Zechariah 1:4

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Be not like your fathers, to whom the voice of the earlier prophets came, saying, Be turned now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not give ear to me or take note, says the Lord.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אַל־תִּהְי֣וּ כַאֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֡ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר קָרְאֽוּ־אֲלֵיהֶם֩ הַנְּבִיאִ֨ים הָרִֽאשֹׁנִ֜ים לֵאמֹ֗ר כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת שׁ֤וּבוּ נָא֙ מִדַּרְכֵיכֶ֣ם הָרָעִ֔ים וּמַֽעֲלְלֵיכֶ֖ם הָֽרָעִ֑ים וְלֹ֥א שָׁמְע֛וּ וְלֹֽא־הִקְשִׁ֥יבוּ אֵלַ֖י נְאֻם־יְהוָֽה

Transliteration

Not-tihᵉyû like-ʾăḇōtêḵem who qārᵉʾû-to-them the nᵉḇîʾîm the rīʾšōnîm lēʾmōr, 'Thus ʾāmar YHWH ṣᵉḇāʾôt, 'šûḇû nāʾ from-darḵêḵem the hārāʿîm and-from-maʿalᵉlêḵem the hārāʿîm'; and-not šāmᵉʿû and-not-hiqšîḇû to-me nᵉʾum-YHWH

Grammar Details

• *tihᵉyû*: verb qal imperfect 2nd masculine plural with negative particle *ʾal* - do not be
• *ʾăḇōtêḵem*: noun masculine plural construct with 2nd person masculine plural suffix with comparative preposition *kᵉ* - like your fathers
• *qārᵉʾû*: verb qal perfect 3rd common plural - called/cried out
• *nᵉḇîʾîm*: noun masculine plural with definite article - the prophets
• *rīʾšōnîm*: adjective masculine plural with definite article - the former/first
• *lēʾmōr*: preposition with qal infinitive construct - saying
• *ʾāmar*: verb qal perfect 3rd masculine singular - said/says
• *YHWH*: proper noun - the LORD/Yahweh
• *ṣᵉḇāʾôt*: noun feminine plural construct - of hosts/armies
• *šûḇû*: verb qal imperative masculine plural - return/turn
• *nāʾ*: particle of entreaty - now/please
• *darḵêḵem*: noun feminine plural construct with 2nd person masculine plural suffix with preposition *min* - from your ways
• *hārāʿîm*: adjective masculine plural with definite article - the evil/bad
• *maʿalᵉlêḵem*: noun masculine plural construct with 2nd person masculine plural suffix with conjunction *wᵉ* and preposition *min* - and from your deeds/practices
• *šāmᵉʿû*: verb qal perfect 3rd common plural with negative particle *lōʾ* - they did not hear/listen
• *hiqšîḇû*: verb hiphil perfect 3rd common plural with negative particle *lōʾ* - they did not pay attention/heed
• *nᵉʾum*: noun masculine singular construct - declaration of

Word Meanings

• *šûḇû*: return/turn/repent
• *nāʾ*: please/now (particle of entreaty)
• *hārāʿîm*: evil/wicked/harmful
• *maʿalᵉlêḵem*: deeds/practices/actions
• *šāmᵉʿû*: hear/listen/obey
• *hiqšîḇû*: pay attention/heed/listen attentively
• *nᵉʾum*: declaration/oracle/utterance

