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Zechariah 7

Zechariah turns a question about fasting toward God’s demand for justice and compassion, exposing the cost of refusing his word.

A delegation from Bethel comes to seek YHWH’s favor and ask the priests and prophets whether mourning in the fifth month should continue. It is the fourth year of King Darius, and YHWH answers through Zechariah. His response questions whom their fasting served, then recalls the commands spoken through earlier prophets. The chapter closes with the former generation’s refusal to listen and the judgment that scattered them and left their land desolate.

sermon or Bible study notesguilt and confessioninjustice and anger
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1In the fourth year of King Darius, the LORD’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.
2The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat the LORD’s favor,
3and to speak to the priests of the house of the LORD of Armies and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
5“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?
6When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
7Aren’t these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”
9“Thus has the LORD of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
10Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
12Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Armies.
13It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said the LORD of Armies;
14“but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
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Key verses
Zechariah 7:5God questions the purpose of seventy years of fasting, bringing the people’s devotion under scrutiny before addressing their calendar.
Zechariah 7:9The command for true judgment, kindness, and compassion states what God had required through the former prophets.
Zechariah 7:11The people’s refusal to hear explains why the chapter moves from remembered commands to wrath and a desolate land.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah shares the connection between fasting and the treatment of oppressed people, while Jeremiah shares the warning against refusing God’s prophetic word. Deuteronomy also commands justice for the widow, fatherless, and foreigner, and describes scattering among the nations as covenant judgment.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does God’s question about seventy years of fasting lead you to consider about your own worship?

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Which command in verses 9–10 deserves closer attention in your relationships, and why?

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Questions people ask about Zechariah 7

Does Zechariah 7 say fasting is wrong?

The chapter does not condemn fasting itself. God questions whether the people’s fasting and mourning were directed toward him, then recalls his commands concerning justice and compassion. The delegation asks whether a particular observance should continue, but this chapter gives no direct yes-or-no ruling on that observance.

What does having hearts as hard as flint mean in Zechariah 7?

Flint pictures a heart resistant to God’s instruction. The surrounding verses describe people turning their backs and stopping their ears so they would not hear the law or the prophets sent by God’s Spirit. This refusal brings wrath, unanswered cries, and scattering among the nations.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).