Zechariah 10:2

Translations

Modern

For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

Traditional

For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

Literal

For the teraphim speak delusion, and the diviners see deception, and they speak of dreams of emptiness; in vain they give comfort. Upon thus they set out like sheep; they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.

Latin

Quia simulacra locuta sunt inutile, et divini viderunt mendacium: et somniatores locuti sunt frustra, vane consolabantur: idcirco abducti sunt quasi grex: affligentur, quia non est eis pastor.

Original

Hebrew

English

For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

Notes

Zechariah 10:2

idols: This might refer to ancestor statues used in ceremonies to summon the spirits of the dead. Consulting with the dead was common in the ancient world, but God's law forbade it for the Hebrews (see Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10–11).

Zechariah 10:1–3

This rebuke targets false shepherds, human leaders who use their people for their own benefit instead of caring for them.

Zechariah 10:1–11:3

God will strengthen his people with his power and restore them because of his compassion (Zechariah 10:6, 12). The passage mentions shepherds several times (Zechariah 10:2–3; 11:3). These references prepare the reader for the next section, which uses an allegory (a symbolic story) about good and evil shepherds (11:4–17).

Theme notes and profiles

Apocalyptic Literature The Shepherd

Events

Prophecies of Zechariahc. 520 BC

Related verses

Matthew 9:36
When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jeremiah 27:9
But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
Genesis 31:19
Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
Ezekiel 34:5
They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.
Ezekiel 34:8
‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
Habakkuk 2:18
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Hosea 3:4
For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
Numbers 27:17
…who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jeremiah 23:25–27
“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
Jeremiah 29:8
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.
Jeremiah 14:22
Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.
Jeremiah 23:17
They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’

Glossary

Dreams Teraphim Zechariah, Book of

Topics

Divination: Effected Through: Dreams Dream: False Prophets Pretended to Receive Revelations Through Idolatry: Folly of Sorcery: Messages of, False

Zechariah 10:2

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