But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an farmer; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an farmer; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.
But he will say, I am no prophet, but a worker on the land; for I have been an owner of land from the time when I was young.
But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
but he will say, 'I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.'
but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.
But he shall say, I am no prophet - This must be the case of a false prophet or diviner, who had been obliged to give up his infamous practice, and become even a laborer in the land. But having been known to be such, he is questioned by the people to see if he still were addicted in heart to the same practices. He declares he is no prophet, neither true nor false; that he is now a husbandman, and was brought up a herdsman.
And he shall say - Repudiating his former claims, "I am a husbandman:" for a man hath taught me from my youth." There was no room then for his having been a false prophet, since he had had from his youth one simple unlettered occupation, as Amos said truly of himself; "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son: but I was an herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit" Amos 7:14. The prophet does not approve the lie, any more than our Lord did the injustice of the "unjust steward." Our Lord contrasted the wisdom "in their generation" of a bad man for his ends, with the unwisdom of "the children of light," who took no pains to secure their God. Zechariah pictures vividly, how people would anyhow rid themselves of all suspicion of false prophesying.