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Zechariah 7:3

in Zechariah 7

by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

KJV

And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

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This verse in Zechariah 7

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself? - “In the fifth month,” from the seventh to the tenth day, Jerusalem was in flames, fired by Nebuchadnezzar. “He burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man’s house he burnt with fire” .

This site's exposition

the fourth year of King Darius

on Zechariah 7:1-3

The date, “the fourth year of King Darius”, sets the question two years after the night visions. Men sent from Bethel ask whether to “weep and fast in the fifth month”, the fast for Jerusalem's burning. The question is whether the old grief still fits the changed hour.

This site's exposition

Should I weep and fast in the fifth month

The fast of the fifth month marked the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, which Barnes dated from the seventh to the tenth day. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown pointed to Jeremiah 52:12-14. The question was whether a people rebuilding the temple should still mourn its loss.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Zechariah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter 7, verses 1 onwards) 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 Casleu. And they sent to the house of God Sarasar and Rogommelech, along with the men who were with him, to seek the face of the Lord and to speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, saying: Should I weep in the fifth month and separate myself as I have done for many years?

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The answer to this question, which is given in this and the next chapter; and this answer was given not all at once, but by piece-meal, and, it should seem, at several times, for here are four distinct discourses which have all of them reference to this case, each of them prefaced with "the word of the Lord came,"
And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It would likewise be a means of possessing their children betimes with a due sense of the hand of the Lord gone out against them. (2.) What was their present doubt-whether they should continue these fasts or no. The case is put as by a single person: Should I weep?

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The tenth day of the fifth month was kept a fast, being the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer 52:12-14). They ask, Should the fast be continued, now that the temple and city are being restored? separating myself--sanctifying myself by separation, not only from food, but from all defilements (compare Joe 2:16) as was usual in a solemn fast.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • לֵאמֹ֗רto say

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙the priests

    hakohanimH3548 →750 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙who

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לְבֵית־[belonged] to [the] house of

    leveit-H1004 →2046 times

  • יְהוָ֣הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • צְבָא֔וֹתof hosts

    tzevaotH6635 →485 times

  • וְאֶל־and to

    veel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַנְּבִיאִ֖יםthe prophets

    haneviimH5030 →314 times

  • לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • הַֽאֶבְכֶּה֙¿ will I weep

    haevkehH1058 →

  • בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁin the month

    bachodeshH2320 →284 times

  • הַחֲמִשִׁ֔י<the> fifth

    hachamishiH2549 →45 times

  • הִנָּזֵ֕רwill I consecrate myself?

    hinazerH5144 →

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֣רjust as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • עָשִׂ֔יתִיI have done

    ʾasitiH6213 →2628 times

  • זֶ֖הthis

    zehH2088 →1180 times

  • כַּמֶּ֥הhow many?

    kamehH4100 →752 times

  • שָׁנִֽים׃ פyears

    shanimH8141 →877 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Joel 2:12“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”9 worksZechariah 8:19“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”7 worksJames 4:8–10Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.4 worksMalachi 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.3 worksHosea 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.3 worksMatthew 9:15Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
1 Corinthians 7:5Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control.3 worksLuke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.3 works1 Samuel 21:4“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”3 worksZechariah 12:12The land will mourn, each clan on its own: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives,3 worksZechariah 7:5“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?3 worksJoel 2:17Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”2 works2 Kings 25:8–9On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.2 worksDeuteronomy 17:9–11You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.2 worksDeuteronomy 33:10He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.2 worksHaggai 2:11“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Ask the priests for a ruling.2 worksNehemiah 9:1–3On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.2 worksEzekiel 44:23–24They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Hosea 4:6

    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 5:13

      Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

    • Proverbs 19:2

      Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.

    • Hosea 6:6

      For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

    • 2 Corinthians 4:3–6

      And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

    • Hosea 4:1

      Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God…

  • Through

    Malachi 2:7

    For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.

    it leads to

    • 2 Timothy 2:24–25

      And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

    • Leviticus 10:11

      so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”

  • Through

    Matthew 9:15

    Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 19:9

      Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Where this verse is studied

About Zechariah

Zechariah's Vision of Four Chariots, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Zechariah's Vision of Four Chariots, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Zechariah: the study guide →Read Zechariah 7 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Zechariah 7 →