Zechariah 1:12

12 The Angel of God reported back, "O God-of-the-Angel-Armies, how long are you going to stay angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? When are you going to let up? Isn't seventy years long enough?"

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 Then the rider in the birch grove spoke up, "These are the riders that God sent to check things out on earth."

11 They reported their findings to the Angel of God in the birch grove: "We have looked over the whole earth and all is well. Everything's under control."

12 The Angel of God reported back, "O God-of-the-Angel-Armies, how long are you going to stay angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? When are you going to let up? Isn't seventy years long enough?"

13 God reassured the Angel-Messenger - good words, comforting words -

14 who then addressed me: "Tell them this. Tell them that God-of-the-Angel-Armies has spoken. This is God's Message: 'I care deeply for Jerusalem and Zion. I feel very possessive of them.