Zechariah 10:2
in Zechariah 10For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
KJV
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
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This verse in Zechariah 10
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe idols have spoken vanity - This is spoken of the Jews, and must refer to their idolatry practiced before the captivity, for there were no idols after. Therefore they went their way - They were like a flock that had no shepherd, shifting from place to place, and wandering about in the wilderness, seeking for pasture, wherever they might find it. Some think that the idols and diviners were those of the Seleucidae Greeks, who excited their masters with promises of success against the Maccabees. Others think that the Babylonish captivity is foretold; for a determined future event is frequently spoken of by the prophets as past.
This site's exposition
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain
on Zechariah 10:1-2
The command to ask the Lord for rain turns a natural, practical request into a test of allegiance, since the alternative named in the next verse is asking the household idols known as teraphim. Barnes notes that the latter rain fell in spring before harvest and was the difference between a full crop and a poor one, so the choice of whom to ask was not abstract theology but a farmer's daily decision. The diviners who claim to read dreams offer only vanity and lies, and the flock left to such guidance wanders, troubled, because it has no true shepherd to follow.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter X, Verses 1 onwards) Pray to the Lord for late rain, and the Lord will send snow and rain showers, and every one will have grass in the fields. For the idols spoke in vain, and the diviners saw falsehood, and the dreamers spoke in vain, offering false consolation. Therefore, they have been led astray like a flock without a shepherd. They will be afflicted because they have no shepherd. Pray to the Lord for timely, seasonal, and late rain. The Lord has made illusions and will give them winter rain and grass to each one in the field.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): The idols have spoken vanity; the teraphim, which they courted and consulted in their distress, were so far from being able to command rain for them that they could not so much as tell them when they should have rain. They pretended to promise them rain at such a time, but it did not come.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
For the idols have spoken vanity,.... The vanities of the Gentiles cannot give rain; if they promise it, they speak vain things; God only can give it, and therefore it must, be asked of him, Jer 14:
They are encouraged to expect strength and success from him in all their struggles with the enemies of their church and state, and to hope that the issue would be glorious at last,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
So now they are scattered, while they know not Messiah their shepherd; typified in the state of the disciples, when they had forsaken Jesus and fled (Mt 26:56; compare Zec 13:7).
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the teraphim have spoken vanity - Rather, “spake vanity.” He appeals to their former experience. Their father had sought of idols, not of God; therefore they went into captivity. The “teraphim” were used as instruments of divination. They are united with the “ephod,” as forbidden, over against the allowed, means of enquiry as to the future, in Hosea, “without an ephod and without teraphim” Hos 3:4; they were united in the mingled worship of Micah Jdg 17:5; Jdg 18:14, Jdg 18:17-18, Jdg 18:20; Josiah “put” them “away” together with the “workers with familiar spirits and the wizards” 2Ki 23:24, to which are added, “the idols.” It was probably, a superstition of Eastern origin. Rachel brought them with her from her father’s house, and Nebuchadnezzar used them for divination. Eze 21:21. Samuel speaks of them, apparently, as things which Saul himself condemned. “Rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness as iniquity or idolatry, and teraphim” 1Sa 15:23. For it was probably in those his better days, that “Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits and wizards out of the land” 1Sa 28:3. Samuel then seems to tell him, that the sins to which he clave were as evil as those which he had, in an outward zeal, like Jehu, condemned. Anyhow, the “teraphim” stand united with the “divination” which was expressly condemned by the law Deu 18:13-14. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
For the teraphim, etc., and the soothsayers envisioned lies, and dreamers who misled your forefathers, saying, “I dreamt.” They would encourage [your forefathers] to rebel against the Holy One, blessed be He. They spoke futility, and they spoke vanity, saying “peace” - but there was no peace.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My wrath is kindled against the shepherds Against the kings of Greece.
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. 5 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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֧י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הַתְּרָפִ֣ים | haterafim | the teraphim | H8655 → | |
| דִּבְּרוּ־ | diberu- | they speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אָ֗וֶן | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | |
| וְהַקּֽוֹסְמִים֙ | vehakosmim | and the diviners | H7080 → | |
| חָ֣זוּ | chazu | they see | H2372 → | |
| שֶׁ֔קֶר | sheker | falsehood | H8267 → | 113 times |
| וַֽחֲלֹמוֹת֙ | vachalomot | and [the] dreams of | H2472 → | |
| הַשָּׁ֣וא | hashav' | <the> worthlessness | H7723 → | |
| יְדַבֵּ֔רוּ | yedaberu | they speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| הֶ֖בֶל | hevel | futility | H1892 → | |
| יְנַֽחֵמ֑וּן | yenachemun | they comfort ! | H5162 → | 108 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּן֙ | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| נָסְע֣וּ | naseu | they have set out | H5265 → | |
| כְמוֹ־ | khemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| צֹ֔אן | tzon | sheep | H6629 → | 274 times |
| יַעֲנ֖וּ | yaanu | they are afflicted | H6031 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| רֹעֶֽה׃ פ | roeh | [is] a shepherd | H7462 → | 177 times |
כִּ֧יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הַתְּרָפִ֣יםthe teraphim
haterafimH8655 →
דִּבְּרוּ־they speak
diberu-H1696 →1141 times
אָ֗וֶןwickedness
ʾavenH205 →
וְהַקּֽוֹסְמִים֙and the diviners
vehakosmimH7080 →
חָ֣זוּthey see
chazuH2372 →
שֶׁ֔קֶרfalsehood
shekerH8267 →113 times
וַֽחֲלֹמוֹת֙and [the] dreams of
vachalomotH2472 →
הַשָּׁ֣וא<the> worthlessness
hashav'H7723 →
יְדַבֵּ֔רוּthey speak
yedaberuH1696 →1141 times
הֶ֖בֶלfutility
hevelH1892 →
יְנַֽחֵמ֑וּןthey comfort !
yenachemunH5162 →108 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּן֙-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
נָסְע֣וּthey have set out
naseuH5265 →
כְמוֹ־like
khemov-H3644 →143 times
צֹ֔אןsheep
tzonH6629 →274 times
יַעֲנ֖וּthey are afflicted
yaanuH6031 →
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
רֹעֶֽה׃ פ[is] a shepherd
roehH7462 →177 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
Matthew 9:36When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
it leads to
- Numbers 27:17
who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Mark 6:34
When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.
- Jeremiah 50:6
My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
- Ezekiel 34:3–6
You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
- Matthew 14:14
When He stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
- Numbers 27:17
Through
Genesis 31:19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 19:13
Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
- Hosea 3:4
For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- Genesis 31:30
Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- 1 Samuel 19:13
About Zechariah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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.