Zechariah 1:12

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry 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 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, "They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth."

11 Then they spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace."

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?"

13 Then the Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, Proclaim this message: Thus says the Lord of hosts; I am very jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.