1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
Presents commentary in a tabular format for ease of reading.Click to learn more.
| Zechariah 7:1 | And *it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu. | Year of the World 3487. Casleu, in our November or December. (Calmet) |
| Zechariah 7:2 | When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord: | And. Septuagint from; (St. Jerome) or, "to Bethel sent Sarasar and Arbesesar, the king, and his men, to render the face of the Lord propitious." (Haydock) --- These were Persian governors under Darius, (St. Jerome) or Cutheans, (Theodoret) or Jews, at a distance from the temple, though in the country. (Menochius) ---But they seem rather to be some who had not returned. (Calmet) |
| Zechariah 7:3 | To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself, as I have now done for many years? | The fifth month. They fasted on the tenth day of the fifth month; because on that day the temple was burnt. Therefore they inquire whether they are to continue that fast after the temple is rebuilt. See this query answered [in] ver. 19 of the following chapter. (Challoner) --- The third of the seventh month (ver. 5) was also a fast, on account of the death of Godolias, (Calmet) during the captivity, 4 Kings 25:8, 25. (Worthington) --- Septuagint, "Has the sanctification entered hither in the fifth month, as they (or I) have done?" etc. (Haydock) --- Fasting and lamentation are styled sanctification, because they promote it; curatos quoque sanctificat; (St. Jerome) if the proper conditions be observed. (Haydock) |
| Zechariah 7:4 | And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: | |
| Zechariah 7:5 | Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: *When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years, did you keep a fast unto me? Isaias 58:5. | Years, from the ruin of the temple till the fourth of Darius. --- Unto me? Did you grieve for the injury done to me; or was your sorrow caused by your own losses? The prophet gives not a direct answer; but sufficiently shews that exterior works of themselves are of little value. Whether the Jews entered into his sentiments or not, they still observe these fasts, though he said they should be changed into days of rejoicing, Zacharias 8:19. (Calmet) --- The fast was good, but imperfect, wanting works of charity. (St. Gregory) (Worthington) |
| Zechariah 7:6 | And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? | Yourselves, to gratify the senses more than from necessity, and without doing it for God's glory. (Haydock) |
| Zechariah 7:7 | Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain: | Prophets. He alludes to Isaias 58:3. See also Jeremias 14:12., and Joel 2:12. The Jews were always too much attached to the letter, without minding the spirit of the law, being zealous for corporal rather than for spiritual works. --- South. Several of these cities were occupied by the Idumeans. --- Plain, or Sephala, which afterwards became flourishing and populous. (Calmet) |
| Zechariah 7:8 | And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying: | |
| Zechariah 7:9 | Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: *Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy, and compassion, every man to his brother. Micheas 6:8.; Matthew 23:23. | Judgment. Avoid sinning, when you fast. (Worthington) |
| Zechariah 7:10 | *And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother. Exodus 22:22.; Isaias 1:23.; Jeremias 5:28. | Devise. Septuagint, "wickedly remember in your hearts each one the evil of his brother." (Haydock) |
| Zechariah 7:11 | But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear. | Depart, so to leave the burden on their partner. (Hebrew) (Calmet) --- Literally, "giving way;" recedentem. Pope Sixtus V, recedentes. Septuagint, "they gave a contemptuous back," (Haydock) like a slave, whom the whip cannot correct. |
| Zechariah 7:12 | And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts. | As, etc. Hebrew, "of Samir;" a stone used to polish jewels. Septuagint, "disobedient." |
| Zechariah 7:13 | And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts. | So shall. It seems the past time would be preferable; as Theodoret, St. Cyril, etc., understand it. (Calmet) --- Yet the Jews, whom the prophet addressed, were also reprehensible; and they or their posterity felt the effects of God's indignation, when he scattered them throughout the world, as we see at present. Septuagint have the future; but Protestants the past tense, "they cried," etc. (Haydock) |
| Zechariah 7:14 | And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they knew not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness. |