Zechariah 1:5

5 "Where are those people now? And what about my prophets? Do they live forever?

Zechariah 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, where [are] they?
&c.] They are not in the land of the living; they perished by the sword of the Chaldeans, or died in captivity: and the prophets, do they live for ever?
meaning either the false prophets, as Hananiah and Shemaiah, ( Jeremiah 28:17 ) ( 29:32 ) or the true prophets of the Lord; and the words may be considered as a prevention of an objection the people might make, taken from their prophets dying in common with their fathers; and so the Targum paraphrases them, "and if you should say, the prophets, do they live for ever?" which is followed by Jarchi, and embraced by many interpreters: the answer is, it is true they died; but then their words live, and have had their full accomplishment.

Zechariah 1:5 In-Context

3 And now he says to us, "Return to me. Then I will return to you," announces the Lord.

4 "Do not be like your people years ago. The earlier prophets gave them my message. I said, 'Stop doing what is evil. Turn away from your sinful practices.' But they would not listen to me. They would not pay any attention," announces the Lord.

5 "Where are those people now? And what about my prophets? Do they live forever?

6 I commanded my servants the prophets what to say. I told them what I planned to do. But your people refused to obey me. So I had to punish them. "Then they had a change of heart. They said, 'The LORD who rules over all has punished us because of how we have lived. He was fair and right to do that. He has done to us just what he decided to do.' "

7 During the second year that Darius was king, a message came to me from the Lord. It was the 24th day of the 11th month. That's the month of Shebat.