Zechariah 7:12
“Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →They hardened their hearts like flint against God's law and prophets, and so great wrath came upon them.
What Does Zechariah 7:12 Mean?
The hardening deepens from stopped ears to a heart made like adamant, the hardest stone known. They set themselves against the law and against the words God sent through His Spirit by the prophets. The consequence, great wrath, followed not as arbitrary anger but as the just outcome of sustained rejection.
A heart can be made stone by repeated refusal. God's wrath here is the sorrowful response of holy love to people who would not be reached. Yet the warning carries hope, for hearts of stone are exactly what God promises elsewhere to replace with hearts of flesh. The remedy for our hardness is His mercy, received rather than resisted.
In the Original Language
shamir (שָׁמִיר), 'adamant' -- the hardest of stones, here picturing a heart willfully set against God.