English Standard Version
Zechariah 1:5
5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Zechariah 1:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
- New International Version (NIV)Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead.
Context of Zechariah 1:5
3Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, 'As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.'" 7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,
Read all of Zechariah 1Zechariah 1:5 word by word
אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם אַיֵּה־הֵ֑ם וְהַ֨נְּבִאִ֔ים הַלְעוֹלָ֖ם יִֽחְיֽוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Zechariah 1:5
- Job 14:10But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
- Psalms 90:10The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
- Ecclesiastes 1:4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
- Ecclesiastes 9:1But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—
- Acts 13:36For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
- Hebrews 7:23The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
- Hebrews 9:27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
- 2 Peter 3:2that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
Commentaries on Zechariah 1:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Your fathers, where are they? - Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans. The prophets, do they live for ever? - They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Your fathers, where are they? - The abrupt solemnity of the question seems to imply an unexpected close of life which cut short their hopes, plans, promises to self. “When they said, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Yet not they only but the prophets too, who ministered God‘s Word to them, these also being human beings, passed away, some of them before their time as people, by the martyr‘s death. Many of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-6The prelude identifies the book’s themes as repentance and spiritual renewal, and establishes a tone of hope and encouragement.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. Your fathers ... and the prophets, do they live for ever?--In contrast to "My words" (Zec 1:6), which "endure for ever" (1Pe 1:25). "Your fathers have perished, as was foretold; and their fate ought to warn you. But you may say, The prophets too are dead. I grant it, but still My words do not die: though dead, their prophetical words from Me, fulfilled against your fathers, are not dead with them. Beware, then, lest ye share their fate."Read the comment
Topics related to Zechariah 1:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Zechariah 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
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