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.

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.

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

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

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 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?”

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

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

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

When you eat and when you drink, don’t 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?’”

Aren’t 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?’”

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

The LORD’s word 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 has the LORD of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgement, and show kindness 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.’

Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise 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 turned their backs, and stopped their ears, 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.

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.

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.

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;

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 will scatter them with a whirlwind amongst 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.”