Hearts like Flint
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is (A)Chislev. 2 Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and [a]their men to [b](B)seek the favor of the Lord, 3 speaking to the (C)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the (D)fifth month [c]and abstain, as I have done these many years?” 4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months [d]these (E)seventy years, was it actually for (F)Me that you fasted? 6 When you eat and drink, [e]do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? 7 Are not these the words which the Lord (G)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and [f](H)prosperous along with its cities around it, and the [g](I)Negev and the [h]foothills were inhabited?’”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, 9 “Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘(J)Dispense true justice and practice (K)kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and (L)do not oppress the widow or the [i]orphan, the [j]stranger or the poor; and do (M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ 11 But they (N)refused to pay attention and [k](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and [l](P)stopped their ears from hearing. 12 They made their (Q)hearts like [m](R)flint [n]so that they could not hear the law and the (S)words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the (T)former prophets; therefore great (U)wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 And just as (V)He called and they would not listen, so (W)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts; 14 “but I [o](X)scattered them with a (Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is (Z)desolated behind them [p]so that (AA)no one went back and forth, for they (AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit his
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit soften the face of
- Zechariah 7:3 Lit abstaining; or dedicating myself
- Zechariah 7:5 Lit and these
- Zechariah 7:6 Lit is it not you who eat and you who drink
- Zechariah 7:7 Or at ease
- Zechariah 7:7 I.e. South country
- Zechariah 7:7 Heb Shephelah
- Zechariah 7:10 Or fatherless
- Zechariah 7:10 Or resident alien
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit gave
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit made heavy
- Zechariah 7:12 Lit corundum
- Zechariah 7:12 Lit from hearing
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit stormed them away upon all
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit from passing and from returning
Cross references
- Zechariah 7:1 : Neh 1:1
- Zechariah 7:2 : 1 Kin 13:6; Jer 26:19; Zech 8:21
- Zechariah 7:3 : Ezra 3:10-12
- Zechariah 7:3 : Zech 8:19
- Zechariah 7:5 : Zech 1:12
- Zechariah 7:5 : Is 1:11, 12; 58:5
- Zechariah 7:7 : Is 1:16-20; Jer 7:5, 23; Zech 1:4
- Zechariah 7:7 : Jer 22:21
- Zechariah 7:7 : Jer 13:19; 32:44
- Zechariah 7:9 : Ezek 18:8; 45:9; Zech 8:16
- Zechariah 7:9 : 2 Sam 9:7; Job 6:14; Mic 6:8
- Zechariah 7:10 : Ex 22:22; Ps 72:4; Jer 7:6
- Zechariah 7:10 : Ps 21:11; Mic 2:1; Zech 8:17
- Zechariah 7:11 : Jer 5:3; 8:5; 11:10
- Zechariah 7:11 : Jer 7:26; 17:23
- Zechariah 7:11 : Ps 58:4; Jer 5:21
- Zechariah 7:12 : 2 Chr 36:13; Ezek 2:4; 3:7-9
- Zechariah 7:12 : Jer 17:1; Ezek 3:9
- Zechariah 7:12 : Zech 7:7
- Zechariah 7:12 : Neh 9:30
- Zechariah 7:12 : 2 Chr 36:16; Dan 9:11, 12
- Zechariah 7:13 : Jer 11:10, 14; 14:12
- Zechariah 7:13 : Prov 1:24-28; Is 1:15
- Zechariah 7:14 : Deut 4:27; 28:64
- Zechariah 7:14 : Jer 23:19
- Zechariah 7:14 : Jer 44:6
- Zechariah 7:14 : Is 60:15
- Zechariah 7:14 : Jer 12:10