Jun 11, 2020
God, through Zechariah, speaking to the Israelites: Execute true justice, show mercy to everyone, don't oppress anyone, don't plan any form of evil against anyone.
The Israelites: Yall hear sumn? >:/
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God, through Zechariah, speaking to the Israelites: Execute true justice, show mercy to everyone, don't oppress anyone, don't plan any form of evil against anyone.
The Israelites: Yall hear sumn? >:/
This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
Zechariah 7:9-10 NIV
Day 350: Zechariah 7 // 'זכריה ז
(Link to full chapter text on Sefaria)
It happened during the fourth year of King Darius, while the Temple was already being rebuilt, that G-d spoke again to Zechariah. Emissaries
God Rejects Empty Religion (Zechariah 7-8).
Photo by Abdiel Hernandez on Pexels.com God Rejects Empty Religion (Zechariah 7-8). Teaching Summary: Zechariah 7–8 Emphasis: God Rejects Empty Religion Zechariah 7 — God Exposes the Hypocrisy of False Fasting 1. The Question That Reveals the Heart (7:1–3) A delegation asks whether they should continue the traditional fasts. Their concern is ritual correctness,…
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the fast that really matters
20250417 Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com the fast that really matters Zechariah 7:1-14 Zechariah 7:1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahveh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev.Zechariah 7:2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for Yahveh’s favorZechariah 7:3 by asking the priests who were at the house of…
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This was in my morning Bible reading today.
Zechariah 7:4-13, NKJV at Bible Gateway.
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 during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? 6 When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? 7 Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the [f]South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘Execute true justice, Show [g]mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.’
11 “But they refused to heed, shrugged[h] their shoulders, and stopped[i] their ears so that they could not hear. 12 Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts.
Justice matters to God. Mercy and compassion matter. Caring for the vulnerable matters. Doing away with oppression matters. Obeying him in all these areas matters.
I weep for the US. We have ignored these commands just as much as the ancient Israelites. May we repent. May we learn to obey.
July 11, 2018
As followers of Christ, we are not responsible for ourselves alone. We have a social, moral, ethical, and spiritual responsibility to look after those less fortunate than we.
Zechariah 7:9-10 says, "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'"
The single parent, the orphaned child, the immigrant, the homeless and destitute. All are in need of compassion, understanding, mercy, and Grace. It is our Christian privilege to care for the devalued or undervalued people in our community. It is our social obligation to not only help them, but to advocate for them as well - to speak out for them when they cannot do so for themselves.
Love on them, lift them up, pray over and with them, show them the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
"Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God," (Micah 6:8). God calls us to make disciples, and we can do that most effectively when we begin meeting their physical, emotional, and health needs. They will then be receptive to hear the gospel and receive God's love.
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”
Zechariah 7:8-14 ESV