Zechariah 1:2
in Zechariah 1“The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers.
KJV
The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
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This verse in Zechariah 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Version 2, 3.) The Lord is angry with your fathers with great anger, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, saying. LXX: The Lord is angry with your fathers with great wrath, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
This site's exposition
In the eighth month
on Zechariah 1:1-6
The date fixes the moment precisely: the eighth month of Darius's second year, roughly October 520 BC, two months after Haggai's first oracle and while the temple foundation still lay stalled. Zechariah's opening word is not a vision but a plain summons to repentance, framed as a two-way turning, Turn ye unto me... and I will turn unto you, the covenant relationship restored from the human side first. The fathers who ignored the former prophets are held up as a warning, and the returned exiles themselves are made to confess the point: Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, so hath he dealt with us, the exile itself standing as proof that the prophetic word does not fail.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God's quarrel with you has been of long standing, and therefore it is time for you to think of taking it up." Note, The judgments of God, which those that went before us were under, should be taken as warnings to us not to tread in their steps, and calls to repentance, that we may cut off the entail of the curse and get it turned into a blessing.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Who lived before and at the time of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and which was manifest by their captivity; all which were occasioned by their sins, with which they provoked the Lord to sore displeasure against them; and this is mentioned as a caution to their children, that they might not follow their example, and incur the like displeasure.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The special object Zechariah aims at is that they should awake from their selfish negligence to obey God's command to rebuild His temple (Hag 1:4-8). sore displeased--Hebrew, "displeased with a displeasure," that is, vehemently, with no common displeasure, exhibited in the destruction of the Jews' city and in their captivity.
The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers - For their ingratitude idolatry, iniquity, and general rebellion.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wroth was the Lord against your fathers with wrath - o, that is, a wrath which was indeed such, whose greatness he does not further express, but leaves to their memories to supply. Cyril: “Seest thou how he scares them, and, setting before the young what befell those before them, drives them to amend, threatening them with the like or more grievous ills, unless they would wisely reject their fathers’ ways, esteeming the pleasing of God worthy of all thought and care. He speaks of great wrath.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The prophecy of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic, because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קָצַ֧ף | katzaf | he was angry | H7107 → | 34 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | towards | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם | ʾavoteikhem | ancestors your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| קָֽצֶף׃ | katzef | anger | H7110 → | 29 times |
קָצַ֧ףhe was angry
katzafH7107 →34 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עַל־towards
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖םancestors your
ʾavoteikhemH1 →1212 times
קָֽצֶף׃anger
katzefH7110 →29 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Lamentations 5:7Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 16:12
And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.
- Jeremiah 31:29
“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
- Ezekiel 18:2
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
- Jeremiah 14:20
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
- Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Jeremiah 16:12
Through
Jeremiah 44:6Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…
- Jeremiah 7:20
Through
Ezekiel 22:31So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 9:10
But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”
- Ezekiel 16:43
Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you…
- Ezekiel 9:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Zechariah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.