Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 1:3

"Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts." — Zechariah 1:3 (ASV)

To them — i.e., to the prophet’s contemporaries, whose fathers are spoken of in the preceding verse.

Turn ye ... and I will turn. — These words need not imply any special backsliding on the part of the people since the commencement of the re-building of the Temple, when the Lord had declared that He was with them (Haggai 1:13; Haggai 2:4); but, rather, that the more sincerely they turned to Him, the more gloriously His merciful intentions would be revealed to them, and fulfilled in them.

Still, it may be seen from Haggai 2:14-17, how great a need they had of repentance. “Zechariah comes forth like John the Baptist, and begins his preaching with a call to repentance, and warns the people by the history of their fathers that no spiritual privileges will profit them without holiness, but rather will aggravate their guilt, and increase their condemnation if they disobey God” (Wordsworth). Observe in this and the next verse the emphatic threefold saith the Lord of hosts.