King James Version
Zechariah 7
14 verses with commentary
Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu.</strong> This precise dating formula grounds divine revelation in historical reality. The fourth year of Darius I corresponds to 518 BC, exactly two years after Zechariah's initial night visions (1:7). The ninth month, <em>Kislev</em> (...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**37. Neither ... regard ... the desire of women--**(Compare Eze 24:16, 18). The wife, as the desire of man's eyes, is the symbol of the tenderest relations (2Sa 1:26). Antiochus would set at naught even their entreaties that he should cease from his attack on Jehovah's worship [Polanus]. Maurer refers it to Antiochus' attack on the temple of the Syrian Venus, worshipped by women (1 Maccabees 6:1,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, pray: Heb. intreat the face of
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD.</strong> This verse introduces the delegation that prompted God's extended response in chapters 7-8. The phrase <strong>"sent unto the house of God"</strong> (<em>vayishlach bet-El</em>, וַיִּשְׁלַח בֵּית־אֵל) can be translated either "sent to Bethel" (the city) or "sent to the house...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**38. God of forces--**probably Jupiter Capitolinus, to whom Antiochus began to erect a temple at Antioch [Livy, 41.20]. Translate, "He shall honor the god of fortresses on his basis," that is, the base of the statue. Newton translates, "And the god 'Mahuzzim' (guardians, that is, saints adored as 'protectors' in the Greek and Roman churches) shall he honor."
**honour with gold, &c.--**Compa...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?</strong> The delegation's question reveals both commendable devotion and potential misunderstanding. They addressed <strong>"the priests... and to the prophets"</strong>—the twin authoritative sourc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
39. Newton translates, "to be defenders of Mahuzzim (the monks and priests who uphold saint worship), together with the strange god whom he shall acknowledge, he shall multiply honor." English Version is better: He shall do (exploits) in the most strongholds (that is, shall succeed against them) with a strange god (under the auspices of a god which he worshipped not before, namely, Jupiter Capitol...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying.</strong> This transitional verse marks a shift from the delegation's question to God's authoritative answer. The formula <strong>"came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me"</strong> (<em>vayehi debar-Yahweh Tzeva'ot elay lemor</em>, וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֵלַי לֵאמֹר) introduces divine revelation with full prophetic authorit...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
40. The difficulty of reconciling this with Antiochus' history is that no historian but Porphyry mentions an expedition of his into Egypt towards the close of his reign. This Da 11:40, therefore, may be a recapitulation summing up the facts of the first expedition to Egypt (171-170 B.C.), in Da 11:22, 25; and Da 11:41, the former invasion of Judea, in Da 11:28; Da 11:42, 43, the second and third i...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
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KJV Study Commentary
God's challenging question about religious fasting: 'Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?' The fasts commemorated Jerusalem's destruction: fifth month (temple burning, 2 Kings 25:8-9), seventh month (Gedaliah's assassination, 2 Kings 25:25). For...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
41. Antiochus, according to Porphyry, marching against Ptolemy, though he turned from his course to wreak his wrath on the Jews, did not meddle with Edom, Moab, and Ammon on the side of Judea. In 1 Maccabees 4:61; 5:3; &c., it is stated that he used their help in crushing the Jews, of whom they were the ancient enemies. Compare Is 11:14, as to Israel's future retribution, just as the Maccabees...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? did not ye: or, be not ye they that
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?</strong>—God responds to the delegation's fasting question (7:1-3) by probing motives. The Hebrew <em>vəkhī 'akhōl 'akhaltem vəkhī shātōh shəthītem hălō' 'attem hā'ōkhəlīm və'attem hashshōthīm</em> (וְכִי אָכוֹל אֲכַלְתֶּם וְכִי שָׁתֹה שְׁתִיתֶם הֲלוֹא אַתֶּם הָאֹכְלִים וְאַתֶּם הַשֹּׁתִים,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**42-43. Egypt ... Libyans ... Ethiopians--**The latter two, being the allies of the first, served under Antiochus when he conquered Egypt. Antitypically, Egypt, though it held out long under the Mamelukes, in A.D. 1517 fell under the Turks. Algiers, Tunis, and other parts of Africa, are still under them.
**at his steps--**following him (Ex 11:8, Margin; Jud 4:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? Should: or, Are not these the words by: Heb. by the hand of
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?</strong>—God redirects from ritual questions to prophetic imperatives. <em>Hălō' et-haddəḇārīm 'asher qārā' Yahweh bəyaḏ hannəḇī'īm hāri'shonīm</em> (הֲלוֹא אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר ק...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**42-43. Egypt ... Libyans ... Ethiopians--**The latter two, being the allies of the first, served under Antiochus when he conquered Egypt. Antitypically, Egypt, though it held out long under the Mamelukes, in A.D. 1517 fell under the Turks. Algiers, Tunis, and other parts of Africa, are still under them.
**at his steps--**following him (Ex 11:8, Margin; Jud 4:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
The manifold sins of Israel. (Hos. 7:1-7) Their senselessness and hypocrisy. (Hos. 7:8-16)
**Verses 1-7** A practical disbelief of God's government was at the bottom of all israel's wickedness; as if God could not see it or did not heed it. Their sins appear on every side of them. Their hearts were inflamed by evil desires, like a heated oven. In the midst of their troubles as a na...
