Zechariah 7
New King James Version
Obedience Better than Fasting
7 Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, 2 when [a]the people sent [b]Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to [c]the house of God, [d]to pray before the Lord, 3 and to (A)ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in (B)the fifth month and [e]fast as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you (C)fasted and mourned in the fifth (D)and seventh months (E)during those seventy years, did you really fast (F)for Me—for Me? 6 (G)When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? 7 Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the (H)former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and (I)the [f]South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”
Disobedience Resulted in Captivity
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
(J)‘Execute true justice,
Show [g]mercy and compassion
Everyone to his brother.
10 (K)Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,
The alien or the poor.
(L)Let none of you plan evil in his heart
Against his brother.’
11 “But they refused to heed, (M)shrugged[h] their shoulders, and (N)stopped[i] their ears so that they could not hear. 12 Yes, they made their (O)hearts like flint, (P)refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. (Q)Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so (R)they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts. 14 “But (S)I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit. they, cf. v. 5
- Zechariah 7:2 Or Sar-Ezer
- Zechariah 7:2 Heb. Bethel
- Zechariah 7:2 Or to entreat the favor of
- Zechariah 7:3 Lit. consecrate myself
- Zechariah 7:7 Heb. Negev
- Zechariah 7:9 Or lovingkindness
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit. gave a stubborn or rebellious shoulder
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit. made their ears heavy
Zechariah 7
Modern English Version
A Call for Justice and Mercy
7 And in the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah. 2 Those in Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek and their men to entreat the graces of the Lord, 3 saying to the priests and prophets of the house of the Lord of Hosts, “Should I weep and dedicate myself during the fifth month as I have done in these many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 Say to all the people in the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented during the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for Me? 6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? 7 Were these not the very words that the former prophets proclaimed when Jerusalem dwelled with ease along with her surrounding cities, and when the Negev and the Lowland were inhabited?
Punishment for Rejecting God’s Demands
8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: 9 Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion, every man to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow, orphan, sojourner, or poor. And let none of you contemplate evil deeds in your hearts against his brother.
11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears so that they should not hear. 12 They made their hearts hard like a diamond so as not to hear the instruction and words that the Lord of Hosts sent by His Spirit through the former prophets, and there was great anger from the Lord of Hosts.
13 Therefore it happened that as I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, says the Lord of Hosts. 14 So I scattered them about among all the nations whom they did not know, so the land was left desolate behind them with no one coming or going. And they made a desirable land desolate.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.