Zechariah 7

1 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.

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

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

when Bethel had sent Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to supplicate Jehovah,

3 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?”

[and] to speak unto the priests that were in the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done now so many years?

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

And the word of Jehovah of hosts came unto me, saying,

5 “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?

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 those seventy years, did ye really fast unto me, [even] unto me?

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

And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not you that were eating and drinking?

7 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?’”

Are not these the words that Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and at peace, and her cities round about her, when the south and the lowland were inhabited?

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

And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying,

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

Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew loving-kindness and mercies one to another,

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

and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

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

But they refused to hearken, and turned a rebellious shoulder, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear.

12 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.

And they made their heart [as] an adamant, that they should not hear the law, and the words that Jehovah of hosts sent by his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets: therefore was there great wrath from Jehovah of hosts.

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

And it came to pass, like as he called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts;

14 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.”

and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not, and the land was desolate after them, so that no one passed through nor returned; and they laid the pleasant land desolate.