Zechariah 7
What Happens in This Chapter
Men from Bethel come to ask the priests and prophets whether they should keep fasting in the fifth month, as they have for many years. The LORD answers with a question back: when they fasted and mourned for seventy years, was it really for him, any more than their eating and drinking was? He repeats what earlier prophets said — judge fairly, show kindness, and do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, or the poor. Because their ancestors refused to listen, God did not listen when they called, and he scattered them among nations they did not know, leaving the land empty.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
1It was the fourth year that Darius was king. A message from the LORD came to a man named Zechariah. It came on the fourth day of the ninth month, called Chislev.
Chislev was the ninth month of their year. It falls in the time we call November and December.
2When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,
2The people of the town of Bethel sent two men to pray to the LORD. Their names were Sharezer and Regem-melech. Other men came with them.
The name Bethel means "house of God." That is why the older wording says the men were sent to the house of God.
3And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
3They came to ask the priests and prophets at the LORD's house a question. Priests were men who served God at his house. Prophets were men who told people what God said. The question was this: "Should I cry and go without food in the fifth month, as I have done for many years?"
4Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
4Then this message came to me from the LORD of armies.
"The LORD of armies" is an old title for God. It means he leads armies in heaven. It is a way of saying he is very strong.
5Speak 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?
5"Ask all the people of the land, and ask the priests too. For seventy years you went without food and cried in the fifth month and the seventh month. Were you really doing that for me?
6And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
6And when you ate and drank, were you not doing that just for yourselves?
7Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?
7These are the same words the LORD said long ago. He said them through prophets who lived before you. Back then Jerusalem was full of people and doing well. Towns stood all around it. People lived in the dry land to the south and in the low hills."
8And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
8Another message from the LORD came to Zechariah.
9Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
9This is what the LORD of armies says: "Be fair and honest when you judge. Be kind and gentle to one another.
10And 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.
10Do not be cruel to a widow, a woman whose husband has died. Do not be cruel to a child with no father, to a stranger from another land, or to a poor person. Do not plan to hurt anyone in your heart."
11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
11But the people would not listen. They turned their shoulders away. They covered their ears so they could not hear.
12Yea, 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.
12They made their hearts as hard as the hardest stone. They would not listen to God's law. They would not listen to the words the LORD of armies sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD of armies became very angry.
13Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
13The LORD of armies says, "I called to them, and they would not listen. So when they called to me, I would not listen.
14But 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.
14I blew them away like a strong wind. I scattered them among nations they had never known. The land was left empty behind them. No one came or went. They turned that good land into an empty place."
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