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Zechariah 10:1

New American Standard Bible (NASB ©1995) [2]
— 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.
King James Version (KJV 1769) [2]
— 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.
English Revised Version (ERV 1885)
— 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.
American Standard Version (ASV 1901) [2]
— Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, [even of] Jehovah that maketh lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Webster's Revision of the KJB (WEB 1833)
— 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.
Darby's Translation (DBY 1890)
— 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.
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR 1902)
— Ask ye from Yahweh rain, in the time of the latter rain, Yahweh, who causeth flashes of lightning,—and, rain in abundant showers, giveth he unto them, to every man, herbage in the field;
Young's Literal Translation (YLT 1898)
— 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.
Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision (DR 1750)
— 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.
Geneva Bible (GNV 1560)
— Aske you of the Lord raine in the time of the latter raine: so shall the Lorde make white cloudes, and giue you showers of raine, and to euery one grasse in the field.
Original King James Bible (AV 1611) [2]
— Aske yee of the LORD raine in the time of the latter raine, [so] the LORD shal make bright clouds, and giue them showres of raine, to euery one grasse in the field.
Lamsa Bible (1957)
— ASK from the LORD rain in the season of latter rain; and the LORD shall make gentle showers, and give you the early rain which causes the grass to grow in the field.
Brenton Greek Septuagint (LXX, Restored Names)
— Ask ye of the Lord rain in season, the early and the latter: the Lord has given bright signs, and will give them abundant rain, to every one grass in the field.
Full Hebrew Names / Holy Name KJV (2008) [2] [3]
— Ask ye of Yahweh rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] Yahweh shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Strong's Numbers & Hebrew NamesHebrew Old TestamentColor-Code/Key Word Studies
Ask 7592
{7592} Prime
שָׁאַל
sha'al
{shaw-al'}
A primitive root; to inquire; by implication to request; by extension to demand.
z8798
<8798> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Imperative (See H8810)
Count - 2847
ye of Yähwè יָהוֶה 3068
{3068} Prime
יְהֹוָה
Y@hovah
{yeh-ho-vaw'}
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.
x4480
(4480) Complement
מִן
min
{min}
For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses.
rain 4306
{4306} Prime
מָטָר
matar
{maw-tawr'}
From H4305; rain.
in the time 6256
{6256} Prime
עֵת
`eth
{ayth}
From H5703; time, especially (adverbially with preposition) now, when, etc.
of the latter rain; 4456
{4456} Prime
מַלְקוֹשׁ
malqowsh
{mal-koshe'}
From H3953; the spring rain (compare H3954); figuratively eloquence.
[so] Yähwè יָהוֶה 3068
{3068} Prime
יְהֹוָה
Y@hovah
{yeh-ho-vaw'}
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.
shall make 6213
{6213} Prime
עָשָׂה
`asah
{aw-saw'}
A primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application.
z8802
<8802> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Participle Active (See H8814)
Count - 5386
bright clouds, 2385
{2385} Prime
חָזִיז
chaziyz
{khaw-zeez'}
From an unused root meaning to glare; a flash of lightning.
and give 5414
{5414} Prime
נָתַן
nathan
{naw-than'}
A primitive root; to give, used with great latitude of application (put, make, etc.).
z8799
<8799> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Imperfect (See H8811)
Count - 19885
them showers 1653
{1653} Prime
גֶּשֶׁם
geshem
{gheh'-shem}
From H1652; a shower.
of rain, 4306
{4306} Prime
מָטָר
matar
{maw-tawr'}
From H4305; rain.
to every one 376
{0376} Prime
אִישׁ
'iysh
{eesh}
Contracted for H0582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation.).
grass 6212
{6212} Prime
עֵשֶׂב
`eseb
{eh'-seb}
From an unused root meaning to glisten (or be green); grass (or any tender shoot).
in the field. 7704
{7704} Prime
שָׂדֶה
sadeh
{saw-deh'}
From an unused root meaning to spread out; a field (as flat).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Zechariah 10:1

_ _ Zechariah 10:1-12. Prayer and promise.

