1Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain—
         The LORD who makes the storm clouds;
         And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

2For the teraphim speak iniquity,
         And the diviners see lying visions
         And tell false dreams;
         They comfort in vain.
         Therefore the people wander like sheep,
         They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

3“My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
         And I will punish the male goats;
         For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah,
         And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.

4“From them will come the cornerstone,
         From them the tent peg,
         From them the bow of battle,
         From them every ruler, all of them together.

5“They will be as mighty men,
         Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;
         And they will fight, for the LORD will be with them;
         And the riders on horses will be put to shame.

6“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
         And I will save the house of Joseph,
         And I will bring them back,
         Because I have had compassion on them;
         And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
         For I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

7“Ephraim will be like a mighty man,
         And their heart will be glad as if from wine;
         Indeed, their children will see it and be glad,
         Their heart will rejoice in the LORD.

8“I will whistle for them to gather them together,
         For I have redeemed them;
         And they will be as numerous as they were before.

9“When I scatter them among the peoples,
         They will remember Me in far countries,
         And they with their children will live and come back.

10“I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
         And gather them from Assyria;
         And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon
         Until no room can be found for them.

11“And they will pass through the sea of distress
         And He will strike the waves in the sea,
         So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;
         And the pride of Assyria will be brought down
         And the scepter of Egypt will depart.

12“And I will strengthen them in the LORD,
         And in His name they will walk,” declares the LORD.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain-- The LORD who makes the storm clouds; And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime. The LORD makes thunderstorms. He gives everyone rain showers for the plants in the field.

King James Bible
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Darby Bible Translation
Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah will make lightnings, and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

English Revised Version
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain, even of the LORD that maketh lightnings; and he shall give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Webster's Bible Translation
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD will make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

World English Bible
Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field.

Young's Literal Translation
They asked of Jehovah rain in a time of latter rain, Jehovah is making lightnings, And rain in showers He doth give to them. To each -- the herb in the field.

Cross References

Psalm 135:7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.

Isaiah 30:23 Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

Jeremiah 10:13 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Joel 2:23 So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be glad in the LORD your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and latter rain as before.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 10

The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the foregoing chapter-to encourage the Jews that had returned with hopes that though they had been under divine rebukes for their negligence in rebuilding the temple, and were now surrounded with enemies and dangers, yet God would do them good, and make them prosperous at home and victorious abroad. Now, I. They are here directed to eye the great God in all events that concerned them, and, both in the evils they suffered and in the comforts they desired, to acknowledge his hand (v. 1-4). II. They are encouraged to expect strength and success from him in all their struggles with the enemies of their church and state, and to hope that the issue would be glorious at last (v. 5-12).

Verses 1-4

Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here God intimates to them that he will for these things be enquired of by them, and that he expects they should acknowledge him in all their ways and in all his ways towards them-and not idols that were rivals with him for their respects.

I. The prophet directs them to apply to God by prayer for rain in the season thereof. He had promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that there should be great plenty of corn and wine, whereas for several years, by reason of unseasonable weather, there had been great scarcity of both; but the earth will not yield its fruits unless the heavens water it, and therefore they must look up to God for the dew of heaven, in order to the fatness and fruitfulness of the earth (v. 1): "Ask you of the Lord rain. Do not pray to the clouds, nor to the stars, for rain, but to the Lord; for he it is that hears the heavens, when they hear the earth," Hos. 2:21. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which we must ask of God, rain in the time of the latter rain, when there is most need of it. The former rain fell at the seed-time, in autumn, the latter fell in the spring, between March and May, which brought the corn to an ear and filled it. If either of these rains failed, it was very bad with that land; for from the end of May to September they never had any rain at all. Jerome, who lived in Judea, says that he never saw any rain there in June or July. They are directed to ask for it in the time when it used to come. Note, We must, in our prayers, dutifully attend the course of Providence; we must ask for mercies in their proper time, and not expect that God should go out of his usual way and method for us. But, since sometimes God denied rain in the usual time as a token of his displeasure, they must pray for it then as a token of his favour, and they shall not pray in vain. Ask and it shall be given you. So the Lord shall make bright clouds (which, though they are without rain themselves, are yet presages of rain)-lightnings (so the margin reads it), for he maketh lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in great abundance, and so give to every one grass in the field; for God is universally good, and makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.

II. He shows them the folly of making their addresses to idols as their fathers had done (v. 2): The idols have spoken vanity; the teraphim, which they courted and consulted in their distress, were so far from being able to command rain for them that they could not so much as tell them when they should have rain. They pretended to promise them rain at such a time, but it did not come. The diviners, who were the prophets of those idols, have seen a lie (their visions were all a cheat and a sham); and they have told false dreams, such as the event did not answer, which proved that they were not from God. Thus they comforted in vain those that consulted the lying oracles; all the vanities of the heathen put together could not give rain, Jer. 14:22. Yet this was not the worst of it; they not only got nothing by the false gods, but they lost the favour of the true God, for therefore they went their way into captivity as a flock driven into the fold, and they were troubled with one vexation after another, as scattered sheep are, because there was no shepherd, no prince to rule them, no priest to intercede for them, none to take care of them and keep them together. Those that wandered after strange gods were made to wander, into strange nations.

