Judgment
Zechariah 7:8-14
Zechariah · ~520 BC · Status: Fulfilled · Confidence: 65%
“… Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”
King James Version · the opening — all 7 verses are below
God questioning Israel's fasting and challenging them to true justice and mercy rather than ritual observance.
Read the whole passage — all 7 verses (KJV)
7:8And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
7:9Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
7:10And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
7:11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
7:12Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
7:13Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
7:14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
Fulfillment References
Micah 6:8 Matthew 23:23
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalGod's word through Zechariah: 'Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother' — but they refused, and judgment scattered them. The LORD desires mercy and justice over ritual (cf. Micah 6:8; Matt. 23:23). This is the heart of God revealed fully in the Lord Jesus, who weighed the 'weightier matters of the law — judgment, mercy, and faith.'
JewishA prophetic rebuke that fasting without justice and mercy is empty; the moral core of the covenant over mere ritual, with exile as the consequence of refusing it.
CatholicThe primacy of justice and mercy over ritual observance, fulfilled in Christ's teaching (Matt. 23:23) and the law of love.
ProtestantTrue religion as justice and mercy, not ceremony; Israel's refusal bringing judgment — echoed by Jesus (Matt. 23:23).
AcademicA classic prophetic 'mercy not sacrifice' oracle reflecting on the exile; it frames the post-exilic community's fasting questions (Zech. 7-8).
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