Bible Chapter Summary
Zechariah 7 Summary
The True Meaning of Fasting and Judgment Against Evil
In the fourth year of King Darius, the people send to ask the priests and prophets whether they should continue weeping and fasting in the fifth month. The Lord rebukes their fasting as selfish, done for themselves rather than Him. He reminds them that the former prophets cried out for true judgment, mercy, and compassion, calling them to not oppress widows, fatherless, strangers, or the poor. The people refused to hear and their hearts became hardened like adamant stone, so the Lord scattered them among all nations.
Key themes
Key verses
Zechariah 7:5-6
“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?”
Zechariah 7:9-10
“Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”
Zechariah 7:11-12
“But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.”
Zechariah 7:14
“But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
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