Bible Strands
Zechariah 7:6
And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Zechariah delivers a divine question to the post-exilic community regarding their seventy-year period of fasting and mourning.
The words — תֹאכְל֖וּ (to.khe.Lu) means "you eat" and תִשְׁתּ֑וּ (tish.Tu) means "you drink," framed by the rhetorical negative הֲ/ל֤וֹא (ha./Lo') meaning "not" or "¿."
The thread — The contrast between self-directed consumption and worship offered to God runs through 1 Corinthians 11:20, 1 Corinthians 11:26, and Hosea 8:13.
Why it lands — The text demands that the reader examine whether daily meals or religious observances are performed for personal satisfaction or for divine accountability.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 11:20 Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.
- 1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
- Hosea 8:13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
- Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
- Deuteronomy 12:7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:22 That day they ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the LORD. Then, for a second time, they designated David’s son Solomon as king, anointing him before the LORD as ruler, and Zadok as the priest.
- Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Hosea 9:4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him, but will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat will be defiled. For their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the LORD.