Zechariah 1:4

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

“Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying,‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said,“Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” 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 Then they will not be like their ancestors, who were a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that was not committed and faithful to God.
• Ps 106:6-7 : 6 We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong, we have done evil. 7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds, they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love, and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.
• Isa 1:16-19 : 16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning! 17 Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow! 18 Come, let’s consider your options,” says the LORD.“Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool. 19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, then you will again eat the good crops of the land.
• 2 Chr 36:15-16 : 15 The Babylonians Destroy Jerusalem The LORD God of their ancestors continually warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the LORD got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment.
• Jer 35:15 : 15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said,“Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.
• Zech 1:3 : 3 Therefore say to the people: The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,“Turn to me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“and I will turn to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
• Ezek 33:11 : 11 Say to them,‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
• Hos 14:1 : 1 Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall!
• Amos 5:13-15 : 13 For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is. 15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph.
• Amos 5:24 : 24 Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.
• Mic 2:6 : 6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly.‘These prophets should not preach of such things; we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’
• Zech 7:11-13 : 11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had poured out great wrath. 13 “‘It then came about that just as I cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had said.
• Matt 3:8-9 : 8 Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, 9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves,‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
• Acts 3:19 : 19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,
• Acts 7:51-52 : 51 “You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did! 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!
• Acts 26:20 : 20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.
• 1 Thess 2:15-16 : 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people, 16 because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely.
• 1 Pet 1:18 : 18 You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed– not by perishable things like silver or gold,
• Jer 36:2-9 : 2 “Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the disaster I intend to bring on them, they will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the wicked things they have done.” 4 So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then, Baruch wrote down in a scroll all of the LORD’s words which he had told to Jeremiah as they came from his mouth. 5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch,“I am no longer allowed to go into the LORD’s temple. 6 So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast in the LORD’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the LORD said, which you wrote in the scroll. 7 Perhaps then they will ask the LORD for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. For the LORD has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people.” 8 So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah had told him to do. He read what the LORD had said from the scroll in the temple of the LORD. 9 All the people living in Jerusalem and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the LORD. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. 10 At that time Baruch went into the temple of the LORD. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. That room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate. There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.
• Jer 36:23-24 : 23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a penknife and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. 24 Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow.
• Jer 44:4-5 : 4 I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. 5 But the people of Jerusalem and Judah would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods.
• Jer 44:16 : 16 “We will not listen to what you claim the LORD has spoken to us!
• Ezek 3:7-9 : 7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 8 “I have made your face adamant to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 9 I have made your forehead harder than flint– like diamond! Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, for they are a rebellious house.”
• Ezek 18:14-17 : 14 “But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example. 15 He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 16 does not oppress anyone or keep what has been given in pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his food to the hungry, and clothes the naked, 17 refrains from wrongdoing, does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; he will surely live.
• Ezek 18:30-32 : 30 “Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. 31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
• Ezra 9:7 : 7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and priests, have been delivered over by the local kings to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment– right up to the present time.
• Neh 9:16 : 16 “But they– our ancestors– behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments.
• Neh 9:26 : 26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.
• Neh 9:30 : 30 You prolonged your kindness with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.
• 2 Chr 24:19-22 : 19 The LORD sent prophets among them to lead them back to him. They warned the people, but they would not pay attention. 20 God’s Spirit energized Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them,“This is what God says:‘Why are you violating the commands of the LORD? You will not be prosperous! Because you have rejected the LORD, he has rejected you!’” 21 They plotted against him and by royal decree stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple. 22 King Joash disregarded the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah was dying, he said,“May the LORD take notice and seek vengeance!”
• 2 Chr 29:6-9 : 6 For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the LORD our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the LORD’s dwelling place and rejected him. 7 They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel. 8 The LORD was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Look, our fathers died violently and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off because of this. 10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.
• 2 Chr 30:7 : 7 Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, provoking him to destroy them, as you can see.
• 2 Chr 34:21 : 21 “Go, ask the LORD on behalf of me and those who remain in Israel and Judah about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the LORD’s great fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors did not obey the word of the LORD by living according to all that is written in this scroll!”
• Isa 30:9-9 : 9 For these are rebellious people– they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s law. 10 They say to the visionaries,“See no more visions!” and to the seers,“Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! Tell us nice things; relate deceptive messages. 11 Turn aside from the way; stray off the path. Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”
• Isa 31:6 : 6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!
• Jer 3:12 : 12 The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them,‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the LORD.‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD.‘I will not be angry with you forever.
• Jer 6:16-17 : 16 The LORD said to his people:“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” But they said,“We will not follow it!” 17 The LORD said,“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, saying:‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” But they said,“We will not pay attention!”
• Jer 7:3-7 : 3 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. 4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says,“We are safe! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here!” 5 You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. 6 Stop oppressing resident foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. 7 If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.
• Jer 11:6-8 : 6 The LORD said to me,“Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem:‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you and carry them out! 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. I warned them again and again, ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. 8 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”
• Jer 13:9-9 : 9 “I, the LORD, say:‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride. 10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.
• Jer 13:16-18 : 16 Show the LORD your God the respect that is due him. Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. Do it before you stumble into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile. 17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride. I will weep bitterly, and my eyes will overflow with tears because you, the LORD’s flock, will be carried into exile.” 18 The LORD told me,“Tell the king and the queen mother,‘Surrender your thrones, for your glorious crowns will be removed from your heads.
• Jer 17:19-23 : 19 Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future The LORD told me,“Go and stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. 20 And then announce to them,‘Listen to the LORD’s message, you kings of Judah, and everyone from Judah, and all you citizens of Jerusalem, those who pass through these gates. 21 The LORD says,‘Be very careful if you value your lives! Do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the LORD, as I commanded your ancestors. 23 Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’
• Jer 18:11 : 11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this: The LORD says,‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’
• Jer 25:3-7 : 3 “For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah until now, the LORD’s messages have come to me and I have told them to you over and over again. But you would not listen. 4 Over and over again the LORD has sent his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. 5 He said through them,‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. 6 Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 7 So, now the LORD says,‘You have not listened to me. But you have made me angry by the things that you have done. Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’
• Jer 26:5 : 5 You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. But you have not paid any attention to them.