Zechariah 10:2 “For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dre…”

Zechariah 10:2

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.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

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.

World English Bible

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

American Standard Version

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

Geneva Bible 1599

Surely the idols haue spoken vanitie, and the southsayers haue seene a lye, and the dreamers haue tolde a vaine thing: they comfort in vaine: therefore they went away as sheepe: they were troubled, because there was no shepheard.

Darby Translation

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams: they comfort in vain. Therefore they have gone away as a flock, they are in distress, because there is no shepherd.

Young's Literal Translation

Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, [With] vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for there is no shepherd.

Bible in Basic English

For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.

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Cross references

“the idols”

Genesis 31:19 Hosea 3:4 Habakkuk 2:18 Judges 18:14 Isaiah 44:9 Isaiah 46:5

Genesis 31:19 · BSB

Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

Hosea 3:4 · BSB

For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

Habakkuk 2:18 · BSB

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.

Judges 18:14 · BSB

Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should…

Isaiah 44:9 · BSB

All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

Isaiah 46:5 · BSB

To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

“the diviners”

Jeremiah 27:9 Jeremiah 23:25–27 Jeremiah 29:8 Lamentations 2:14 Ezekiel 13:6–16 Ezekiel 21:29

Jeremiah 27:9 · BSB

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.’

Jeremiah 23:25–27 · BSB

“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 · BSB

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.

Lamentations 2:14 · BSB

The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

Ezekiel 13:6–16 · BSB

They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.

Ezekiel 21:29 · BSB

while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you— to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.

“they comfort”

Job 13:4 Job 21:34 Jeremiah 6:14 Jeremiah 8:11 Jeremiah 14:13 Jeremiah 23:17

Job 13:4 · BSB

You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.

Job 21:34 · BSB

So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

Jeremiah 6:14 · BSB

They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

Jeremiah 8:11 · BSB

They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

Jeremiah 14:13 · BSB

“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

Jeremiah 23:17 · BSB

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.’

“therefore”

Jeremiah 13:17–20 Jeremiah 50:17 Jeremiah 51:23 Micah 2:12

Jeremiah 13:17–20 · BSB

But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

Jeremiah 50:17 · BSB

Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah 51:23 · BSB

With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.

Micah 2:12 · BSB

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture— a noisy throng.

“troubled, because there”

Matthew 9:36 Ezekiel 34:5 Ezekiel 34:8 Numbers 27:17 1 Kings 22:17

Matthew 9:36 · BSB

When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:5 · BSB

They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.

Ezekiel 34:8 · BSB

‘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,

Numbers 27:17 · BSB

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.”

1 Kings 22:17 · BSB

So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”

Also

Ezekiel 21:21

Ezekiel 21:21 · BSB

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

1Ask the LORD for rain in springtime; the LORD makes the storm clouds, and He will give everyone showers of rain and crops in the field.

3“My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Hosts attends to His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His royal steed in battle.

Read Zechariah 10