Read full commentary →And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying</strong>—A new oracle begins, continuing the theme of obedience versus ritual. The formula <em>vayəhī dəḇar-Yahweh 'el-Zəḵaryāh lē'mōr</em> (וַיְהִי דְּבַר־יְהוָה אֶל־זְכַרְיָה לֵאמֹר, 'and the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying') marks transition. This isn't Zechariah's opinion but divine revelation. The following verses (7:9-14)...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**44. tidings out of the east and out of the north--**Artaxias, king of Armenia, his vassal, had revolted in the north, and Arsaces, leader of the Parthians, in the east (1 Maccabees 3:10, &c., 1 Maccabees 3:37; Tacitus, Histories, 5.8). In 147 B.C. Antiochus went on the expedition against them, on the return from which he died.
**great fury--**at the Jews, on account of their successes unde...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: Execute: Heb. Judge judgment of truth
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother</strong>—God specifies what the former prophets preached. <em>Kōh 'āmar Yahweh Tsəḇā'ōt lē'mōr mishpaṭ 'emet shiphṭū vəchesed vərachamīm 'ăśū 'īsh et-'āchīw</em> (כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לֵאמֹר מִשְׁפַּט אֱמֶת שִׁפְטוּ וְחֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים עֲשׂוּ אִישׁ אֶת־אָחִיו, 'Thus ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**45. plant ... between the seas--**the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean.
**tabernacles of ... palace--**his palace-like military tents, such as Oriental princes travel with. See on Da 11:40, as to the time of Antiochus' attack on Judea, and his subsequent "end" at Tabes, which was caused by chagrin both at hearing that his forces under Lysias were overcome by the Jews, and at the failure of his e...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor</strong> (וְאַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם גֵּר וְעָנִי אַל־תַּעֲשֹׁקוּ, <em>ve'almanah veyatom ger ve'ani al-ta'ashoqu</em>)—God's social ethic targets society's most vulnerable. The verb <em>ashaq</em> (עָשַׁק) means to extort, defraud, or oppress through injustice. The four categories—<em>almanah</em> (widow), <em>yatom</em> ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. pulled: Heb. they gave a backsliding shoulder stopped: Heb. made heavy
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder</strong> (וַיְמָאֲנוּ לְהַקְשִׁיב וַיִּתְּנוּ כָתֵף סֹרָרֶת, <em>vayma'anu lehaqshiv vayitnu chatef soraret</em>)—Israel's response to prophetic warning was deliberate defiance. The verb <em>ma'en</em> (מָאֵן) means to refuse stubbornly, reject willfully. <em>Haqshiv</em> (הַקְשִׁיב) means to pay attention, give heed—they actively c...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 12 Da 12:1-13. Conclusion of the Vision (Tenth through Twelfth Chapters) AND Epilogue to the Book.
Compare Da 12:4, 13; as Da 12:6, 7 refer to Da 7:25, that is, to the time of Antichrist, so the subsequent Da 12:8-12 treat of the time of Antiochus (compare Da 12:11 with Da 11:31), thus putting together in one summary view the two great periods of distress. The political resurrection of t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. by: Heb. by the hand of
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone</strong> (וְלִבָּם שָׂמוּ שָׁמִיר)—the Hebrew <em>shamir</em> denotes the hardest known substance, harder than flint, used metaphorically for willful, incorrigible rebellion. Israel refused to hear <strong>the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets</strong>—God's Word came through the Spirit'...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. many ... that sleep--**"many from among the sleepers ... these shall be unto everlasting life; but those (the rest of the sleepers who do not awake at this time) shall be unto shame" [Tregelles]. Not the general resurrection, but that of those who share in the first resurrection; the rest of the dead being not to rise till the end of the thousand years (Re 20:3, 5, 6; compare 1Co 15:23; 1Th 4...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear</strong>—divine reciprocity operates: Israel ignored God's prophetic calls, so <strong>so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts</strong>. This is measure-for-measure justice (<em>middah keneged middah</em>), the principle that divine judgment mirrors human sin. God doesn't capriciously abandon His p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. wise--**(Pr 11:30). Answering to "they that understand" (Da 11:33, 35), the same Hebrew, Maskilim; Israelites who, though in Jerusalem when wickedness is coming to a head, are found intelligent witnesses against it. As then they appeared worn out with persecutions (typically, of Antiochus; antitypically, of Antichrist); so now in the resurrection they "shine as the brightness of the firmament...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. pleasant: Heb. land of desire
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not</strong> (וְאֵת פִּזַּרְתִּים עַל־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם)—the verb <em>pizar</em> depicts violent dispersion, fulfilling covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28:64. The whirlwind (<em>sa'ar</em>) suggests sudden, devastating force—the Babylonian invasion came swiftly after prolonged warnings. Exile wasn't to familiar cultures...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. shut up ... seal the book--**John, on the contrary, is told (Re 22:10) not to seal his visions. Daniel's prophecy refers to a distant time, and is therefore obscure for the immediate future, whereas John's was to be speedily fulfilled (Re 1:1, 3; 22:6). Israel, to whom Daniel prophesied after the captivity, with premature zeal sought after signs of the predicted period: Daniel's prophecy was ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-16** Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never t...
Read full commentary →