Zechariah 7-8

New King James Version

Obedience Better than Fasting

7 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, ²when ^[a]the people sent ^[b]Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to ^[c]the house of God, ^[d]to pray before the Lord, ³and to ^(A)ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in ^(B)the fifth month and ^[e]fast as I have done for so many years?”

⁴Then 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 ^(C)fasted and mourned in the fifth ^(D)and seventh months ^(E)during those seventy years, did you really fast ^(F)for Me—for Me? ⁶^(G)When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? ⁷Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the ^(H)former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and ^(I)the ^[f]South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”

Disobedience Resulted in Captivity

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(J)‘Execute true justice,
Show ^[g]mercy and compassion
Everyone to his brother.
¹⁰^(K)Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,
The alien or the poor.
^(L)Let none of you plan evil in his heart
Against his brother.’

¹¹“But they refused to heed, ^(M)shrugged^[h] their shoulders, and ^(N)stopped^[i] their ears so that they could not hear. ¹²Yes, they made their ^(O)hearts like flint, ^(P)refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. ^(Q)Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. ¹³Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so ^(R)they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴“But ^(S)I 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.”

Jerusalem, Holy City of the Future

8 Again the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(T)‘I am ^[j]zealous for Zion with great ^[k]zeal;
With great ^[l]fervor I am zealous for her.’

³“Thus says the Lord:

^(U)‘I will return to Zion,
And ^(V)dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem ^(W)shall be called the City of Truth,
^(X)The Mountain of the Lord of hosts,
^(Y)The Holy Mountain.’

⁴“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(Z)‘Old men and old women shall again sit
In the streets of Jerusalem,
Each one with his staff in his hand
Because of ^[m]great age.
⁵The streets of the city
Shall be ^(AA)full of boys and girls
Playing in its streets.’

⁶“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘If it is ^[n]marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days,
^(AB)Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?’
Says the Lord of hosts.

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, ^(AC)I will save My people from the land of the ^[o]east
And from the land of the ^[p]west;
⁸I will ^(AD)bring them back,
And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
^(AE)They shall be My people
And I will be their God,
^(AF)In truth and righteousness.’

⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(AG)‘Let your hands be strong,
You who have been hearing in these days
These words by the mouth of ^(AH)the prophets,
Who spoke in ^(AI)the day the foundation was laid
For the house of the Lord of hosts,
That the temple might be built.
¹⁰For before these days
There were no ^(AJ)wages for man nor any hire for beast;
There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in;
For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor.

¹¹^(AK)But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ says the Lord of hosts.

¹²‘For^(AL) the ^[q]seed shall be prosperous,
The vine shall give its fruit,
^(AM)The ground shall give her increase,
And ^(AN)the heavens shall give their dew—
I will cause the remnant of this people
To possess all these.
¹³And it shall come to pass
That just as you were ^(AO)a curse among the nations,
O house of Judah and house of Israel,
So I will save you, and ^(AP)you shall be a blessing.
Do not fear,
Let your hands be strong.’

¹⁴“For thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(AQ)‘Just as I determined to ^[r]punish you
When your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
^(AR)‘And I would not relent,
¹⁵So again in these days
I am determined to do good
To Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
Do not fear.
¹⁶These are the things you shall ^(AS)do:
^(AT)Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;
¹⁷^(AU)Let none of you think evil in ^[s]your heart against your neighbor;
And do not love a false oath.
For all these are things that I hate,’
Says the Lord.”

¹⁸Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(AV)‘The fast of the fourth month,
^(AW)The fast of the fifth,
^(AX)The fast of the seventh,
^(AY)And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be ^(AZ)joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
^(BA)Therefore love truth and peace.’

²⁰“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Peoples shall yet come,
Inhabitants of many cities;
²¹The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,
^(BB)“Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord,
And seek the Lord of hosts.
I myself will go also.”
²²Yes, ^(BC)many peoples and strong nations
Shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem,
And to pray before the Lord.’

²³“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men ^(BD)from every language of the nations shall ^(BE)grasp the ^[t]sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard ^(BF)that God is with you.” ’ ”