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Zechariah 7:4-14 (MSG)

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⁴ GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies gave me this Message for them, ⁵ for all the people and for the priests: "When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? ⁶ And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people. ⁷ "There's nothing new to say on the subject. Don't you still have the message of the earlier prophets from the time when Jerusalem was still a thriving, bustling city and the outlying countryside, the Negev and Shephelah, was populated? ⁸ [This is the message that GOD gave Zechariah.] ⁹ Well, the message hasn't changed. GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now: "'Treat one another justly. Love your neighbors. Be compassionate with each other. ¹⁰ Don't take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor. Don't plot and scheme against one another--that's evil.' ¹¹ "But did your ancestors listen? No, they set their jaws in defiance. They shut their ears. ¹² They steeled themselves against GOD's revelation and the Spirit-filled sermons preached by the earlier prophets by order of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. And GOD became angry, really angry, ¹³ because he told them everything plainly and they wouldn't listen to a word he said. "So [this is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said]if they won't listen to me, I won't listen to them. ¹⁴ I scattered them to the four winds. They ended up strangers wherever they were. Their 'promised land' became a vacant lot--weeds and tin cans and thistles. Not a sign of life. They turned a dreamland into a wasteland."


This passage relates to the following topic(s):
(v. 4) Fasting - Repeative fasting may loses it meaning
(v. 5) Fasting - Repeative fasting may loses it meaning
(v. 6) Fasting - Repeative fasting may loses it meaning
(v. 9) Just / Justice / Justification - Administer true justice
(v. 9) Compassion / Concern - Show compassion to one another
(v. 9) Forgiveness / Mercy / Atonement - Show mercy
(v. 10) Heart - In your hearts do not think evil of each other
(v. 10) Sin / Wickedness / Satan - In your hearts do not think evil of each other
(v. 13) Speaking / Gossip / Lying / Slander - When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen
(v. 13) Word of God / Teaching / Knowledge - When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen

Definition(s):
Jerusalem (Je-roo-sa-lem): vision of peace