_ _ Call to prayer to Jehovah, as contrasted with the idol-worship which had brought judgments on the princes and people. Blessings promised in answer to prayer:

(1)_ _ rulers of themselves;
(2)_ _ conquest of their enemies;
(3)_ _ restoration and establishment of both Israel and Judah in their own land in lasting peace and piety.

_ _ Ask ... rain — on which the abundance of “corn” promised by the Lord (Zechariah 9:17) depends. Jehovah alone can give it, and will give it on being asked (Jeremiah 10:13; Jeremiah 14:22).

_ _ rain in ... time of ... latter rain — that is, the latter rain in its due time, namely, in spring, about February or March (Job 29:23; Joel 2:23). The latter rain ripened the grain, as the former rain in October tended to fructify the seed. Including all temporal blessings; these again being types of spiritual ones. Though God has begun to bless us, we are not to relax our prayers. The former rain of conversion may have been given, but we must also ask for the latter rain of ripened sanctification. Though at Pentecost there was a former rain on the Jewish Church, a latter rain is still to be looked for, when the full harvest of the nation’s conversion shall be gathered in to God. The spirit of prayer in the Church is an index at once of her piety, and of the spiritual blessings she may expect from God. When the Church is full of prayer, God pours out a full blessing.

_ _ bright clouds — rather, “lightnings,” the precursors of rain [Maurer].

_ _ showers of rain — literally, “rain of heavy rain.” In Job 37:6 the same words occur in inverted order [Henderson].

_ _ grass — a general term, including both corn for men and grass for cattle.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Zechariah 10:1-4

_ _ 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 (Zechariah 10:1): “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,Hosea 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 (Zechariah 10:2): 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, Jeremiah 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, Zechariah 10:3. Let them consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked contrary to them (Zechariah 10:3): “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 (Zechariah 10:4): 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 Samuel 14:38, marg. Out of him came forth the nail that fixed the state, the nail in the sure place (Isaiah 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.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Zechariah 10:1

The latter rain — This made plenty of all provision, and is proverbially used to signify a great blessing. Bright clouds — Bright through the lightnings which break from them. Them — The Jews.

Geneva Bible Translation Notes

Zechariah 10:1

Ask ye of the (a) 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.

(a) The Prophet reproves the Jews, because by their own infidelity they turn away God's promised graces, and so famine came by God's just judgment. Therefore to avoid this plague, he exhorts them to turn to God, and to pray in faith to him, and so he will give them abundance.

Cross-Reference Topical ResearchStrong's Concordance
ye:

Ezekiel 36:37 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet [for] this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do [it] for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: ... For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you.
James 5:16-18 Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. ... And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

rain in:

Deuteronomy 11:13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deuteronomy 28:23 And thy heaven that [is] over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee [shall be] iron.
1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, [who was] of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, [As] the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
1 Kings 18:41-45 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for [there is] a sound of abundance of rain. ... And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
Isaiah 5:6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isaiah 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Jeremiah 14:22 Are there [any] among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? [art] not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these [things].
Amos 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

the time:

Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give [you] the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Job 29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide [as] for the latter rain.
Proverbs 16:15 In the light of the king's countenance [is] life; and his favour [is] as a cloud of the latter rain.
Hosea 6:3 Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.
Joel 2:23-24 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month]. ... And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

bright clouds:
or, lightnings,
Job 36:27-31 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: ... For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
Job 37:1-6 At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place. ... For he saith to the snow, Be thou [on] the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
Jeremiah 10:13 When he uttereth his voice, [there is] a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Jeremiah 51:16 When he uttereth [his] voice, [there is] a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

and give:

Psalms 65:9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, [which] is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
Psalms 72:6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers [that] water the earth.
Psalms 104:13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
Ezekiel 34:26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for [it is] time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
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Chain-Reference Bible SearchCross References with Concordance

Dt 11:13, 14; 28:23. 1K 17:1; 18:41. Jb 29:23; 36:27; 37:1. Ps 65:9; 72:6; 104:13. Pv 16:15. Is 5:6; 30:23; 44:3. Jr 10:13; 14:22; 51:16. Ezk 34:26; 36:37. Ho 6:3; 10:12. Jol 2:23. Am 4:7. Mi 5:7. Mt 7:7. Jn 16:23. 1Co 3:6. Jm 5:7, 16.

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