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But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
Zechariah 7:11 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
  • BSB But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
  • NKJV “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.
  • NASB But they refused to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and plugged their ears from hearing.
  • NLT “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Their ancestors refused to listen, stubbornly turning away and stopping their ears. Persistent resistance to God's word brought ruin upon them.

Overview

Zechariah recalls the hardened refusal of the pre-exilic generation to heed the prophets. 'Turned their backs' and 'stopped their ears' picture willful, deliberate rejection of God's call. The history stands as a sober warning to the present community against the same hardness.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 29

  • Neh 9:29and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.
  • Hos 4:16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
  • Jer 8:5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit, they refuse to return.
  • Ezek 3:7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
  • Zech 1:4Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.
  • Jer 35:15I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Return now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, and you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers:’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.
  • Acts 7:57But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.
  • Ps 58:4–5Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
  • Heb 10:38–39But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
  • Exod 10:3Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
  • Jer 11:10They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
  • Jer 36:31I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.”’”
  • Jer 44:16“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
  • Isa 1:19–20If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
  • Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
  • 2 Chr 33:10Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they didn’t listen.
  • Jer 7:24But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
  • Jer 26:5–6to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;
  • Neh 9:26“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.
  • Jer 6:16–17Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
  • Prov 1:24–32Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
  • Zeph 3:2She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God.
  • Dan 9:5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;
  • 2 Kgs 17:13–15Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
  • Isa 6:10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
  • Acts 7:51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
  • Neh 9:17and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them.
  • Jer 13:10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
  • Jer 17:23But they didn’t listen, neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Zechariah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Zechariah 7:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ZechariahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.

How Zechariah 7:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.