Zechariah 7 14

Zechariah 7:14 kjv

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Zechariah 7:14 nkjv

"But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate."

Zechariah 7:14 niv

'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'?"

Zechariah 7:14 esv

"and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate."

Zechariah 7:14 nlt

As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert."

Zechariah 7 verses

Zechariah 7 14 Meaning

God states that He was the one who forcefully dispersed His people, the Israelites, with overwhelming power among foreign nations unknown to them. As a direct result of their exile and His judgment, the land of Judah was left completely deserted behind them, becoming so desolate that no one dared to travel through it or return. This severe judgment and the desolation of the land occurred because the people themselves, through their disobedience and sin, were responsible for laying waste to the pleasant and desirable land God had given them.

Zechariah 7 14 Context

Zechariah 7:14 appears within a larger message from the Lord concerning fasting and true obedience. The chapter opens with a delegation from Bethel asking the priests and prophets if they should continue their annual fasts, specifically the fast in the fifth month, which commemorated the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Babylon (586 BC). God, through Zechariah, responds not by directly answering their question about fasting but by challenging the very nature of their devotion. He recounts Israel's past failures, specifically their refusal to heed earlier prophets who called for justice, mercy, and compassion (Zech 7:8-12). This persistent disobedience provoked God's wrath and led directly to their scattering and the desolation of the land. Therefore, verse 14 explains why the land became desolate and why they experienced the judgment that now led them to observe fasts, emphasizing that their ancestors' actions, not God's arbitrary will, caused the ruin. The underlying polemic is against ritualism divorced from righteousness, teaching that external acts of worship are meaningless if not accompanied by true obedience and moral conduct.

Zechariah 7 14 Word analysis

• "but I scattered them"

  • וָאֶסְעֵרֵם (wa'es'e'rem): The "I" refers explicitly to the Lord, indicating direct divine agency in the dispersion. The verb sā‘ar (סער) means "to storm, to scatter by a storm, to whisk away." This is not a passive scattering but an active, forceful act of God. It implies an overwhelming and inescapable divine judgment, reminiscent of a mighty wind driving dust.

• "with a whirlwind"

  • בְּסַעֲרָה (be'sa'arah): Lit. "in a storm" or "with a tempest." This noun reinforces the verb sa'ar, emphasizing the violent, destructive, and comprehensive nature of their dispersal. It highlights God's power and the lack of human ability to resist or control this judgment. This scattering was not merely migration but a forceful ejection from their land by divine power.

• "among all the nations"

  • Denotes a wide-ranging, global dispersion, signifying the completeness of their punishment. Their scattering was not localized but dispersed them broadly, as a warning to other nations as well about the consequences of disobedience.

• "whom they knew not"

  • This phrase emphasizes the foreignness and alienation of their exile. It speaks of a lack of cultural, linguistic, and religious familiarity, rendering them vulnerable and disoriented. This aspect aligns with the covenant curses foretold in Deuteronomy, where they would serve gods unknown to their fathers and find no rest in foreign lands. It underscores the severity of the judgment—loss of identity, security, and familiar comfort.

• "Thus the land was desolate"

  • וְהָאָרֶץ נָשַׁמָּה (veha'aretz nashammah): "Desolate" (nashammah) means to be laid waste, to be ruined, to be without inhabitants, to be a desert. It denotes a state of profound emptiness and ruin. The "Thus" connects the land's condition directly to the scattering—it was a cause-and-effect relationship initiated by divine judgment.

• "behind them"

  • Implies that as they were taken away, the land they left became desolate. It's a geographical consequence of their removal—the void they left became an empty waste.

• "so that no man passed through nor returned"

  • This hyperbolic statement emphasizes the extreme degree of desolation. Not just uninhabited, but utterly avoided—a testament to its utter ruin and perhaps even perceived danger or curse. It illustrates complete abandonment and cessation of normal life or travel.

• "for they laid the pleasant land desolate"

  • וַיָּשִׂימוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָּה לְשַׁמָּה (vayyasimu 'et eretz chemdah leshammah): The key explanation of causality. "For" assigns direct responsibility to the people themselves. "They laid... desolate" uses the hiphil causative form of the verb shāmēm (to be desolate), clearly stating that their actions (not a divine whim) were the direct cause of the land's desolation.
  • "the pleasant land"
    • אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָּה (eretz chemdah): This is a significant descriptor, meaning "desirable land" or "land of delight/pleasure." It refers to the land of Canaan/Israel, God's gracious gift to His people (often found in prophetic books, e.g., Dan 8:9, 11:16, 11:41). By using this term, God underscores the preciousness of what they, through their sin, effectively destroyed or caused to be destroyed. It highlights the ingratitude and severity of their transgression against God's covenant and grace.

• Words-group by words-group analysis:

  • "but I scattered them with a whirlwind": Emphasizes the overwhelming, violent, and divinely orchestrated nature of their forced dispersion. God's hand was unmistakably in their judgment.
  • "among all the nations whom they knew not": Underscores the comprehensiveness of their exile and the added pain of being cut off from familiarity, safety, and community in alien lands.
  • "Thus the land was desolate behind them, so that no man passed through nor returned": Depicts a vivid scene of complete, utterly abandoned desolation, showcasing the severity of the land's judgment mirroring the people's.
  • "for they laid the pleasant land desolate": This crucial phrase places the culpability squarely on the people's shoulders. Despite God's gracious gift of a "pleasant land," their disobedience rendered it uninhabitable and desolate, demonstrating the direct consequence of their actions against God's loving provision.

Zechariah 7 14 Bonus section

• This verse provides the divine explanation for the historical events the returning exiles were grappling with. They observed fasts lamenting the desolation, but Zechariah points out that the desolation was their own doing through their forefathers' disobedience. This shifted the focus from merely mourning physical destruction to acknowledging their spiritual culpability.
• The phrase "pleasant land" (eretz chemdah) appears multiple times in Scripture (e.g., Ps 106:24, Jer 3:19, Dan 8:9) always referring to the promised land of Israel as God's gift. Its use here amplifies the tragedy: the people defiled the very land that was a tangible sign of God's favor and presence, thereby making it "desolate" by their sin.
• The severity of the desolation – "no man passed through nor returned" – underscores the completeness of God's judgment and the depth of the covenant curses for rejecting Him. This would have served as a stark historical reminder to the post-exilic community about the dire consequences of neglecting God's law.

Zechariah 7 14 Commentary

Zechariah 7:14 serves as a potent declaration of divine judgment and the principle of reaping what is sown. God directly attributes the Babylonian exile and the subsequent desolation of the land not to random fate or the power of foreign armies alone, but to His own sovereign action in response to Israel's unrepentant sin. The imagery of being "scattered with a whirlwind" depicts an irresistible, comprehensive, and violent dispersion, orchestrated by the Lord Himself, driving them into foreign cultures they had no connection with. The consequence was the profound desolation of their cherished "pleasant land," a testament to the magnitude of their rebellion against the very Giver of that land. This verse highlights the unbreakable link between disobedience to God's covenant commands (specifically, justice and righteousness, as reiterated in Zech 7:9-10) and the promised curses of exile and ruin. It demonstrates God's consistent character—His patience is immense, but His judgment is certain when His people persist in rebellion, ultimately holding them responsible for the consequences of their choices.