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Zechariah 7 · Grade 5

Did You Fast to Me?

Name Date

Read and Think

Zechariah 7:1 dates this message to the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month. A group from Bethel asked the priests and prophets a practical question: should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

God responds by probing their motives. He asks, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? When you eat and when you drink, don't you eat for yourselves? Religious practice can become about ourselves rather than God.

God then restates the message of the former prophets: execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Don't oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. But earlier generations refused to listen, turned their backs, and made their hearts as hard as a diamond. As a result, God scattered them among the nations, and the pleasant land became desolate. Zechariah's message is that God wants obedient, merciful hearts more than ritual.

Show What You Know

  1. What did the group from Bethel ask?

  2. What does God's question in verse 5 reveal?

  3. What does God require in verses 9-10?

  4. What happened when earlier generations refused to listen?

Crossword

21354

Across

  1. Don’t oppress the ____.
  2. And show kindness and compassion every man to his ____.
  3. And show ____ and compassion every man to his brother.

Down

  1. As he called and they refused to ____.
  2. Did you at all ____ to me.

Think About It

  1. God asked, did you at all fast to me, really to me? How can you make sure your worship is really for God?

  2. Earlier generations made their hearts as hard as a diamond. How do we keep our hearts soft toward God?

Memory Verse

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

Zechariah 7:9 (WEB)

Copy It

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for your kindness and compassion. Help me . Amen.

Take It Home

For families: talk about these together.

  • When have you felt your heart getting stubborn?
  • How can worship show in how we treat people?
  • What is one way you could live out this chapter this week?

Scripture: World English Bible, public domain, eBible.org. © 2026 The Daily Rooted. Free to print and copy for church and home use; not for resale. Original line art.