Zechariah 7:1

1 On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD .

Zechariah 7:1 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 7:1

And it came to pass, in the fourth year of King Darius,
&c.] Near two years after the foundation of the temple was laid, ( Haggai 2:10 Haggai 2:18 ) and near two years before it was finished, ( Ezra 6:15 ) when the work was going forward, and there was a great deal of reason to believe it would be completed: [that] the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, in the fourth
[day] of the ninth month, [even] in Chisleu:
which answers to part of our October, and part of November.

Zechariah 7:1 In-Context

1 On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD .

2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the LORD ’s favor.

3 They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”

4 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply:

5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting?

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew On the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on December 7, 518 ; also see note on 1:1 .