Zechariah

Zechariah 7 ©

1 The Jews having sent to enquire concerning the set fasts, 4 Zechariah reproveth the hypocrisy of their fasts. 8 They are exhorted by repentance to remove the cause of their calamity.

1

AND it came to pass ain the fourth year of king Darius, that bthe word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in cChisleu;

a ch. 1.1,7. Ezr. 6.15.
b He. 1.1. 2Pe. 1.21. 2Ti. 3.16. Eze. 2.7; 3.17.
c Ne. 1.1.
2

When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, 1to pray before the LORD,

3

And to speak dunto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and eto the prophets, saying, Should I fweep in the gfifth month, hseparating myself, as I have done these so many years?

d Mal. 2.7. De. 33.10; 17.9-11. 1Pe. 4.11.
e Ezr. 5.1,2; 6.14. ch. 8.9.
f Joel 2.15. v.5. ch. 8.19.
g 2Ki. 25.8,9. Je. 52.12,14. v.5. ch. 8.19.
h Joel 2.15. 1Co. 7.5. ch. 12.12-14. Mat. 6.16.
4

¶Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

5

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in ithe fifth and jseventh month, even those kseventy years, ldid ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

i 2Ki. 25.8. Je. 52.12.
j Je. 41.1,2. 2Ki. 25.25. ch. 8.19.
k ch. 1.12. Da. 9.3.
l Mat. 6.16-18. Is. 58.5; 1.11,12. Ro. 14.6. v.6. Da. 9.13.
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And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, 2did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves ?

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3Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried 4by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the msouth and the plain?

m Mat. 3.1. Lu. 1.39. 2Ki. 25.5. De. 34.3. Je. 17.26.
8

¶And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

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Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, 5Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

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And noppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and olet none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

n Ex. 22.21,22. Is. 1.17,23. De. 24.14,17. Je. 5.28.
o Mi. 2.1. Ps. 36.4. Le. 19.17. 1Jn. 3.15.
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pBut they refused to hearken, and 6pulled away the shoulder, and 7stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

p Ne. 9.29. Je. 7.24. Ac. 7.51,57. Ho. 4.16; 11.2,7.
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Yea, qthey made their hearts as an *adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent rin his spirit 8by the former prophets: therefore came sa great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

q Ne. 9.29. Is. 48.4. Je. 5.3. Eze. 3.9; 11.19. Ac. 7.51. Job 9.4.
r Ne. 9.30. 2Pe. 1.21.
s Da. 9.11,12. Mi. 3.12. Je. 25.9,11. La. 1-5.
13

Therefore it is come to pass, that as the cried, and they would not hear; so uthey cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

t 2Ki. 17.13-19. 2Ch. 36.15,16. Ps. 81.8-11.
u Pr. 1.28. Is. 1.15. Je. 11.11; 14.12. Mi. 3.4.
14

But vI scattered them with wa whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land xwas desolate after them, ythat no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the 9pleasant land desolate.

v Le. 26.33. De. 4.27; 28.33,64.
w ch. 9.14. Je. 23.19; 25.32. Ps. 58.9. Is. 21.1. Am. 2.14.
x 2Ch. 36.21. Da. 9.16. La. 2.2.
y Zep. 3.6. ch. 9.8.