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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Zechariah 7 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/zechariah/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/zechariah/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Zechariah 7</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../zechariah/6.htm" title="Zechariah 6">◄</a> Zechariah 7 <a href="../zechariah/8.htm" title="Zechariah 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/zechariah/7.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">A Call to Justice and Mercy</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>On December 7<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> along with their attendants, to seek the LORD’s favor. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> as we have done for so many years?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>The LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> was it really for me that you were fasting? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Isn’t this the same message the LORD proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> were well populated?’”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then this message came to Zechariah from the LORD: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>“Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the LORD of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>“Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/zechariah/7-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">7:1 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">On the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev,</span><span class="ft"> of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on December 7, 518 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">; also see note on 1:1.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">7:2 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Bethel-sharezer had sent Regemmelech.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">7:3 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">mourn and fast in the fifth month.</span><span class="ft"> The Temple had been destroyed in the fifth month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar (August 586 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">); see 2 Kgs 25:8.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">7:5 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months.</span><span class="ft"> The fifth month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar usually occurs within the months of July and August. The seventh month usually occurs within the months of September and October; both the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Shelters were celebrated in the seventh month.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">7:7 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">the Shephelah.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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