Zechariah 7-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 7
A Question About Fasting. 1 In the fourth year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev.[a] 2 Bethelsarezer sent Regem-melech and his men to implore the favor of the Lord 3 and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, “Must I weep and abstain in the fifth month[b] as I have been doing these many years?” 4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh month[c] these seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?(A) 6 When you were eating and drinking, was it not for yourselves that you ate and for yourselves that you drank?
7 Are these not the words which the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets,[d] when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and secure, when the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited? 8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah: 9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Judge with true justice, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.(B) 10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the resident alien or the poor;[e] do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.(C) 11 But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear.(D) 12 And they made their hearts as hard as diamond(E) so as not to hear the instruction and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. So great anger came from the Lord of hosts: 13 Just as when I called out and they did not listen, so they will call out and I will not listen, says the Lord of hosts. 14 And I will scatter them among all the nations that they do not know.(F) So the land was left desolate behind them with no one moving about, and they made a pleasant land into a wasteland.
Chapter 8
Seven Oracles: Judah and Zion Restored. 1 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came: 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I am intensely jealous for Zion,(G)
stirred to jealous wrath for her.
3 Thus says the Lord:
I have returned to Zion,
and I will dwell within Jerusalem;
Jerusalem will be called the faithful city,[f](H)
and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of old age.(I) 5 The city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.
6 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it seem impossible in my eyes also?(J)—oracle of the Lord of hosts.
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I am going to rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun. 8 I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God,(K) in faithfulness and justice.
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words which were spoken by the prophets when the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid[g] for the building of the temple.(L) 10 For before those days, there were no wages for people, nor hire for animals. Those who came and went were not safe from the enemy, for I set neighbor against neighbor. 11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in former days—oracle of the Lord of hosts.
12 For there will be a sowing of peace:
the vine will yield its fruit,
the land will yield its crops,
and the heavens[h] will yield their dew.
I will give all these things to the remnant of this people to possess. 13 Just as you became a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you that you may be a blessing.(M) Do not fear; let your hands be strong.
14 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Just as I intended to harm you when your ancestors angered me—says the Lord of hosts—and I did not relent, 15 so again in these days I intend to favor Jerusalem and the house of Judah; do not fear! 16 These then are the things you must do: Speak the truth to one another;(N) judge with honesty and complete justice in your gates.[i](O) 17 Let none of you plot evil against another in your heart, nor love a false oath. For all these things I hate—oracle of the Lord.
Three Oracles: Judah and the Nations. 18 The word of the Lord of hosts came to me:
19 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The fast days of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months[j](P) will become occasions of joy and gladness, and happy festivals for the house of Judah.(Q) So love faithfulness and peace!
20 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
There will yet come peoples and inhabitants of many cities;(R) 21 and the inhabitants of one city will approach those of another, and say, “Come! let us go to implore the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I too am going.” 22 Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to implore the favor of the Lord.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
In those days ten people from nations of every language will take hold,(S) yes, will take hold of the cloak of every Judahite and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
Footnotes
- 7:1 The fourth year of Darius…the ninth month, Kislev: December 7, 518 B.C., the last chronological heading in Zechariah.
- 7:3 Weep…fifth month: a mourning ritual commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple on the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (ca. 587/586 B.C.; see 2 Kgs 25:8).
- 7:5 Seventh month: the time of a fast in memory of the murder of Gedaliah, the governor installed by the Babylonians after they conquered Jerusalem (see 2 Kgs 25:25; Jer 41:1–3). Seventy years: see note on 1:12.
- 7:7, 12 Earlier prophets: see note on 1:4.
- 7:10 Widow…orphan…resident alien…poor: four categories of socially and economically marginalized persons. Concern for their well-being is commanded in both pentateuchal and prophetic literature.
- 8:3 Faithful city: a unique biblical epithet for Jerusalem, signaling the importance of the holy city and its leaders for establishing justice in society (see also vv. 8, 16, 19). Holy mountain: Jerusalem and its Temple, the sacred center of the holy land (2:16) and of the whole world.
- 8:9 When the foundation…was laid: December 18, 520 B.C., the date of the Temple refoundation ceremony, marking the beginning of the project to restore the Temple (see Hg 2:10, 18, 20).
- 8:12 Vine…land…heavens: future prosperity, reversing the hardships of Hg 1:10.
- 8:16 Gates: important gathering places in ancient Near Eastern cities, where legal proceedings were often carried out.
- 8:19 Fast days of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months: all these fast days were probably held in connection with Jerusalem’s demise. The fasts of the fourth month (commemorating the departure of Judahite leadership from Jerusalem, 2 Kgs 25:3–7) and of the tenth month (marking the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kgs 25:1) were added to the fasts of the fifth and seventh months mentioned in Zec 7:3 and 5 (see notes).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.