Zechariah 7

New King James Version

Obedience Better than Fasting

7 Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to passthatthe word of theLordcame to Zechariah, on the fourthdayof the ninth month, Chislev,² when^[a]the peoplesent^[b]Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men,to^[c]the house of God,^[d]to pray before theLord,³ andto^(A)ask the priests whowerein the house of theLordof hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in^(B)the fifth month and^[e]fast as I have done for so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of theLordof hosts came to me, saying,⁵ “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you^(C)fasted and mourned in the fifth^(D)and seventhmonths^(E)during those seventy years, did you really fast^(F)for Me—for Me?^6 (G)When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drinkfor yourselves?⁷ Should younothave obeyedthe words which theLordproclaimed through the^(H)former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and^(I)the^[f]South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”

Disobedience Resulted in Captivity

⁸ Then the word of theLordcame to Zechariah, saying,⁹ “Thus says theLordof hosts:

¹¹ “But they refused to heed,^(M)shrugged^[h]their shoulders, and^(N)stopped^[i]their ears so that they could not hear.¹² Yes, they made their^(O)hearts like flint,^(P)refusing to hear the law and the words which theLordof hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.^(Q)Thus great wrath came from theLordof hosts.¹³ Therefore it happened,thatjust as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so^(R)they called out and I would not listen,” says theLordof hosts.¹⁴ “But^(S)I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”