Referenced Verses

• Ps 78:8 : 8 And not be like their fathers, a stiff-necked and uncontrolled generation; a generation whose heart was hard, whose spirit was not true to God.
• Ps 106:6-7 : 6 We are sinners like our fathers, we have done wrong, our acts are evil. 7 Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
• Isa 1:16-19 : 16 Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning; 17 Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow. 18 Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool? 19 If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of the land will be yours;
• 2 Chr 36:15-16 : 15 And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them by his servants, sending early and frequently, because he had pity on his people and on his living-place; 16 But they put shame on the servants of God, making sport of his words and laughing at his prophets, till the wrath of God was moved against his people, till there was no help.
• Jer 35:15 : 15 And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me.
• Zech 1:3 : 3 And you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord of armies: Come back to me, says the Lord of armies, and I will come back to you.
• Ezek 33:11 : 11 Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the evil-doer; it is more pleasing to me if he is turned from his way and has life: be turned, be turned from your evil ways; why are you looking for death, O children of Israel?
• Hos 14:1 : 1 Samaria will be made waste, for she has gone against her God: they will be cut down by the sword, their little children will be broken on the rocks, their women who are with child will be cut open.
• Amos 5:13-15 : 13 So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time. 14 Go after good and not evil, so that life may be yours: and so the Lord, the God of armies, will be with you, as you say. 15 Be haters of evil and lovers of good, and let right be done in the public place: it may be that the Lord, the God of armies, will have mercy on the rest of Joseph.
• Amos 5:24 : 24 But let the right go rolling on like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
• Mic 2:6 : 6 Let not words like these be dropped, they say: Shame and the curse will not come to the family of Jacob!
• Zech 7:11-13 : 11 But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing; 12 And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies. 13 And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:
• Matt 3:8-9 : 8 Let your change of heart be seen in your works: 9 And say not to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; because I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children for Abraham. 10 And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; every tree then which does not give good fruit is cut down, and put into the fire.
• Acts 3:19 : 19 So then, let your hearts be changed and be turned to God, so that your sins may be completely taken away, and times of blessing may come from the Lord;
• Acts 7:51-52 : 51 You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death;
• Acts 26:20 : 20 But I went about, first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, and through all the country of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, preaching a change of heart, so that they, being turned to God, might give, in their works, the fruits of a changed heart.
• 1 Thess 2:15-16 : 15 Who put to death the Lord Jesus and the prophets, violently driving us out; who are unpleasing to God and against all men; 16 Who, to make the measure of their sins complete, kept us from giving the word of salvation to the Gentiles: but the wrath of God is about to come on them in the fullest degree.
• 1 Pet 1:18 : 18 Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,
• Jer 36:2-9 : 2 Take a book and put down in it all the words I have said to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day when my word came to you in the days of Josiah till this day. 3 It may be that the people of Judah, hearing of all the evil which it is my purpose to do to them, will be turned, every man from his evil ways; so that they may have my forgiveness for their evil-doing and their sin. 4 Then Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah; and Baruch took down from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had said to him, writing them in a book. 5 And Jeremiah gave orders to Baruch, saying, I am shut up, and am not able to go into the house of the Lord: 6 So you are to go, reading there from the book, which you have taken down from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord's house, on a day when they go without food, and in the hearing of all the men of Judah who have come out from their towns. 7 It may be that their prayer for grace will go up to the Lord, and that every man will be turned from his evil ways: for great is the wrath and the passion made clear by the Lord against this people. 8 And Baruch, the son of Neriah, did as Jeremiah the prophet gave him orders to do, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. 9 Now it came about in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that it was given out publicly that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem, were to keep from food before the Lord. 10 Then Baruch gave a public reading of the words of Jeremiah from the book, in the house of the Lord, in the room of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher square, as one goes in by the new doorway of the Lord's house, in the hearing of all the people.
• Jer 36:23-24 : 23 And it came about that whenever Jehudi, in his reading, had got through three or four divisions, the king, cutting them with his penknife, put them into the fire, till all the book was burned up in the fire which was burning in the fireplace. 24 But they had no fear and gave no signs of grief, not the king or any of his servants, after hearing all these words.
• Jer 44:4-5 : 4 And I sent all my servants the prophets to you, getting up early and sending them, saying, Do not do this disgusting thing which is hated by me. 5 But they gave no attention, and their ears were not open so that they might be turned from their evil-doing and from burning perfume to other gods.
• Jer 44:16 : 16 As for the word which you have said to us in the name of the Lord, we will not give ear to you.
• Ezek 3:7-9 : 7 But the children of Israel will not give ear to you; for they have no mind to give ear to me: for all the children of Israel have a hard brow and a stiff heart. 8 See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your brow hard against their brows. 9 Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.
• Ezek 18:14-17 : 14 Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same: 15 Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife, 16 Or done wrong to any, or taken anything from one in his debt, or taken goods by force, but has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it; 17 Who has kept his hand from evil-doing and has not taken interest or great profits, who has done my orders and been guided by my rules: he will certainly not be put to death for the evil-doing of his father; life will certainly be his.
• Ezek 18:30-32 : 30 For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil. 31 Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.
