Zechariah 1:5

Zechariah 1:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Your fathers, where are they? 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 tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. 4Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors? “Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.’ ” 7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.

Zechariah 1:5 word by word

אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם אַיֵּה־הֵ֑ם וְהַ֨נְּבִאִ֔ים הַלְעוֹלָ֖ם יִֽחְיֽוּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Your fathersאָב'âb · fatherH1
• they? and the prophetsנָבִיאnâbîy' · prophetH5030
• do they liveחָיָהchâyâh · to liveH2421
• for everעוֹלָם‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm · forever: enduringH5769

Cross-references for Zechariah 1:5

• Job 14:10But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
• Psalms 90:10Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
• Ecclesiastes 1:4Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
• Ecclesiastes 9:1So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.
• Ecclesiastes 12:5when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
• Acts 13:36“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.
• Hebrews 7:23Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office;
• Hebrews 9:27Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
• 2 Peter 3:2I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our 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

• Death

In the dictionaries

• Angel
• Bible, the
• Host of Heaven
• House
• Joshua (3)
• Molech; Moloch
• Zechariah, Book of

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