Bible Strands
Zechariah 10:2
For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Judah immediately after commanding them to seek rain from the LORD, explaining why their current spiritual guidance has collapsed.
The words — תְּרָפִים (teraphim) denotes household idols, while שֶׁקֶר (sheker) literally means falsehood, defining the deceptive nature of the diviners and dreams mentioned in the text.
The thread — The condemnation of diviners and dream interpreters parallels Jeremiah 27:9, while the image of people wandering like sheep without a shepherd anticipates the helpless crowds described in Matthew 9:36.
Why it lands — The text demands readers stop accepting false spiritual comfort and recognize that reliance on deceptive sources leaves communities leaderless and oppressed.
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
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
Cross-references
- Matthew 9:36 When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
- Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
- Genesis 31:19 Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
- Ezekiel 34:5 They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.
- Ezekiel 34:8 ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
- Hosea 3:4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Numbers 27:17 who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Judges 18:14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- 1 Kings 22:17 So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”