Bible Strands
Zechariah 10:1
Ask the LORD for rain in springtime; the LORD makes the storm clouds, and He will give everyone showers of rain and crops in the field.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Zechariah addresses the post-exilic community of Judah, calling them to direct petition of Yahweh in contrast to the idol-worship and divination condemned in the immediately following verse (10:2).
The words — מַלְקֹושׁ (malqosh) is a rare term for the early or spring rain season, not merely "springtime" as a calendar label but the specific agricultural window when first rains break the drought. חֲזִיזִים (chazizim) means thunder-clouds, giving the image of a charged, violent sky rather than gentle overcast.
The thread — Isaiah 44:3 pairs the same divine rain-giving with the outpouring of the Spirit on descendants, and Matthew 7:7 generalizes the "ask" imperative into a principle of prayer; James 5:16 grounds the same pattern in communal confession and intercession.
Why it lands — The verse strips away mediation: no priest, no diviner, no ritual object—only a direct ask of the one who makes the clouds, and it assumes the reader will actually do so rather than settle for the empty comfort of idols.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Cross-references
- James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- Deuteronomy 28:23 The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
- Psalms 65:9 You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
- John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
- James 5:7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- Isaiah 30:23 Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
- Ezekiel 36:37 This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.
- Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.