III. He shows them the hand of God in all the events that concerned them, both those that made against them and those that made for them, v. 3. Let them consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked contrary to them (v. 3): "My anger was kindled against the shepherds that should have fed the flock, but neglected it, and starved it. I was displeased at the wicked magistrates and ministers, the idol-shepherds." The captivity in Babylon was a token of God's anger against them; in it likewise he punished the goats, those of the flock that were filthy and mischievous; they were set on the left hand, to go away into punishment. Though the body of the nation suffered in the captivity, yet it was only the goats and the shepherds that God was angry with, and that he punished; the same affliction to others came from the love of God, and was but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from his wrath, and was a judicial punishment. 2. When things began to change for the better it was God that gave them the happy turn. "He has now visited his flock with favour, to enquire after them, and provides what he finds proper for them, and he has made them as his goodly horse in the battle, has beautified them, taken care of them, managed and made use of them, as a man does the horse he rides on, has made them valuable in themselves and formidable to those about them, as his goodly horse." It is God that makes us what we are, and it is with us as he appoints.

IV. He shows them that every creature is to them what God makes it to be (v. 4): Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nails. 1. All the power that was engaged against them was from God. Out of him came all the combined force of their enemies; every oppressor together (and the oppressors of Israel were not a few) did but what his hand and his counsel determined before to be done; nor could they have had such power against them unless it had been given them from above. 2. All the power likewise that was engaged for them was derived from him and depended on him. Out of him came forth the corner-stone of the building, the power of magistrates, which keeps the several parts of the state together. Princes are often called the corners of the people, as 1 Sa. 14:38, marg. Out of him came forth the nail that fixed the state, the nail in the sure place (Isa. 22:23), the nail in his holy place, Ezra 9:8. Out of him came forth the battle-bow, the military power, and out of him every oppressor, or exactor, that had the civil power in his hand; and therefore to God, the fountain of power, we must always have an eye, and see every man's judgment proceeding from him.

Calvin's Commentary

1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

1. Petite a Iehova pluviam tempore serotino (vertunt;) Iehova faciet nubes, et pluvium imbrem dabit illis, cuique herbam in agro.

Zechariah, after having shown that God would be bountiful towards the Jews, so that nothing necessary to render life happy and blessed should be wanting, now reproves them for their unbelief, because they did not expect from the Lord what he was ready fully to bestow on them. As then it depended on them only, that they did not enjoy abundance of all blessings, he charges them with ingratitude: for though he exhorts them to prayer, there is yet an implied reproof. One by merely reading over the words may think that a new subject is here introduced, that the Jews are directed to ask of the Lord what he had previously promised them; but he who will more minutely consider the whole context, will easily find that what I have stated is true -- that the Jews are here condemned, and on this account, because they closed the door against God's favor; for they were straitened in themselves, as all the unbelieving are, who cannot embrace the promises of God; nor is it at all doubtful but that many made great complaints, when they found themselves disappointed of their wishes. They had indeed hoped for a most abundant supply of corn and wine, and had also promised to themselves all kinds of blessings, yet the Lord, as we have seen in the book of Haggai, had begun to withdraw his hand, so that they labored under want of provisions; and when mine and thirst oppressed them, they thought that they had been in a manlier deceived by God. On this ground the Prophet expostulates with them; they thrust from themselves, by their want of faith, the favor which had been prepared for them. We now then understand the Prophet's meaning.

He bids them to ask rain of Jehovah. They ought indeed to have done this of themselves without being reminded; for though Christ has delivered to his Church a form of prayer, it ought yet to be as it were the dictate of nature to seek of God our daily bread; and it is not without reason that he claims to himself the name of a Father. The Prophet then does here reprove the Jews for their brutal stupidity -- that they did not ask rain of the Lord. He adds, at the late season, that is, at spring time; for rains at two seasons were necessary for the corn, after sowing and before harvest, and whenever Scripture speaks of fruitfulness or of a large produce, it mentions rain at these two seasons. Zechariah in this place only refers to the vernal before harvest; for in that hot country the earth wanted new moisture, Ask, he says, rain at the beginning of summer.

Jehovah, he adds, will give it; he will make clouds, or storms, or boisterous winds, as some read; but it is evident from other passages that chzyzym, chezizim, means clouds, which are as it were preparations for rain. [116] He then says, that a shower would come with the rain; for some take gsm, gesham, for a shower, that is, heavy rain; but the Prophet introduces here the two words, as though he had said, that the rains would be continued until the ground was saturated and the dryness removed. Some translate, "the rain of a shower," but this would be too strained. I prefer then this rendering, He will give rain, a shower, that is, abundant rain; to every one grass in the field, that is, so that there may be moisture enough for the ground. In short, he promises a plentiful irrigation, that drought might not deprive them of the hope of food and support. What I have stated will appear more clear from the following verse, for he adds --

Footnotes:

[116] The word in the singular number is found twice, in Job 28:26; Job 38:25, and rendered "lightning." Scott, the versifier of the book of Job, renders it "blaze" or "flash of lightning," deriving it from an Arabic word which means to cut a thing like the jagged edge of a leaf. It is then the zigzag flash of lightning. Marckius renders it here "coruscations;" Dathius and Henderson "lightnings." To avoid the connection of two words of similar import, the arrangement of the verse may be different, -- Ask ye from Jehovah rain in the latter season; Jehovah, who makes the flashes and the rain, Will a shower give to you, To every one grass in the field. "To you," [lkm]; so read many MSS., about fifteen, and the Syriac. -- Ed.

Links

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