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Zechariah 7
Legacy Standard Bible
Zechariah 7
Legacy Standard Bible
The People’s Hard Hearts
7 Now it happened that in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is (A)Chislev. 2 And the town of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and [a]their men to [b](B)entreat the favor of Yahweh, 3 speaking to the (C)priests, who belong to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the (D)fifth month [c]and abstain, as I have done these many years?” 4 Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, 5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months [d]these (E)seventy years, was it actually for (F)Me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and when you drink, [e]are you not eating for yourselves and are you not drinking for yourselves? 7 Are not these the words which Yahweh (G)called out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and (H)at ease along with its cities around it, and the [f](I)Negev and the [g]Shephelah were inhabited?’”
8 Then the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah saying, 9 “Thus has Yahweh of hosts said, ‘(J)Judge with true justice and show (K)lovingkindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and (L)do not oppress the widow or the [h]orphan, the sojourner or the afflicted; and do (M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ 11 But they (N)refused to give heed and [i](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and [j](P)dulled their ears from hearing. 12 And they made their (Q)hearts [k](R)diamond-hard [l]so that they could not hear the law and the (S)words which Yahweh of hosts had sent by His Spirit by the hand of the (T)former prophets; therefore great (U)wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. 13 And it happened that just as (V)He called and they would not listen, so (W)they called and I would not listen,” says Yahweh of hosts; 14 “but I [m](X)scattered them with a (Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is (Z)desolated behind them [n]so that (AA)no one was passing through and returning, for they (AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit his
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit soften the face of
- Zechariah 7:3 Or dedicating myself; lit abstaining
- Zechariah 7:5 Lit and these
- Zechariah 7:6 Lit is it not you who eat and you who drink
- Zechariah 7:7 South country
- Zechariah 7:7 Or lowland
- Zechariah 7:10 Or fatherless
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit gave
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit heavy, hardened; cf. Ex 8:15; 1 Sam 6:6
- Zechariah 7:12 Lit corundum
- Zechariah 7:12 Lit from hearing
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit stormed them away upon all
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit from passing and from returning
Zechariah 7
Common English Bible
Zechariah 7
Common English Bible
Answering the Bethel delegation
7 In the fourth year of Darius the king, the Lord’s word came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev.[a] 2 The people of[b] Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech,[c] along with his men, to seek the Lord’s favor, 3 saying to the priests who were in the house of the Lord of heavenly forces and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain as I have done for a number of years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of heavenly forces came to me: 5 Say to all the land’s people and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and the seventh month for these past seventy years, did you fast for me? 6 When you ate and drank, weren’t you the ones eating and drinking? 7 Weren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem was dwelling quietly along with the surrounding cities, and when the arid southern plain and the western foothills were inhabited?
8 The Lord’s word came to Zechariah:
9 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other! 10 Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; don’t plan evil against each other! 11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned a cold shoulder and stopped listening.
12 They steeled their hearts against hearing the Instruction and the words that the Lord of heavenly forces sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the Lord of heavenly forces became enraged.
13 So just as he called and they didn’t listen, when they called, I didn’t listen, says the Lord of heavenly forces. 14 I scattered them throughout the nations whom they didn’t know. The land was devastated behind them, with no one leaving or returning. They turned a delightful land into a wasteland.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:1 November–December
- Zechariah 7:2 Heb lacks the people of.
- Zechariah 7:2 Heb uncertain
Zechariah 7
New International Version
Zechariah 7
New International Version
Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah(A) on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.(B) 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat(C) the Lord(D) 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn(E) and fast in the fifth(F) month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted(G) and mourned in the fifth and seventh(H) months for the past seventy years,(I) was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?(J) 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets(K) when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest(L) and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills(M) were settled?’”(N)
8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice;(O) show mercy and compassion to one another.(P) 10 Do not oppress the widow(Q) or the fatherless, the foreigner(R) or the poor.(S) Do not plot evil against each other.’(T)
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly(U) they turned their backs(V) and covered their ears.(W) 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint(X) and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.(Y) So the Lord Almighty was very angry.(Z)
13 “‘When I called, they did not listen;(AA) so when they called, I would not listen,’(AB) says the Lord Almighty.(AC) 14 ‘I scattered(AD) them with a whirlwind(AE) among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it.(AF) This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.(AG)’”
Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
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Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.