Zechariah 10King James Version
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. They were scattered because they had no shepherd. I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them. I will hiss for them, and gather them.
God rebukes Israel for consulting idols and false diviners instead of asking him directly for what they need, even rain. He promises to gather the scattered tribes of Judah and Ephraim, strengthening them for battle and bringing them back from Egypt and Assyria. The imagery of a shepherd leading a flock gives way to a warrior leading an army. God's personal care for each member of his people is so intense that he will hiss for them like a beekeeper calling his swarm home.
The people who trusted idols and false shepherds are promised direct divine leadership that will bring every exile home.
"And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them." (10:6) The phrase 'as though I had not cast them off' goes beyond forgiveness into something closer to memory restoration: not just pardoned but returned to a standing where the exile never fully happened.
The community in the land is buying rain charms and consulting household idols because the rain is late and the shepherds are failing them. God cuts through it directly: ask me. I made the clouds. Then he turns to the bigger picture: the dispersed people from north Africa to the Tigris valley, two and a half centuries of Assyrian scatter, will be gathered. They will walk through seas that open for them. The pride of Assyria will fall, Egypt's power will drain away, and Israel will come marching home like a people who know exactly who is leading them.
God speaks in the first person throughout, as shepherd turned warrior and finally as the one who personally summons every scattered person home. The house of Judah and the house of Joseph, representing the divided kingdoms, are addressed as a reunified people. The false diviners and goat-leaders are contrasted with the LORD of hosts who will visit his flock himself.
Zechariah 10 addresses the problem of diaspora that is still active even after some returnees have come back. The northern tribes scattered by Assyria in 722 BC have never returned. God's promise here reaches back to them, not just to the Babylonian exiles. The sea imagery of verse 11, crossing through the sea and striking the waves, deliberately echoes the Exodus, framing the new regathering as a second Exodus of even greater scope.
The chapter has a gathering, homecoming quality. The anger at false shepherds is real but brief; what dominates is a father's energy calling everyone in, the specific hiss to each scattered person across every distance.
1Ask 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.
2For 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.
3Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
7And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
8I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
12And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.