Zechariah 7

1 In the fourth year of the reign of King Darius, on the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month, the message of the Lord came to Zechariah.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

2 The city of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favour of the Lord,

When they had sent to the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

3 and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets ‘Should I continue to mourn in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done for many years?’

And to speak to the priests who were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

4 Then this message of the Lord of hosts came to me:

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

5 Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me?

6 When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7 Wasn’t it this which the Lord proclaimed by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her towns surrounding her and the Negreb and the Shephelah were inhabited?’

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around it, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

8 The Lord gave this message to Zechariah:

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

9 The Lord of hosts says, execute true judgments. Show kindness and mercy to each other.

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the resident foreigner or the poor. Let none of you devise evil against another in your hearts.

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

11 But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears so they wouldn’t hear.

But they refused to hearken, and withdrew the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

12 They made their hearts as hard as stone so they wouldn’t accept the teaching and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. Great was the anger of the Lord of hosts:

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

13 I called and they would not hear, so they call and I do not hear, says the Lord of hosts.

Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

14 I scattered them by a whirlwind out among nations unknown to them. The land was left desolate behind them, with no one crossing or returning, for they made the pleasant land a desolation.

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.