Zechariah 7:11
in Zechariah 7But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
KJV
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
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This verse in Zechariah 7
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verses 8 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets.
This site's exposition
refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder
on Zechariah 7:11-12
Three pictures of refusal stack on one another: they pulled away the shoulder like a beast that will not bear the yoke, stopped their ears, and made their hearts like an adamant stone, harder than flint and unmoved by the words the Spirit sent through the former prophets. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that adamant was the hardest stone known to the ancient world, so the image says the resistance was not weakness but a settled refusal maintained on purpose. Because of that hardened will, the text says, a great wrath came from the Lord of hosts, the judgment following the resistance rather than arriving without cause.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Such an implacable enmity to the gospel as this was to the law and the prophets was that which brought wrath to the uttermost upon the last generation of the Jewish church, 1 Thess. ii. Great sins against the Lord of hosts, whose authority is incontestable, bring great wrath from the Lord of hosts, whose power is irresistible.
This occasional sermon, which the prophet preached, and which is recorded in this and the next chapter, was above two years after the former, in which he gave them an account of his visions, as appears by comparing the date of this (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But they refused to hearken,.....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But they gave a backsliding shoulder - Like a restive animal, which would not endure the yoke, dull and stupid as the beasts: as Hosea says, “Israel slideth back like a backsliding heifer” Hos 4:16. Nehemiah confesses the same; “they gave a backsliding shoulder and hardened their neck and would not hear” Neh 9:
Pulled away the shoulder - From under the yoke of the law, like an unbroken or restive bullock in the plough.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
shamir A worm stronger than flint. They would show it to the stone, which would split.
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. 6 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְמָאֲנ֣וּ | vaymaanu | and they refused | H3985 → | |
| לְהַקְשִׁ֔יב | lehakshiv | to pay attention | H7181 → | |
| וַיִּתְּנ֥וּ | vaiyitenu | and they gave | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| כָתֵ֖ף | khatef | a shoulder | H3802 → | |
| סֹרָ֑רֶת | soraret | stubborn | H5637 → | |
| וְאָזְנֵיהֶ֖ם | veazeneihem | and ears their | H241 → | |
| הִכְבִּ֥ידוּ | hikhbidu | they made heavy | H3513 → | |
| מִשְּׁמֽוֹעַ׃ | mishemoa' | from hearing | H8085 → | 1159 times |
וַיְמָאֲנ֣וּand they refused
vaymaanuH3985 →
לְהַקְשִׁ֔יבto pay attention
lehakshivH7181 →
וַיִּתְּנ֥וּand they gave
vaiyitenuH5414 →2011 times
כָתֵ֖ףa shoulder
khatefH3802 →
סֹרָ֑רֶתstubborn
soraretH5637 →
וְאָזְנֵיהֶ֖םand ears their
veazeneihemH241 →
הִכְבִּ֥ידוּthey made heavy
hikhbiduH3513 →
מִשְּׁמֽוֹעַ׃from hearing
mishemoa'H8085 →1159 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
Jeremiah 8:5Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:6
You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
- Jeremiah 9:6
Through
Nehemiah 9:29You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 9:16
But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.
- Leviticus 18:5
Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Nehemiah 9:26
But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
- Nehemiah 9:16
Through
Zechariah 1:4Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen…
it leads to
- Psalms 78:8
Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
- Psalms 78:8
Through
Jeremiah 35:15Again and again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: ‘Turn now, each of you, from your wicked ways, and correct your actions. Do not go after other gods to serve…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 18:11
Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn…
- Ezekiel 18:30–32
Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.
- Jeremiah 18:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.