Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, April 16th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible

Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   The Topic Concordance - Disobedience;   Hearing;   Rendering;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ancestors;   Apocalyptic literature;   Zechariah, book of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Zechariah, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Zechariah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Apocalyptic Literature;   Zechariah, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Zechariah, Prophecy of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Joshua (3);   Zechariah, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?
Hebrew Names Version
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
King James Version (1611)
Your fathers, where are they? and the Prophets, doe they liue for euer?
King James Version
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
English Standard Version
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
New American Standard Bible
"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
New Century Version
Your ancestors are dead, and those prophets didn't live forever.
Amplified Bible
"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Geneva Bible (1587)
your fathers, where are they? and doe the Prophets liue for euer?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Legacy Standard Bible
"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Berean Standard Bible
Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Contemporary English Version
Where are your ancestors now? Not even prophets live forever.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Darby Translation
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Easy-to-Read Version
"Your ancestors are gone, and those prophets did not live forever.
George Lamsa Translation
Your fathers, where are they? And my prophets, do they live for ever?
Good News Translation
Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive.
Lexham English Bible
"Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Literal Translation
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
American Standard Version
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Bible in Basic English
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they go on living for ever?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
What is nowe become of your forefathers? & do the prophetes liue for euer?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Where are your fathers, and the prophets? Will they live for ever?
English Revised Version
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
World English Bible
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Where ben youre fadris and profetis? whether thei schulen lyue with outen ende?
Update Bible Version
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?
Webster's Bible Translation
Your fathers, where [are] they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
New English Translation
"As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever?
New King James Version
"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
New Living Translation
"Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead.
New Life Bible
"Where are your fathers now? And the men who spoke for Me, do they live forever?
New Revised Standard
Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Your fathers, where are they? and, the prophets, to times age-abiding, do they live?
Revised Standard Version
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever?
Young's Literal Translation
Your fathers -- where [are] they? And the prophets -- to the age do they live?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
What is now become of youre forefathers and the prophetes? are they yet still alyue?
THE MESSAGE
"And where are your ancestors now? Dead and buried. And the prophets who preached to them? Also dead and buried. But the Message that my servants the prophets spoke, that isn't dead and buried. That Message did its work on your ancestors, did it not? It woke them up and they came back, saying, ‘He did what he said he would do, sure enough. We didn't get by with a thing.'"

Contextual Overview

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: 2 The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers. 3 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. 4 Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always? 6 But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 14:10-12, Psalms 90:10, Ecclesiastes 1:4, Ecclesiastes 9:1-3, Ecclesiastes 12:5, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Acts 13:36, Hebrews 7:23, Hebrews 7:24, Hebrews 9:27, 2 Peter 3:2-4

Reciprocal: Genesis 48:21 - Behold Deuteronomy 18:22 - if the thing Joshua 24:33 - died 1 Samuel 9:6 - all that he saith 1 Kings 16:34 - General 2 Kings 13:14 - he died Ezra 9:7 - Since the days Psalms 49:9 - That he Jeremiah 9:14 - which Jeremiah 25:5 - Turn Jeremiah 36:28 - General Lamentations 3:42 - thou Lamentations 5:7 - and are John 6:49 - and are John 8:52 - Abraham

Cross-References

Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:13
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19
And the evening and morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23
And the evening and morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31
And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 8:22
All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.
Psalms 19:2
(18-3) Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.
Psalms 74:16
(73-16) Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
Psalms 104:20
(103-20) Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about:
Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Your fathers, where [are] they?.... They are not in the land of the living; they perished by the sword of the Chaldeans, or died in captivity:

and the prophets, do they live for ever? meaning either the false prophets, as Hananiah and Shemaiah, Jeremiah 28:17 or the true prophets of the Lord; and the words may be considered as a prevention of an objection the people might make, taken from their prophets dying in common with their fathers; and so the Targum paraphrases them, "and if you should say, the prophets, do they live for ever?" which is followed by Jarchi, and embraced by many interpreters: the answer is, it is true they died; but then their words live, and have had their full accomplishment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Your fathers, where are they? - The abrupt solemnity of the question seems to imply an unexpected close of life which cut short their hopes, plans, promises to self. “When they said, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Yet not they only but the prophets too, who ministered God’s Word to them, these also being human beings, passed away, some of them before their time as people, by the martyr’s death. Many of them saw not their own words fulfilled. But God’s word which they spake, being from God, passed not away.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 1:5. Your fathers, where are they?Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans.

The prophets, do they live for ever? — They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile