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 to Zechariah, on 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 Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before 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 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 Hosts came to me, saying,

Then came the word of Jehovah 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 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 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

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

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

And the word of Jehovah 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 spake Jehovah of hosts, saying, Judge true judgment, and show mercy and compassion 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 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 pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

But they refused to hearken, and showed a refractory shoulder, and made their ears dull, that they might 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.

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 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 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 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.