Zechariah 7

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

2 When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD

3 To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?

by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?

Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:

Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.

10 And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

11 But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

12 And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts.

They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

13 And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.

And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

14 And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”