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Zechariah 7
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?” 4 The message of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies then came to me, 5 “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh[d] months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me—for me, indeed? 6 And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves? 7 Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the foothills[e] were also populated?’”

8 Again the Lord’s message came to Zechariah: 9 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies said, ‘Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other. 10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the resident foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow citizen.’[f]

11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond,[g] so that they could not obey the law of Moses[h] and the other words the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies poured out great wrath.

13 “‘Just as I[i] called out, but they would not obey, so they will call out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says. 14 ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land became desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful[j] land a waste.”

Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. Zechariah 7:3 tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
  3. 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).
  4. Zechariah 7:5 tn The seventh month apparently refers to the anniversary of the assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judah (Jer 40:13-14; 41:1), in approximately 581 b.c.
  5. Zechariah 7:7 sn The foothills (שְׁפֵלָה, shephelah) are the region between the Judean hill country and the Mediterranean coastal plain.
  6. Zechariah 7:10 tn Heb “brother.” The Hebrew term ‘akh (אָח) may refer to a brother, relative, fellow countryman, or companion.sn Cf. Exod 22:21; Lev 19:33-34; Deut 10:18-19; 24:14, 17; 27:19.
  7. Zechariah 7:12 tn The Hebrew term שָׁמִיר (shamir) means literally “hardness” and since it is said in Ezek 3:9 to be harder than flint, many scholars suggest that it refers to diamond. It is unlikely that diamond was known to ancient Israel, however, so probably a hard stone like emery or corundum is in view. The translation nevertheless uses “diamond” because in modern times it has become proverbial for its hardness. A number of English versions use “flint” here (e.g., NASB, NIV).
  8. Zechariah 7:12 tn Heb “Torah”; the five books of Moses that make up the Pentateuch.
  9. Zechariah 7:13 tn Heb “he.” Since the third person pronoun refers to the Lord, it has been translated as a first person pronoun (“I”) to accommodate English style, which typically does not exhibit switches between persons of pronouns in the same immediate context as Hebrew does.
  10. Zechariah 7:14 tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).
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Zecharyah 7
Orthodox Jewish Bible

7 And it came to pass in the shnat arba of Daryavesh HaMelech, that the Devar Hashem came unto Zecharyah in the fourth of the chodesh hateshi’i (ninth month), even in Kislev;

2 And Beth-El had sent Sar-Etzer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to make entreaty for favor before Hashem,

3 And to speak unto the kohanim which were in the Beis Hashem Tzva’os, and to the nevi’im, saying, Should I mourn in the fifth month, hinnazer (separating myself by fasting), as I have done these so many shanim?

4 Then came the Devar Hashem Tzva’os unto me, saying,

5 Speak unto kol Am Ha’Aretz, and to the kohanim, saying, When ye did a tzom and mourned in the fifth and seventh, even these past shivim shanah, did ye at all fast the tzom unto Me, even to Me?

6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7 Should ye not hear the devarim which Hashem hath preached by the nevi’im harishonim, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and at ease, and the towns thereof round about her, when men inhabited the Negev and the Shefelah?

8 And the Devar Hashem came unto Zecharyah, saying,

9 Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, saying, Administer mishpat emes. And let every man show chesed and rachamim to his brother;

10 And oppress not the almanah, nor the yetomim, the ger, nor the aniyim; and let none of you imagine ra’ah against his brother in your lev.

11 But they refused to heed, and stubbornly stiffened their shoulders, stopped up their oznayim, that they not hear.

12 Yea, they made their hearts as shamir (diamond, i.e., hard as shamir), and would not yield in mishma’at (obedience) to the Torah and the devarim which Hashem Tzva’os hath sent by His Ruach [Hakodesh] through the hand of the nevi’im harishonim; therefore came a ketzef gadol (great wrath) from Hashem Tzva’os.

13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as He [Hashem] called, and they would not hear; so they called, and I would not hear, saith Hashem Tzva’os;

14 But I dispersed them with a whirlwind among kol HaGoyim which they had not known. Thus HaAretz was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the Eretz Chemdat [Yirmeyah 3:19] desolate.

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Zechariah 7
English Standard Version Anglicised

A Call for Justice and Mercy

7 (A)In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is (B)Chislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men (C)to entreat the favour of the Lord, 3 (D)saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and (E)the prophets, “Should I weep and (F)abstain in (G)the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in (H)the fifth month and in (I)the seventh, for these (J)seventy years, (K)was it (L)for me that you fasted? 6 (M)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 (N)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed (O)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, (P)with her cities round her, and the (Q)South and the (R)lowland were inhabited?”

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, (S)Render true judgements, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 (T)do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, (U)or the poor, and (V)let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But (W)they refused to pay attention (X)and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.[a] 12 (Y)They made their hearts diamond-hard (Z)lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent (AA)by his Spirit through (AB)the former prophets. (AC)Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 13 (AD)“As I[b] called, and they would not hear, (AE)so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, 14 (AF)“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all (AG)the nations that they had not known. (AH)Thus the land they left was desolate, (AI)so that no one went to and fro, (AJ)and the pleasant land was made desolate.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 7:11 Hebrew and made their ears too heavy to hear
  2. Zechariah 7:13 Hebrew he
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