Zechariah 7

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the LORD’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

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

2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat the LORD’s favor,

when they had sent to the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before Jehovah,

3 and 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?”

and to speak to the priests that were in the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

4 Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me, saying,

Then came the word of Jehovah of hosts 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 in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

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

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

And when ye eat and drink, is it not ye that eat, and ye that drink?

7 Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

Are not these the words which Jehovah proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and when the South and the Plain were inhabited?

8 The LORD’s word came to Zechariah, saying,

And the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah, saying,

9 “Thus has the LORD of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

Thus spake Jehovah of hosts, saying, Judge true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother.

10 Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

And the widow, and the orphan, and the stranger, and the poor, oppress not, and meditate not evil against one another in your heart.

11 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

But they refused to hearken, and showed a refractory shoulder, and made their ears dull, that they might not hear;

12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Armies.

yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, that they might not hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts sent through his spirit by the former prophets. Therefore came great anger from Jehovah of hosts.

13 It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said the LORD of Armies;

And as he called and they would not hear, so they called and I would not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts.

14 “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”

And I scattered them as with a whirlwind among all the nations, which they knew not. And the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through, nor returned; and thus the beautiful land was made a desolation.