Zechariah 7:5

¹²Then the LORD’s angel replied, “O LORD of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

⁴Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? ⁶“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

³¹Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

¹⁶Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

¹⁷“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. ¹⁸For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter^[+] or one tiny pen stroke^[+] shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

¹¹“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. ¹²When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

³and to speak to the priests of the house of the LORD of Armies and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

¹⁷for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁶“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

²Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.