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 the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

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

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

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 to the priests which 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 the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

Then came the word of the LORD of hosts to 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 to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast to me, even to me?

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

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

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?’”

Should you not hear the words which the LORD has cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

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

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

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

Thus speaks 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 fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

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

But they refused to listen, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, 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.

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

Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, says the LORD 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.”

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.