to return to me, and those who, while sinning, deceived others with false promises, have been taken away by death, but my words, which I spoke through my prophets, endure forever, which your fathers understood and showed to be true. Your fathers, confirming the fulfillment of the prophecies of my prophets by the outcome of events, turned to repentance and said: As the Lord of hosts foretold, he has dealt with us according to our works and sins. Let us read Daniel confessing in his own person and in the person of the people to the Lord, that they did not want to hear him, and that whatever they have suffered has rightfully befallen them (Dan. III).
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.…
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 1:5, 6
5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
5. Patres vestri, ubi sunt? et prophetas, an in perpetuum vivent?
6. But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
6. Atqui verba mea et statuta mea, quae mandavi servis meis prophetis, annon apprehenderunt patres vestros? et reversi sunt et dixerunt, Sicut cogitaverat Iehova exercituum facere nobis secundum vias nostras, et opera nostra, ita fecit nobiscum.
In what we consider…
A reason for the warning not to resist the words of the Lord, like the fathers, is given in Zac 1:5, Zac 1:6, by an allusion to the fate which they brought upon themselves through their disobedience. Zac 1:5. "Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, can they live for ever? Zac 1:6. Nevertheless my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers, so that they turned and said, As Jehovah purposed to do to us according to our ways and our actions, so has He done to us?" The two questions in Zac 1:5 are meant as denials, and are intended to anticipate the objection which the people might have raised to the admonitions in Zac 1:4, to t…
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).
Rashi on Zechariah 1:5
[As for] your fathers - where are they? See that they suffered an evil blow, with famine, with the sword, and with pestilence.
But the prophets - do they live forever? And if you ask, “the prophets, too where are they? Have they not died?” I [God] will answer you, “Should the prophets have lived forever?” But their end proves that their words were true; for all My words, and the declarations of the decrees of My retribution that I commanded My servants, the prophets, concerning you - did they not overtake your fathers?
