Zechariah 1:15 Commentary and Bible Study

So then, why are they still having to experience such hardship? That is a puzzle. God is portrayed as feeling deeply about the troubles that are still being experienced by the Jews, so deeply that he is jealous for them, and yet they are still facing difficulties. It is answered in the next verse.‘And I am very sore displeased with the heathen’ – this refers to the nations that surrounded Judah and Jerusalem – ‘that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.’ So the Lord is saying, although Judah was punished by me using the Babylonians, the nations immediately around about them jumped in with both feet and made things even worse. Anyone who was left behind in Judah, or the remnant who came back from Babylon, they afflicted. So God is saying that he is angry with the nations round about, even though at the moment they are experiencing ease.