Zacarias 7

Obedience Better than Fasting

1 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 thepeople sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, 3 and to *Deut. 17:9; Mal. 2:7ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in *Zech. 8:19the fifth month and 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 *(Is. 58:1–9)fasted and mourned in the fifth *Jer. 41:1and seventh months*Zech. 1:12during those seventy years, did you really fast *(Rom. 14:6)for Me—for Me? 6 *Deut. 12:7; 14:26; 1 Chr. 29:22When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink foryourselves?7 Shouldyou not haveobeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the *Is. 1:16–20; Jer. 7:5, 23; Zech. 1:4former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and *Jer. 17:26the 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:

*Is. 58:6, 7; Jer. 7:28‘Execute true justice,

Show mercy and compassion

Everyone to his brother.

10 *Ex. 22:22; Ps. 72:4; Is. 1:17; Jer. 5:28Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,

The alien or the poor.

*Ps. 36:4; Ezek. 38:10; 45:9; Mic. 2:1; Zech. 8:16, 17Let none of you plan evil in his heart

Against his brother.’

11 "But they refused to heed, *Neh. 9:29shrugged their shoulders, and *Jer. 17:23; Acts 7:57stopped their ears so that they could not hear. 12 Yes, they made their *Ezek. 11:19hearts like flint, *Neh. 9:29, 30refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. *2 Chr. 36:16; Dan. 9:11, 12Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so *Prov. 1:24–28; Is. 1:15; Jer. 11:11; Mic. 3:4they called out and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts. 14 "But *Lev. 26:33; Deut. 4:27; 28:64; Neh. 1:8I 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."