Zechariah 7:3-14

3 They asked the priests from the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, "Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?"

4 Then the LORD of Armies spoke his word to me. He said,

5 "Tell all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me?

6 When you ate and drank, didn't you do it to benefit yourselves?

7 Aren't these the same words that the LORD announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?'"

8 Then the LORD spoke his word to Zechariah. He said,

9 "This is what the LORD of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other.

10 Don't oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don't even think of doing evil to each other.

11 "But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn't hear.

12 They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn't hear the LORD's teachings, the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD of Armies became very angry.

13 "When I called, they wouldn't listen. So now when they call, I won't listen, says the LORD of Armies.

14 I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations, nations they hadn't even heard of. They left behind a land so ruined that no one is able to travel through it. They have turned a pleasant land into a wasteland."

Zechariah 7:3-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 7

This chapter treats concerning the nature and use of certain fasts kept by the Jews, on account of the destruction of the temple, and other things; and concerning the message of the former prophets to them, and the effects of it. The occasion of the former was an embassy sent by the Jews to the priests and prophets, to know whether they should continue the fast of the fifth month; upon which the prophet was sent by the Lord unto them. The time of the prophecy is noted, Zec 7:1. An account of the embassy is given, of the persons that were sent, and to whom, and upon what account, Zec 7:2,3. The answer of the Lord to it by the prophet, showing the usefulness of fasts to him, and putting them upon hearkening to his voice by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was in great prosperity, Zec 7:4-7 and then they are exhorted by him, in the ministry of the present prophet, to acts of righteousness, several species of which are mentioned; and which were the same they had been exhorted to by the former prophets, but had neglected, and hardened their hearts against all exhortations and instructions, Zec 7:8-12 and were the reason of their captivity and desolation, Zec 7:13,14.