Berean Standard Bible

Zechariah 7:1-10

1In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.1 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men,2 to plead before the LORD 3by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

4Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, 5“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? 7Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills3 were inhabited?’”

8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion4 and compassion to one another. 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

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Notes

1. Zechariah 7:1 Chislev is the ninth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of November and December. ↩
2. Zechariah 7:2 Or Bethel-sharezer had sent Regem-melech, along with his men, ↩
3. Zechariah 7:7 Hebrew Shephelah or lowlands; that is, the western foothills of Judea ↩
4. Zechariah 7:9 Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant. ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Zechariah 7