Therefore say you unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn you unto me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, says the LORD of hosts.
All Commentaries on Zechariah 1:3 Go To Zechariah 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Indeed, God is good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. And if you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not customary, but true for the great piety it reveals—listen. God always seems to be severe to the righteous but good to sinners and quick to clemency. He restores the one who sinned and fell and tells him, “Shall not he who falls arise; or he that turns away, shall he not turn back again?” And “Why did that stupid daughter of Judah turn away with a shameless revolting?” And again, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” Elsewhere he assures with an oath the salvation from repentance by much clemency. “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘I do not desire the death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his way and live.’ ” To the righteous he says, “If a man achieves every righteousness and truth and later turns from his way and sins, I will not remember his righteousness, but he will die in his sin.” O such strictness toward the righteous! O such abundant forgiveness toward the sinner! He finds so many different means, without himself changing, to keep the righteous in check and forgive the sinner, by usefully dividing his rich goodness.
