Zechariah 7:5

God asks whether their seventy years of fasting were truly for Him or merely for themselves. The question exposes that ritual without heart-devotion does not honor God.

Cross-references · 19

• Zech 1:12Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
• Isa 58:4–6You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
• 1 Cor 10:31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
• Matt 5:16–18In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
• Col 3:23Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,
• Zech 7:3by 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?”
• Matt 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• Rom 14:17–18For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
• Zech 7:6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?
• Matt 6:5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• Matt 6:16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
• Rom 14:6–9He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
• Isa 1:11–12“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
• 2 Cor 5:15And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
• Zech 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.”
• Matt 23:5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
• Jer 25:11And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
• Jer 41:1–4In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there.
• 2 Kgs 25:23When all the commanders of the armies and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, as well as their men.

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