Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 1:6

"But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us." — Zechariah 1:6 (ASV)

My words. —True, says the prophet, both your fathers and the former prophets are dead; “but” for all that, the words of the prophets were actually fulfilled in your fathers, as they themselves confessed. This is the interpretation of these verses given by Râv (second to third century A.D.) in Talmud Babli, Sanhedrin, 105a. Another view of the passage is that it is equivalent to “The light of prophecy is dying out; while you have the light, walk as children of the light.” But such an interpretation destroys the prophet’s argument.

My statutes. —Better, my decrees, as in Zephaniah 2:2. The Septuagint introduces “receive you,” after “my decrees.” After “I command,” they introduce “by my spirit,” probably from Zechariah 7:12.

Take hold of. —Better, as the marginal reading suggests, overtake. The Septuagint, οἳ κατελάβοσαν may be a corruption of ου κατελάβοσαν. (Compare to Lamentations 1:12.)

Returned. —Better, turned: i.e., repented. The same word is used in Zechariah 1:3. The Septuagint, wrongly, καὶ, “answered.”

Just as the Lord of hosts thought to do ...—So Jeremiah confessed in Lamentations 2:17. Zechariah had no doubt those words of Jeremiah in his mind at the time.