What Does Zechariah 1:4 Mean?
Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil doings, but they did not hear and respond, nor bend their ear to me, says the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.THE KEY
The call to turn is a call to return, and the verse measures hearing by whether you leave the path your deeds are tracing.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now: a call to turn from evil ways and deeds is sounding, and hearing is shown in your response. Refusal leaves the same path and deeds in place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing a warning is the same as receiving it: a person can hear the words and still refuse their direction.
THE ROOT
שׁוּבוּ
shuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Return; turn back.
“Turn now” in this verse is shuvu. The Hebrew word carries the sense of returning, which English “turn” can leave hidden. The call is a movement back from the evil path and deeds named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return; turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the same idea of turning as a return.
hēshīv: Bring back; restore.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form shows the root can describe someone or something being brought back.
שָׁמְעוּ
shamʿu
GROWS FROM
שָׁמַע
shama
Hear; listen, with response implied when the call expects action.
“hear and respond” in this verse is shamʿu. The call is not only sound to receive: in this context, hearing carries the expectation of response. The next verb sharpens the refusal by naming a failure to attend as well.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar imperative makes clear that hearing can include answering what is heard.
shemuʿah: Report; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what reaches the ear, while the verse asks whether the hearer responds.
הִקְשִׁיבוּ
hiqshivū
GROWS FROM
קָשַׁב
qashav
Attend; listen closely.
“bend their ear to me” in this verse is hiqshivū. The verse denies two things: hearing the call and giving it attentive heed. Its paired verbs expose refusal as both not receiving the call and not attending to it.
ALSO GROWS
qeshev: Attention; attentive listening.
קֶשֶׁב
This noun makes explicit the focused attention carried by the root.
maqshiv: One who listens attentively.
מַקְשִׁיב
This participle describes the attentive listener the verse says was absent.
THE PATTERN
A call to turn becomes real in hearing that changes the direction of a person’s way.
But they did not hear and respond, nor bend their ear, but walked in their plans and in the stiffness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his ways, says the Lord LORD. Turn, and turn yourselves from all your rebellions; so crookedness shall not be your stumbling block.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Let the wicked leave his way, and the man of crookedness his plans. Let him turn back to the LORD, and he will have compassion on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly release.Isaiah uses the same root, שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “return,” in the word translated “return.” It opens Zechariah’s call beyond turning away from evil: the movement also turns toward the LORD.
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