Zechariah 7:14
“But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →God scattered the unheeding people among unknown nations, leaving the pleasant land empty and desolate behind them.
What Does Zechariah 7:14 Mean?
The chapter ends with the exile itself: God scattered them as by a whirlwind among foreign nations, and the once-fruitful land was left so desolate that no traveler passed through it. The pleasant land became a wasteland, the fruit of generations of refusal.
The final clause is striking, that they laid the land desolate, for sin's ruin is, in the end, self-inflicted. Yet the very exiles hearing this warning are proof of God's mercy, for He brought a remnant home. The story of judgment is told to a restored people, that they might choose to hear now what their fathers would not, and so keep the land, and their hearts, from desolation.