Zechariah 7 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 7:2, 7:3
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 7
Fasting, justice and refusal to hear
Verse 7:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of YHWH came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:1 In the fourth year under King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chaseleu,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The regnal year, day and month agree; the month-name forms are preserved without conversion.
Verse 7:2 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:2 Bethel sent Sharezer, Regem-melech and his men to seek YHWH's favor,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:2 and Sarasar, King Arbeseer and his men sent to Bethel to appease the Lord,
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew is construed with Bethel as sender and Sharezer and Regem-melech as envoys; Greek makes Bethel the destination and identifies Arbeseer as king. Greek leaves what or whom they sent unexpressed. Alternative Hebrew personal-name segmentation remains a review question.
Verse 7:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:3 saying to the priests of the house of YHWH of hosts and to the prophets, “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:3 saying to the priests in the house of the Lord Almighty and to the prophets, “The holy offering has come here in the fifth month, as I have already done for many years.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew asks about continued weeping and abstinence; Greek states the arrival of a hagiasma, provisionally holy offering. The Greek's unusual wording is retained without supplying a fasting question that is absent from its displayed text.
Verse 7:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:4 The word of YHWH of hosts came to me, saying:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:4 The word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce the divine reply. Greek ton dynameon is rendered of hosts here, distinct from its usual pantokrator, Almighty.
Verse 7:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:5 “Say to all the land's people and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it truly for Me that you fasted—for Me?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:5 “Say to all the land's people and to the priests: If you fast or mourn at the fifth or seventh observances—and look, seventy years—surely you have not fasted a fast for Me?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both challenge whether the repeated fasting was directed to God. Hebrew uses and with the fifth and seventh and names mourning; Greek uses or and leaves the feminine ordinal observances without an explicit noun for months. The period of seventy years is retained.
Verse 7:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:6 When you eat and drink, are you not the ones eating and the ones drinking?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:6 If you eat or drink, are you not yourselves eating and yourselves drinking?
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both press the self-directed character of eating and drinking; Greek uses conditional if and or.
Verse 7:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:7 Were these not the words YHWH proclaimed through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, with her cities around her, and the Negeb and lowland were inhabited?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:7 Are these not the words the Lord spoke through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and flourishing, with her cities around her, and the hill country and plain were inhabited?”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew Negeb or southern country becomes Greek hill country; the lowland/plain and Jerusalem's settled prosperity correspond. Hebrew's elliptical opening is supplied as a question linking the earlier words.
Verse 7:8 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:8 The word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The renewed word to Zechariah agrees.
Verse 7:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:9 “Thus says YHWH of hosts: Render true judgment; show steadfast love and compassion to one another.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:9 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Render righteous judgment; show mercy and compassion, each to his brother.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: True/righteous judgment and steadfast love/mercy retain the respective terms within the same demand for justice and compassionate conduct.
Verse 7:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:10 Do not oppress widow, orphan, resident alien or poor person. Do not plan evil against one another in your hearts.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:10 Do not oppress widow, orphan, newcomer or poor person, and let no one harbor resentment for his brother's wrong in your hearts.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew forbids plotting harm against one's brother; Greek forbids remembering the brother's wrong resentfully. The protection of vulnerable groups agrees. Greek proselytos is rendered newcomer in this context, without requiring a later formal conversion category.
Verse 7:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:11 But they refused to pay attention, turned a stubborn shoulder and made their ears heavy so as not to hear.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:11 But they disobeyed instead of attending, turned a senseless back and made their ears heavy so as not to listen,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both describe deliberate refusal through a turned body and dulled ears; the shoulder/back and stubborn/senseless imagery differs within that refusal.
Verse 7:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:12 They made their heart adamant, so as not to hear the instruction and words YHWH of hosts sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Great anger came from YHWH of hosts.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:12 and made their heart disobedient, so as not to listen to My law and the words the Lord Almighty sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Great anger came from the Lord Almighty.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew uses the hard-stone image adamant; Greek states disobedience and adds My before law. The Spirit-mediated prophetic words and resulting anger agree.
Verse 7:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:13 Just as He called and they did not hear, so they would call and I would not hear, says YHWH of hosts.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:13 It will be as He spoke and they did not listen to Him: so they will cry out, and I will certainly not listen, says the Lord Almighty.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both make divine refusal answer the people's earlier refusal. Greek explicitly places the consequence in the future and intensifies the negation; the change from He to I remains in both.
Verse 7:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:14 I scattered them like a storm among all the nations they had not known, and the land behind them became desolate, with no one passing through or returning. They made the pleasant land a desolation.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:14 I will cast them out among all the nations they did not know, and the land behind them will be obliterated, without anyone passing through or returning. They made a choice land a desolation.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew uses storm-scattering and completed desolation; Greek cast-out and obliteration clauses are future before its final past clause. Both retain the unknown nations and the land's loss of traffic.