What Does Zechariah 7:6 Mean in the King James?
And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The question is whether the act ever leaves the self: you are still the eater and drinker, and the benefit loops back to you.
THE MEANING
This verse asks you to look past the form of an act to where its benefit lands. Eating and drinking can remain centered on the one who consumes, even when they sit inside a religious practice. The question reaches the intention beneath the visible act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A religious act is not automatically directed toward God just because it looks sacred.
THE ROOT
הָאֹכְלִים
ha-okhlim
GROWS FROM
אכל
Eat, consume.
The Hebrew calls you the eaters and drinkers, then asks whether the acts are for yourselves. Eating takes something in to sustain the one who eats; the question presses past the meal’s appearance to where its benefit lands.
ALSO GROWS
ʾakhilah: Eating.
אֲכִילָה
The act itself grows from the same root as the eaters named in the verse, keeping the consuming and the consumer together.
maʾakhal: Food.
מַאֲכָל
Food is what the act takes in; the verse asks who receives the benefit of that taking in.
THE PATTERN
The direction of a religious act is revealed by whom it serves, not by its outward form.
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.THE THREAD
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.The same Hebrew root אכל (ʾākal, eat or consume) appears in both verses. Here, eating can turn outward into blessing; Zechariah’s question asks whether it instead ends with the eater.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us