Zechariah 7

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Chislev.

The Lord sent a message to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. This was during the fourth year of king Darius' reign.

2 Now [they of] Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favour of the LORD,

Bethel-sharezer sent Regem-melech and his men to ask for the Lord's blessing.

3 [and] to speak unto the priests of 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?

They were to ask the priests of the Temple of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I go on mourning and fasting in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

The Lord Almighty sent a message to me saying,

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

Tell everyone in the land and the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh month during these seventy years, was it really me you were fasting for?

6 And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

And when you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink for yourselves?

7 [Should ye] not [hear] the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?

Isn't this what the Lord told you to do through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was prosperous and inhabited, and when people were living in the Negev and the Shephelah?

8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

The Lord Almighty sent another message to me.

9 Thus hath the LORD of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother:

This is what the Lord says. Judge fairly and truthfully. Show mercy and kindness to one another.

10 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.

Don't exploit those who are widowed or fatherless, foreigners or the poor. Don't think up ways of mistreating one other.

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

But they refused to listen. They were obstinate, turning their backs and closing their ears.

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

They made their minds unreceptive, as hard as stone. They refused to listen to the law or to what the Lord Almighty told them by his Spirit through the former prophets. That's why the Lord Almighty became very angry with them.

13 And it came to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear; so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said the LORD of hosts;

So since they didn't listen when I called out to them, I wouldn't listen when they called out to me, says the Lord Almighty.

14 but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

With the winds of a storm I scattered them among the nations where they lived as foreigners. The land they left became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned the Promised Land into a desert.