Zechariah 7:6

Verse

Berean Standard Bible

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

American Standard Version (1901)

And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Bible in Basic English

And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?

Douay-Rheims 1899

And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Free Bible Version

And when you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink for yourselves?

Geneva Bible 1599

And when ye did eate, and when ye did drinke, did ye not eate for your selues, and drinke for your selues?

King James (Authorized) Version

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Translation for Translators

And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to benefit themselves.

Unlocked Literal Bible

When you ate and drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?

Noah Webster Bible

And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves , and drink for yourselves ?

World English Bible

When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

Young's Literal Translation

When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months] — even these seventy years — did ye keep the fast [to] Me — Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

Context

A Call to Justice and Mercy

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?⁶And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? ⁷Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”

Summary

In Zechariah 7:6, the people of Israel are challenged to reflect on the motives behind their religious practices and fasting. God reminds them that their acts of worship should not be done for selfish gain or to impress others, but with sincere hearts and a desire to honor Him. This verse emphasizes the importance of genuine devotion and obedience to God's commands over mere outward rituals. It serves as a timeless reminder for believers to examine their hearts and ensure that their worship is rooted in love, humility, and true reverence for God.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

And when ye did eat - They had not observed those fasts as they should have done. They deplored the loss of their temple, and its riches, etc., but they did not humble themselves because of those iniquities which had brought the displeasure of God upon them, their temple, and their city.

John Gill Bible Commentary

Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets,.... As Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; suggesting that it would have been much better for them to have regarded the exhortations and instructions which the Lord sent them by his servants, which would have prevented their captivity; and so would have had no occasion of fasting and mourning: for those prophecies were delivered out when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her; when Jerusalem, and the cities about it, were full of people, and enjoyed all the blessings of life in great plenty; and which would have continued, had they attended to the exhortations, cautions, and warnings given them: when men inhabited the south and the plain? the land of Judea, as the Misnic (x) doctors say, was divided into three parts; the mountainous part, the plain, and the valley. Jerusalem was in the mountainous part, and these are the other two; and not only those parts of the land which were hilly, and those cities that were encompassed with mountains, were in safety and prosperity; but those also that were in the champaign country, and in the low valleys. The "south" was that part of the land of Canaan formerly inhabited by the Amalekites, and which they invaded when David was at Ziklag, Num 13:29. Sometimes it was called Negeb, as here; and sometimes Daroma, as frequently in the Jewish writings; in which Judea is often called the south, with respect to Galilee; for they distinguish between the inhabitants of Galilee and the inhabitants of the south country: and say, a disciple might intercalate the year for Galilee, but not for the south, i.e. Judea. It reached from Eleutheropolis to the south of the land, eighteen or twenty miles: it was distinguished by the Jews (y) into upper and nether Daroma, or south country: the upper consisted of the hilly part of it; the nether of the plain; and by Jerom (z) mention is made of interior Daroma, by which there should be an exterior one. The "plain", or "Sephela", was all the champaign country, near to Eleutherepolis, to the north and west; and so the above writer (a) says it was called in his times: now each of these were well inhabited; Daroma, or the southern part; hence it is frequent, in Jewish writings (b), to read of such a Rabbi of Daroma, or the south, as R. Jacob, R. Simlai, and others; and of the elders of the south (c); and so Jerom speaks of Eremmon, and Duma, large villages, in his days, in Daroma or the south; the one sixteen, the other seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis; and of Ether, Jether, and Jethan, one of which was eighteen, and another twenty miles from it (d); and in the Apocrypha: "Simon also set up Adida in Sephela, and made it strong with gates and bars.'' (1 Maccabees 12:38) mention is made of Adida in Sephela, fortified, by Simon; and in which also were various other places well stored with inhabitants. This expresses the happy and safe state the Jews were in before their captivity, and in which they would have remained, had they hearkened to the words of the Lord. (x) Misn. Sheviith, c. 9. sect. 2. (y) T. Hieros. Maaaser Sheni, fol. 56. 3. & Sanhedrin, fol. 18. 4. (z) De locis Hebr. fol. 91. C. & 92. I. (a) Ibid. fol. 94. M. (b) T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2. 2. & 11. 4. & Succah, fol. 53. 4. (c) T. Hieros. Erubin, fol. 23. 3. (d) Ut supra, fol. 90. K. & 91. C. & 92. I.

Zechariah 7:6

A Call to Justice and Mercy

Scripture
Sermons
Commentary

Berean Standard Bible

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

American Standard Version (1901)

And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Bible in Basic English

And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?

Douay-Rheims 1899

And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Free Bible Version

And when you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink for yourselves?

Geneva Bible 1599

And when ye did eate, and when ye did drinke, did ye not eate for your selues, and drinke for your selues?

King James (Authorized) Version

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Translation for Translators

And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to benefit themselves.

Unlocked Literal Bible

When you ate and drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?

Noah Webster Bible

And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves , and drink for yourselves ?

World English Bible

When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

Young's Literal Translation

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

John Gill Bible Commentary

Zechariah 7:6

Verse

Context

A Call to Justice and Mercy

Summary

Commentary

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

John Gill Bible Commentary

Zechariah 7:6

A Call to Justice and Mercy

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

John Gill Bible Commentary