Zechariah 7:1-3
New English Translation
The Hypocrisy of False Fasting
7 In King Darius’ fourth year, on the fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month,[a] the Lord’s message came to Zechariah. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their companions to seek the Lord’s favor 3 by asking both the priests of the temple[b] of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and the prophets, “Should we weep in the fifth month,[c] fasting as we have done over the years?”
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- Zechariah 7:1 sn The fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month would be December 7, 518 b.c., 22 months after the previous eight visions.
- Zechariah 7:3 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
- Zechariah 7:3 sn This lamentation marked the occasion of the destruction of Solomon’s temple on August 14, 586 b.c., almost exactly 70 years earlier (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8).
Zechariah 7:1-3
International Standard Version
A Rebuke about Selfish Fasts
7 During the fourth year of the reign of[a] King Darius, a message from the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month Kislev.[b] 2 The people of[c] Bethel were sending[d] Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to pray in the Lord’s presence 3 and to speak to the priests assigned[e] to the Temple of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies along with the prophets, asking, “Am I to go about mourning, denying myself throughout the fifth month,[f] as I have these many years?”
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- Zechariah 7:1 The Heb. lacks the reign of
- Zechariah 7:1 I.e. c. 7 December 518 BC
- Zechariah 7:2 The Heb. lacks The people of
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit. was sending
- Zechariah 7:3 The Heb. lacks assigned
- Zechariah 7:3 I.e. the anniversary month of the Jerusalem temple’s destruction
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