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Zechariah 7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Zechariah 7
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.
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.
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)’”
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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