Zechariah 1:12

12 And the messenger of Jehovah answereth and saith, `Jehovah of Hosts! till when dost Thou not pity Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, that Thou hast abhorred these seventy years?'

Zechariah 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 1:12

Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said
The same that was among the myrtle trees in the bottom, ( Zechariah 1:8 Zechariah 1:10 Zechariah 1:11 ) : O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem,
and on the cities of Judah;
which were fallen to ruin, and had lain waste for many years. These words are expressive of the intercession of Christ on the behalf of the people of the Jews, his professing people, both with respect to their temporal and spiritual good: against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten
years?
the time of the Babylonish captivity, which lasted such a term of time, and which was a token of the divine displeasure with them; but to be reckoned, not from Jeconiah's captivity, to the deliverance from it by Cyrus, as it is reckoned, ( Jeremiah 25:1 Jeremiah 25:11 ) ( Daniel 9:2 ) but from the taking of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple under Zedekiah, to the rebuilding of the temple under Darius Hystaspis, in whose second year Zechariah now prophesied, ( Zechariah 1:7 ) , which was a space of seventy years.

Zechariah 1:12 In-Context

10 And the one who is standing between the myrtles doth answer and say, `These [are] they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk up and down in the land.'

11 And they answer the messenger of Jehovah who is standing between the myrtles, and say, `We have walked up and down in the land, and lo, all the land is sitting still, and at rest.'

12 And the messenger of Jehovah answereth and saith, `Jehovah of Hosts! till when dost Thou not pity Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, that Thou hast abhorred these seventy years?'

13 And Jehovah answereth the messenger, who is speaking with me, good words, comfortable words.

14 And the messenger who is speaking with me, saith unto me, `Call, saying: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: I have been zealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion [with] great zeal.