Limitless Word
And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
Zechariah 7:6 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
  • BSB And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?
  • NKJV When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?
  • NASB And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
  • NLT And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Even their eating and drinking served themselves, not God. The verse warns that ordinary life, like worship, can be wholly self-directed rather than God-directed.

Overview

God presses the indictment: just as their fasts were self-serving, so were their feasts. The contrast highlights that all of life, whether abstaining or enjoying, should be lived to the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31). The diagnosis exposes a heart turned inward, the root problem behind hollow religion.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • 1 Cor 11:20–21When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
  • 1 Cor 11:26–29For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
  • Col 3:17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
  • Hos 8:13They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
  • 1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
  • Deut 12:7And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.
  • Hos 9:4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.
  • Deut 14:26And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
  • Jer 17:9–10The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
  • 1 Chr 29:22And did eat and drink before the LORD on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto the LORD to be the chief governor, and Zadok to be priest.
  • 1 Sam 16:7But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Zechariah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Zechariah 7:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ZechariahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.

How Zechariah 7:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.