The Prophet sets forth more fully the dreadfulness of this punishment -- that they in vain groaned and complained, for God was deaf to their complaints and cryings. When God in some measure fulminates and becomes soon reconciled, he does not seem to be greatly incensed, but when the miserable whom he afflicts by his hand, avail nothing by their entreaties and prayers, it then appears evident that God is in no common degree offended. This then is what the Prophet meant by saying, that they were not heard by God when they cried. But we must notice what is said of their perverseness; for he says, that God had called, and that he was not heard by them. Now it cannot be deemed an unjust reward, that God should punish the contempt of his word; for how great is the honor by which he favors miserable wretches, when he invites them to himself, and most expressly invites them? When, therefore, the calling of God is thus rejected and despised, do not they who are so refractory deserve what the Prophet declares here -- that they would have to cry in vain, as God would be deaf to their groanings? As to the words, the change of person may embarrass the unlettered, but it is a mode of speaking common to the Prophets, for they assume the person of God in order to gain more authority to their doctrine; and they spoke sometimes in the third and sometimes in the first person: when in the first God himself speaks, and when in the third it is in the character of ministers, who declare and deliver, as it were from hand to hand, what had been committed to them by God. Hence the Prophet in the first clause speaks as God's minister; he afterwards assumes his person, as though he were God himself. But this, as it has been said, was done with regard to the word delivered. It was, that as he called and they heard not, etc. Who called? It is not right to apply this, as some do, to the Prophet; he, therefore, charges here the Jews, no doubt, with the sin of turning a deaf ear to God's word. So, he says, they shall call, and I will not hear. It might have been said, "so they shall call, and the Lord will not hear." There is in the meaning, as we see, nothing obscure or ambiguous. [1] The import of the whole then is, that God had not threatened in vain by his ancient Prophets; but that as he had denounced vengeance by the mouth of Isaiah, so it had been executed on the Jews, for they had without effect cried, and found God a severe judge, whose voice they had previously despised. We indeed know, that it is a truth often repeated, that the ungodly are not heard by God; nay, that their prayers are abominable; for they profane God's name by an impure heart and mouth whenever they flee to him, as they approach him without faith and repentance. We then learn from these words, that those who perversely despise God's word deservedly rot in their own calamities; for it is by no means right or reasonable that the Lord should be ready to hear the crying of those who turn a deaf ear to his voice. It follows --

Footnotes

1 - The verse may be thus literally rendered -- 13. And it was, as he had called, and they heard not, So "call shall they do, and I will not hear," Said Jehovah of hosts. The Prophet relates what Jehovah had said when the Jews refused to hear him. The verb ['mr] here, as in a former instance, is to be rendered in the past tense. It is improperly rendered "saith" in our version, and also by Newcome and Henderson. The past tense is observed by Marckius. Then the beginning of the following verse is a continuation of what Jehovah had said-- 14. "And I will drive them as by a whirlwind Among all the nations whom they know not;" And the land became desolate after them, Without a passenger and without an inhabitant; Yea, they made the land of delight a desolation. The first two lines are literally thus-- "And I will whirlwind them Over all the nations whom they know not." In the three last lines the Prophet states what the effect had been. Newcome says, that [m], "them," after "know," is redundant. It is an instance of two pronouns, relative and personal, "whom they knew them not." It is the same in Welsh, "Y rhai nad adwaenant hwynt." -- Ed.

And it came to pass - that is, this which God had said, "As He cried and they heard not, so shall they cry and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts." God had often said this. "It shall be too late to cry for mercy, when it is the time of justice." So Wisdom had said by Solomon; "then, that is, when distress and anguish cometh upon them, they shall call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, and they shall not find Me" Proverbs 1:27-28. So by Isaiah, "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of bloods" Isaiah 1:15. So by Hosea, Hosea 5:6, by Micah Micah 3:4, by Jeremiah Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:12. It was one message which was verilied in every day of chastisement, "there will be a 'too late;'" not a final "too late," until the end of ends comes, but a "too late" for them, a "too late" to avert that particular judgment of God, whereby the sinner's earthly trial and future were changed permanently .

Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried,.... The Lord by the former prophets called them to repentance and obedience:
and they would not hear; his words, nor obey his voice:
so they cried: when they were besieged in Jerusalem, and were carried captive into Babylon:
and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts; so as to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies; see Proverbs 1:24.

he cried--by His prophets.
they cried--in their calamities.
I . . . not hear--retribution in kind (Proverbs 1:24-26; Isaiah 1:15; Micah 3:4).

This wrath is described in Zac 7:13, Zac 7:14. Zac 7:13. "It came to pass: as he cried and they did not hear, so will they cry and I shall not hear, said Jehovah of hosts. Zac 7:14. And I will scatter them with a whirlwind over all nations, who did not know them, and the land is laid waste behind them, so that no one passes to and fro. And thus they made the choice land a desert." The form of the address changes in Zac 7:13. Whereas in the protasis the prophet is still speaking of Jehovah in the third person, in the apodosis he introduces Jehovah as speaking (so will they cry, and I, etc.) and announcing the punishment, which He will inflict upon the rebellious and has already inflicted in their captivity. This address of God is continued in Zac 7:14 as far as וּמשּׁב. The opinion, that the address terminates with לא ידעוּם, and that והארץ commences the account of the accomplishment of the purpose to punish, is not so much at variance with the circumstance, that in that case the last two clauses of Zac 7:14 would say essentially the same thing, as with the fact that והארץ וגו cannot, from its very form, be taken as an account of the accomplishment of the divine purpose. The perfect nâshammâh in this clause does not preclude our connecting it with the preceding one, but is used to set forth the devastation as a completed fact: the land will be (not become) waste. The infliction of the punishment is expressed in Zac 7:13 in the form of a divine talio. As they have not hearkened to the word of God, so will God, when they call upon Him, namely in distress (cf. Hosea 5:15), also not hear (cf. Jeremiah 11:11), but whirl them like a tempest over the nations. The form אסערם is the first pers. imperf. piel for אסערם or אסערם, and Aramaic (cf. Ges. 52, 2, Anm. 2). On the nations whom they do not know, and who will therefore have no pity and compassion upon them, compare Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 16:13. מעבר וּמשּׁב (cf. Zac 9:8), that not one goes to and fro in the desolate land; lit., goes away from a place and returns again (cf. Exodus 32:27). In the clause ויּשׂימוּ וגו the result of the stiff-necked obstinacy of the fathers is briefly stated: They have made the choice land a desert ('erets chemdâh, as in Jeremiah 3:19 and Psalm 106:24), so that they have brought upon the land all the calamity which is now bewailed upon the fast-days.