• Ezra 9:7 : 7 From the days of our fathers till this day we have been great sinners; and for our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been given up into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword and to prison and to loss of goods and to shame of face, as it is this day.
• Neh 9:16 : 16 But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders,
• Neh 9:26 : 26 But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority, turning their backs on your law, and putting to death your prophets, who gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you, and they did much to make you angry.
• Neh 9:30 : 30 Year after year you put up with them, and gave witness against them by your spirit through your prophets: still they did not give ear: and so you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands.
• 2 Chr 24:19-22 : 19 And the Lord sent them prophets to make them come back to him; and they gave witness against them, but they would not give ear. 20 Then the spirit of God came on Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, and, getting up before the people, he said to them, God has said, Why do you go against the orders of the Lord, so that everything goes badly for you? because you have given up the Lord, he has given you up. 21 But when they had made a secret design against him, he was stoned with stones, by the king's order, in the outer square of the Lord's house. 22 So King Joash did not keep in mind how good Jehoiada his father had been to him, but put his son to death. And in the hour of his death he said, May the Lord see it and take payment!
• 2 Chr 29:6-9 : 6 For our fathers have done evil, sinning in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have given him up, turning away their faces from the house of the Lord, and turning their backs on him. 7 The doors of his house have been shut and the lights put out; no perfumes have been burned or offerings made to the God of Israel in his holy place. 8 And so the wrath of the Lord has come on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has given them up to be a cause of fear and wonder and shame, as your eyes have seen. 9 For see, our fathers have been put to death with the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives have been taken away prisoners because of this. 10 Now it is my purpose to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from us.
• 2 Chr 30:7 : 7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were sinners against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that he made them a cause of fear, as you see.
• 2 Chr 34:21 : 21 Go and get directions from the Lord for me and for those who are still in Israel and for Judah, about the words of this book which has come to light; for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been let loose on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord or done what is recorded in this book.
• Isa 30:9-9 : 9 For they are an uncontrolled people, false-hearted, who will not give ear to the teaching of the Lord: 10 Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not give us word of what is true, but say false things to give us pleasure: 11 Get out of the good way, turning from the right road; do not keep the Holy One of Israel before our minds.
• Isa 31:6 : 6 Come back to him who has been so deeply sinned against by the children of Israel.
• Jer 3:12 : 12 Go, and give out these words to the north, and say, Come back, O Israel, though you have been turned away from me, says the Lord; my face will not be against you in wrath: for I am full of mercy, says the Lord, I will not be angry for ever.
• Jer 6:16-17 : 16 This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it. 17 And I put watchmen over you, saying, Give attention to the sound of the horn; but they said, We will not give attention.
• Jer 7:3-7 : 3 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place. 4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. 5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; 6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: 7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.
• Jer 11:6-8 : 6 And the Lord said to me, Give out these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Give ear to the words of this agreement and do them. 7 For I gave certain witness to your fathers on the day when I took them up out of the land of Egypt, and even to this day, getting up early and witnessing and saying, Give ear to my voice. 8 But they gave no attention and did not give ear, but they went on, every man in the pride of his evil heart: so I sent on them all the curses in this agreement, which I gave them orders to keep, but they did not.
• Jer 13:9-9 : 9 The Lord has said, In this way I will do damage to the pride of Judah and to the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything.
• Jer 13:16-18 : 16 Give glory to the Lord your God, before he makes it dark, and before your feet are slipping on the dark mountains, and, while you are looking for a light, he makes it into deep dark, into black night. 17 But if you do not give ear to it, my soul will be weeping in secret for your pride; my eye will be weeping bitterly, streaming with water, because the Lord's flock has been taken away as prisoners. 18 Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads.
• Jer 17:19-23 : 19 This is what the Lord has said to me: Go and take your place in the doorway of Benjamin, where the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the doorways of Jerusalem; 20 And say to them, Give ear to the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who come in by these doors: 21 This is what the Lord has said: See to yourselves, that you take up no weight on the Sabbath day, or take it in through the doors of Jerusalem; 22 And take no weight out of your houses on the Sabbath day, or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I gave orders to your fathers; 23 But they gave no attention and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff so that they might not give ear and might not get teaching.
• Jer 18:11 : 11 Now, then, say to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am forming an evil thing against you, and designing a design against you: let every man come back now from his evil way, and let your ways and your doings be changed for the better.
• Jer 25:3-7 : 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even till this day, for twenty-three years, the word of the Lord has been coming to me, and I have given it to you, getting up early and talking to you; but you have not given ear. 4 And the Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them; but you have not given attention and your ear has not been open to give hearing; 5 Saying, Come back now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and keep your place in the land which the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from times long past even for ever: 6 Do not go after other gods to be their servants and to give them worship, and do not make me angry with the work of your hands, causing evil to yourselves. 7 But you have not given ear to me, says the Lord; so that you have made me angry with the work of your hands, causing evil to yourselves.
• Jer 26:5 : 5 And give ear to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you, getting up early and sending them, though you gave no attention;